Palestinian Mass Hunger Strike Symbol of Unity against Israel: Iranian Official
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A special aide to Iran’s parliament speaker in international affairs described an open-ended mass hunger strike by Palestinian inmates in Israeli jails as a symbol of the Palestinian nation’s unity against the Tel Aviv regime.
The hunger strike by Palestinians held captive in Israeli prisons is a non-partisan protest and “a symbol of unity in Palestinian society” against the Zionists, Director General of International Affairs at the Iranian Parliament Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Tuesday.
He further denounced recent moves by the Israeli regime to force-feed prisoners as “cruel” and said they indicate that the Israeli authorities are worried about the emergence of a new Intifada in the occupied territories.
Some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel entered the 16th day of the open-ended hunger strike on Tuesday, with Israeli prison authorities ramping up punitive measures in an attempt to pressure prisoners to break their strikes.
Since the launch of the strike, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has continuously been transferring hunger strikers into solitary confinement and between different Israeli prisons in an attempt to separate hunger strikers from one another and break the strike, according to the Palestinian Ma'an news agency.
The long-planned mass strike, which is led by a jailed leader of the Fatah Movement, Marwan Barghouti, began on April 17.
The strike initially began with 1,500 prisoners, but now some 2,000 people are believed to be refusing food to denounce the inhumane treatment of the Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
