Palestinian prisoners start hunger strike in Israeli jails

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails were to begin a hunger strike Tuesday in a protest at the increasingly harsh treatment they say they are receiving in custody. 

AFP/Mahmud Hams

The protest, whose slogan is "We will live in dignity", aims to end to the practice of administrative detention, according to Palestinian human rights group, Addameer.

The 1,600 hunger strikers also want an end to solitary confinement, body searches of both prisoners and visiting families and a halt to the use of  special forces to interrogate or discipline prisoners.

“They want the Israeli prison services to treat them according to the fourth and third Geneva Convention," Mourad Jadallah of Addameer explains. "They have rights, and these rights were confirmed by the international humanitarian law, and Israel should respect the international humanitarian law as an occupying power.”

Addameer estimates that around 2,000 prisoners are currently denied family visits.

It is also highly critical of prisoners having to pay their own costs for essentials such as food.

The conditions for detainees have worsened recently, Jadallah claims.

“Since [Franco-Israeli soldier] Gilad Shalit was arrested by the Palestinian factions, Israel intensified their attacks on the prisoners as part of the collective punishment against them,” he says.

An estimated 4,640 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including 20 members of parliament. Three hundred are held under administrative detention, which permits indefinite detention without charge.