Palestinian Hunger Strike Ends: Report
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The Palestinian Authority announced Saturday that a mass Palestinian hunger strike, which lasted 40 days, has ended on the first day of the Muslim festival of Ramadan.
The hunger strike was led by prominent Fatah figure Marwan Barghouti who is serving five life sentences for murders committed during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
Barghouti was negotiating with the Israeli authority on behalf of the prisoners in an attempt to end the strike before Ramadan, AFP reported.
Of the some 1,600 prisoners who began striking 40 days ago, some 834 prisoners remained on strike, Hebrew media reported.
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails were refusing food over conditions for about 6,500 Palestinian inmates. Among their demands were access to telephones, more family visits, improved medical care and an end to punitive solitary confinement.
Hebrew media reported that most of these demands were not met but prisoners will now be allowed two monthly visits with their family members, as opposed to one.
The Israeli Authority noted that the Red Cross had previously funded the transportation for family members to visit prisoners twice per month but stopped funding the second visit for budgetary reasons. The Palestinian Authority will now fund the second visit, according to Hebrew media.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday he has asked the United States to mediate on the standoff between Israeli authorities and Palestinian prisoners. It is still unclear whether American intervention brought an end to the strike.
Speaking to senior members of his Fatah party in Ramallah after meeting President Donald Trump's special representative Jason Greenblatt, Abbas said he had spelled out his position to the visitor who would convey it to the Israelis.
"We have explained in detail to American envoy Jason Greenblatt the issue of the prisoner strike and we have called for American intervention to ensure that the rights of prisoners are protected and their humanitarian demands are granted," he said.
"We shall be in touch with him to give us the answer of the Israeli side," he said, adding he hoped to announce a response "in the evening or tomorrow".
Greenblatt is in Israel and the Palestinian territories to follow up on Trump's visit earlier in the week and to build on his plans for a new Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative, according to Israeli media.
