(Image source: euronews )

 

BY KEVIN DUBOUIS

 

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

 

At least 1,200 Palestinian prisoners in Israel began an open-ended hunger strike on Tuesday. The strike is meant to call attention to imprisonment without charge and solitary confinement. Euronews reports...

 

“Protests will help to mark Prisoners’ Day in the West Bank and in Gaza. Over a thousand of the 4,700 Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel have gone in a hunger strike in a protest of conditions.

 

Hunger strikes are nothing new -- several Palestinian prisoners were already on strike, three have been transferred to hospitals.

 

The hunger strike comes the same day Palestinian activist Khader Adnan is expected to be freed. CNN recalls his story as well as another highly-covered hunger strike.

 

“In February, Khader Adnan ended a 66-day strike after his sentence was commuted, and last month, female prisoner Hana Shalabi was deported to Gaza after refusing to eat for 44 days. Both Adnan and Shalabi were being held in administrative detention for suspected terrorist activity, according to the Israeli government.”

 

A source from Israel’s Prisons Service told the Jerusalem Post that hunger strikes aren’t rare events.

 

"The threat of a hunger strike is always there. Should it be fulfilled, we are ready to deal with it. No special preparations are necessary," the source added.

 

And London’s Financial Times has the reaction from Israeli officials, who say, they will not be forced into concessions.

 

“We have had similar occurrences in the past and we know how to deal with this sort of situation,” said a government spokesman. He said all prisoners in Israel were held ‘in accordance with international conventions and laws’.”

 

Despite the Israeli government’s assurances that Palestinians detainees are treated fairly and humanely, in an editorial Gulf News condemns Israel’s policy on its convicts.

 

“Israel's policy is to humiliate, torture and mistreat Palestinian prisoners as a means of breaking the will of the people. Now it is the duty of the international community to act on behalf of those prisoners, as human rights are for all.”