Palestinian captives launch the “dignity strike”

Thousands of Palestinian prisoners from a number of different factions who are held in the occupation jails launched, on Tuesday (17 April) which coincides with the “Palestinian Prisoners’ Day”, an indefinite hunger strike referred to as the Karameh (dignity) strike, declaring their determination to continue their strike until their demands are met.

The prisoners confirmed that after three years of communications, the various political currents in the prisoners’ movement have reached an agreement to escalate the ongoing hunger strikes” to demand their rights which are ignored by the occupation government for many long years.

Thus, the prisoners launch on the 17th April (the Palestinian Prisoners’ Day) “an open hunger strike. This means their refusal of all forms of food and liquid (with the exception of water) until their demands are met” The captives noted that the strike is the only tool that they have to obtain their rights, to put pressure on the occupation government and force it to negotiate with the prisoners’ movement.”

The main demands of Karameh strike are: first to end to the policy of solitary confinement under which some prisoners have been isolated for more than a decade, second to permit the prisoners’ families from the Gaza Strip their right to visit prisoners which has been denied to all families for more than 6 years, third, to improve the living conditions of prisoners that has collapsed by unfair political decisions such as the ‘Shalit’ law, which outlaws learning, newspapers and many TV channels.

Finally they demand to put an end to the policy of humiliation from which prisoners and their families suffer such as strip searches, collective punishment and nightly raids.