Palestinian Prisoners to Begin Hunger Strike, Warns Commission of Detainees Affairs

Palestinians during a rally to demand the release of prisoners in Israeli prisons (File Photo: EPA)
Palestinians during a rally to demand the release of prisoners in Israeli prisons (File Photo: EPA)
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Palestinian Prisoners to Begin Hunger Strike, Warns Commission of Detainees Affairs

Palestinians during a rally to demand the release of prisoners in Israeli prisons (File Photo: EPA)
Palestinians during a rally to demand the release of prisoners in Israeli prisons (File Photo: EPA)

Palestinian prisoners in all Israeli jails will go on an open hunger strike against the "arbitrary policies of the Israeli prison administration," announced the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs.

The commission said that the Israeli occupation prisons administration essentially reinforced the repression units of all sections.

The Palestinian News Agency (Wafa) quoted the commission's media official, Thaer Shreiteh, as saying that the prisoners are continuing their struggle against the arbitrary policies of the occupation.

Shreitah indicated that the prisoners seek to cancel all the penalties imposed on them, such as confiscating electronics, imposing fines, and sentencing them to solitary confinement.

The detainees also want guards' attacks, incursions, and arbitrary searches to be stopped.

Israeli administration increased its cell searches after the six prisoners escaped to freedom from Gilboa prison months ago.

Shreiteh warned against summoning forces from the army and repression units near the police stations and in the vicinity of the prisons, considering it an indication of a dangerous and alarming escalation.

He indicated that the Israeli administration intends to carry out incursions and repression, according to the German News Agency.

The prisoners may resort to escalation through an open hunger strike, in conjunction with the administrative prisoners' boycott of the occupation courts for the 44th consecutive day.

The Israeli Prisons Administration sent massive reinforcements on Friday, fearing a prisoners' revolution after Friday prayers.



France Says EU Will Lift Some Sanctions Against Syria After Assad’s Fall 

 People walk in front of the historic Hejaz train station in Damascus on January 26, 2025. (AFP)
People walk in front of the historic Hejaz train station in Damascus on January 26, 2025. (AFP)
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France Says EU Will Lift Some Sanctions Against Syria After Assad’s Fall 

 People walk in front of the historic Hejaz train station in Damascus on January 26, 2025. (AFP)
People walk in front of the historic Hejaz train station in Damascus on January 26, 2025. (AFP)

Some European Union sanctions against Syria are being lifted, France's foreign minister said on Monday, as part of a broader EU move to help stabilize Damascus after the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad in December.

EU foreign ministers were discussing the matter at a meeting in Brussels on Monday with the bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas having told Reuters that she was hopeful an agreement on easing the sanctions could be reached.

"Regarding Syria, we are going to decide today to lift, to suspend, certain sanctions that had applied to the energy and transport sectors and to financial institutions that were key to the financial stabilization of the country," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on arrival at the EU meeting in Brussels.

He added that France would also propose slapping sanctions on Iranian officials responsible for the detention of French citizens in Iran.

"I will announce today that we will propose that those responsible for these arbitrary detentions may be sanctioned by the European Union in the coming months," he said.

Assad, whose family had ruled Syria with an iron first for 54 years, was toppled by opposition forces on Dec. 8, bringing an abrupt end to a devastating 13-year civil war that had created one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times.

The conflict left large parts of many major cities in ruins, services decrepit and the vast majority of the population living in poverty. The harsh Western sanctions regime has effectively cut off its formal economy from the rest of the world.