Protests for hunger strikers hit Jerusalem

A week of protests in support of the 2,000 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike inside Israeli prisons reached fever pitch in Jerusalem yesterday as two prisoners began their 73rd day without food.

Ruth Michaelson

200 protestors gathered next to the Old City’s Damascus Gate before marching through East Jerusalem, chanting slogans concerning unity and freedom. They reached the International Red Cross headquarters, where there is a daily protest by the prisoners’ families.

Protestor Rana Bishara explained the significance of protesting in Jerusalem: “We pay taxes, we do everything but we get nothing, we are slaves here, we are enslaved in this city and we can’t shut up any more, because most of the prisoners from Jerusalem they are desperate.”

Protestors want to maintain pressure on international institutions such as the International Red Cross, who they hope will do more to ensure that the prisoners demands are met by the Israeli Prison Services, who have refused to hospitalise some of the longer-term hunger strikers.

Concerns are growing as two of the hunger strikers, Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab, reached their 74th day without food on Saturday. Reports from other hunger strikers suggest that the Israeli Prison Service is forcibly injecting prisoners in order to sustain them.

Protestor Yasser Qous explained:“I have been in jail in 1990 and I was on hunger strike for 17 days. Sometimes they will inject you with some medicines, it’s not food but it’s medicine in order to keep you alive, in order not to have difficult circumstances or a breakdown in your health, but it will keep you alive.”

Following the mass hunger strike announced on 17 April, many of the prisoners released a statement on Friday saying that they will reject vitamin supplements and visits to prison clinics if their demands for improved conditions within the prisons are not met.