Posted on 08/16/2004 12:32:32 AM PDT by dila813
JERUSALEM (AP) - Palestinian prisoners launched a hunger strike Sunday, in what was shaping up to be the biggest showdown between thousands of inmates and the Israeli authorities since the outbreak of fighting in 2000.
The prisoners want more family visits and telephone access, but an Israeli cabinet minister said he'd rather let them starve. Prison officials imposed more sanctions. Meanwhile, in violence in Gaza, Israeli helicopters fired four missiles north of Gaza City near the border with Israel early Monday, witnesses said. Palestinian hospital sources said two people were killed in the strike.
Israeli military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said soldiers spotted militants setting up a rocket launcher, and the helicopters targeted them, hitting one. Ambulances arrived at the scene but hesitated to enter because of Israeli gunfire, the witnesses said.
As the hunger strike began, the most prominent Palestinian prisoner was working on a smooth transition in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) after Israel's planned withdrawal next year.
Marwan Barghouti, a leader of Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s Fatah (news - web sites) movement, has presented an 18-point plan for Gaza to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and the leaders of the two militant groups responded "positively, in principle," according to a source close to Barghouti. A copy of the plan was obtained by The Associated Press.
Barghouti proposed that after the Israeli withdrawal, militant groups be given a role in running Gaza, but insisted that they halt attacks on Israel from that territory -though not from the West Bank.
Barghouti, seen as a possible successor to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, is serving five consecutive life terms for a role in attacks that killed five people, but is frequently mentioned in reports about possible prisoner exchanges.
Barghouti is taking part in the hunger strike, his daughter Aruba told The AP. The strike started Sunday with 1,600 inmates in three prisons and was to spread to others, with all 7,500 prisoners to take part by the end of the week.
The Palestinian government said it backed the prisoners and declared Wednesday a day of solidarity. "We fully support the legitimate demands of the prisoners and the ending of the policy of collective punishment, torture and terror by the Israeli prison administration against the prisoners and their families," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said in a statement.
In the past four years, Israeli troops have rounded up thousands of Palestinians on suspicion they were involved in bombing and shooting attacks that have killed nearly 1,000 Israelis. The prisoners are being held in Israeli jails, a large tent camp in the Negev Desert and at crowded military bases in the West Bank, where prisoners have complained of poor sanitary conditions.
The strike was organized by the main Palestinian factions -Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah. The hunger strikers want more access to telephones, a cessation of strip searches and more family visits. Many prisoners have not seen their families because an Israeli security closures bars Palestinians from Israel.
Israeli officials reacted by imposing additional sanctions -including banning all family visits and the sale of cigarettes and candy. "At this point, the security prisoners are refusing their meals and they are drinking water," said prison services spokesman Ian Domnitz.
Israeli Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said over the weekend that Israel would not give in to the prisoners' demands. "The prisoners can strike for a day, a month, even starve to death, as far as I am concerned," Hanegbi said.
The issue of prisoners is especially sensitive to Palestinians. Though it is not mentioned in the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, initial efforts to implement the plan last year bogged down, in part, over the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Israel set free a few hundred prisoners, but Palestinians complained that most were common criminals near the end of their terms.
Qureia said release of all prisoners is a condition for a peace settlement, and "any progress in the peace process is conditioned on progress in solving this sensitive and central issue."
Also Sunday, an Israeli border policeman was seriously injured when he was stabbed in the neck near Jerusalem's Old City. He shot and killed his Palestinian attacker, police said.
In the West Bank, soldiers detained a 14-year-old Palestinian youth who was trying to smuggle a bag with 900 rifle bullets through a checkpoint, the army said.
How in the hell can Israel allow this terrorist to direct these groups from his prison cell. Israel needs to tell the UN to pack sand and put a end to this PC crap.
this would mean that thousands of terrorists would starve....works for me....
Don't worry Israel will relase the thug for some Israeli businessman. None of it makes sense to me.
LOL! Forget it. Yossi Beilin and his leftist metrosexual traveling show will be arriving soon to demand that his countrymen release these poor starving Palestinians as a sign of good will.
It's like the movie Saving Private Ryan, you go soft and let a killer escape and he comes back and puts a bullet in your head.
Take pity on Israel. They have lost their way.
Reuters - 5 minutes ago
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel declared psychological war on hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners on Monday, saying it would barbecue meat outside their cells to try to break their will
The article make no mention of what these prisoners have done. Why not?
In the prisons here, those who refuse to eat are subject to mandatory intravenous feeding. Just strap them to a gurney and plug them in -- with hog renderin's in the bag. So much for your martyrdom and the 72 virgins.
bon apetit!
The only true BBQ is the .....
good idea, but too many to plug in to feed. I would just say that we respect your decision to conduct a food strike so therefore we will only serve pork bbq for the next year in your honor.
Sounds like the only liquid on the menu is Pork Blood, we need to keep their Iron up
The only true BBQ is the .....PIG!
LOL ... You are killing me!@
yummy
I understand that the Israelis, being Jews, cannot handle pork either, so I propose having the next American BBQ contest just outside the fence of the prison camp.
Just picture that -- a big group of heavily armed good ole boys [and gals] grillin' up a whole mess of char-grilled pork products.
I may be a Virginian, but I do appreciate a good North Carolina barbecue with cole slaw and corn bread -- which must have pork cracklin' baked in to have the right flavor. Mmmm! Mmmm!
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