1,600 Palestinian prisoners to go on open-ended hunger strike

About 1,600 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails will go on an open-ended hunger strike on April 17 to protest imprisonment without charge and solitary confinement exercised by the Tel Aviv regime. Issa Qaraqi, the Palestinian Authority minister for prisoner affairs, said on Saturday the detainees also demand Israel allow families to visit them. “The situation inside Israeli prisons has become very dangerous and serious,” Qaraqi said. April 17 marks the Palestinian Prisoners Day. Meanwhile, reports say at least 11 prisoners are already on hunger strike and three of them have been transferred to hospital. The latest plan by Palestinian prisoners comes days after Israel released female Palestinian prisoner Hana Shalabi on April 1. The female Palestinian detainee had gone on hunger strike after she was re-arrested without charge on February 16. Shalabi was one of the detainees freed from Israeli jails in October and December of last year under a deal mediated by Egypt to free 1,027 Palestinian inmates in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Hana Shalabi is from the city of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, but she was deported to the Gaza Strip by the Israeli regime. According to a March 1, 2012 report published by the non-governmental Palestinian prisoner support and human rights association, Addameer, at least 4,637 “political” Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli jails.