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Palestinians demonstrate in support of prisoners holding hunger strike

04 October 2011 00:27 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The campaigns to show solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners who have been going on a hunger strike in the Israeli jails for six days in protest against the Israeli Prisons’ Authorities’ restrictions, increased on Monday on the Palestinian territories, APA reports citing Xinhua.

Demonstrators in both the West Bank city of Ramallah and in the Gaza Strip handed letters of protests to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) representatives, urging the two global bodies to interfere to stop the measures against prisoners and free all of them.

Hundreds of Palestinians rallied at al-Manara Square in Ramallah, waving Palestinian flags and pictures of Palestinian prisoners serving life sentence in Israeli jails. They held banners of solidarity with the prisoners who are clinging to their hunger strike until their demands are met.

During the demonstration, the Palestinian minister of prisoners affairs Eassa Qaraqea told reporters that the world has to bear its responsibilities and protect the prisoners in Israeli jails in accordance with the international conventions and resolutions as well as the international laws on human rights.

"We believe that the ICRC has to immediately move to put an end to the serious deterioration of the health of the hunger striking prisoners who are subjected to an Israeli repressive restrictions and isolation," said Qaraqea, adding that "the prisoners demands are human and legal."

The ICRC representatives confirmed to Qaraqea that their crews began to visit the prisoners and talk to them on whether the measures imposed on them are legal or not, and to make sure that the prisoners receive daily medical tests and are not assaulted in order to force them ending their strikes.

In Ramallah, dozens of Palestinians demonstrated also in front of the ICRC headquarters. They chanted slogans in support of the prisoners and their protesting steps against the Israeli measurers. Similar demonstrations were also held in other West Bank cities, mainly in Nablus.

The demonstrators, families of the prisoners and notable characters, members of various political factions held a sit-in before the ICRC headquarters in the northern West Bank city. Then the demonstrators took to the streets waving Palestinian flags and chanting slogans in support of prisoners.

Similar demonstrations were also held in the cities of Jenin, Bethlehem and Hebron, where the Palestinian mayor of Jenin Qadoura Musa told the rally in the city that the prisoners’ issue is a central issue for the Palestinians, adding that "the prisoners release is a condition and without it there will be no peace."

In east Jerusalem, the Palestinians also demonstrated in support of prisoners. They gathered in front of the ICRC offices in the eastern part of the holy city, where Hatem Abdel Qader, handed a letter to ICRC officials from the families of the prisoners calling to stop the tough measures against prisoners.

Relatives and friends of the hunger striking prisoners decided to go on a one-day hunger strike on Tuesday in support for the prisoners.

In the Gaza Strip, relatives of prisoners as well as leaders and representatives of various political factions, including Hamas movement, which rules the coastal enclave, erected a tent in front of the ICRC headquarters in Gaza City. They insisted that Israel should stop its "inhuman measures against prisoners."

Atallah Abu Sebbah, the Hamas de facto government minister of prisoners affairs told a news conference held outside the tent that 1,500 prisoners in the Israeli prison of Negev, better known as Ansar II, joined on Monday their fellowmen in other Israeli jails.

"The prisoners in the Negev Desert will give an ultimatum to the Israeli Prisons Authorities until Thursday to meet their demands, mainly stopping the policy of isolating prisoners in solitary cells," said Abu Sebbah, adding that they would escalate their steps and enlarge the hunger strike.