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.



Israel’s Defense Minister Says Troops Will Remain in Syrian Buffer Zone Indefinitely

Israeli soldiers patrol the top of Mount Hermon near the border with Lebanon in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights on 20 November 2023. (AFP)
Israeli soldiers patrol the top of Mount Hermon near the border with Lebanon in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights on 20 November 2023. (AFP)
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Israel’s Defense Minister Says Troops Will Remain in Syrian Buffer Zone Indefinitely

Israeli soldiers patrol the top of Mount Hermon near the border with Lebanon in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights on 20 November 2023. (AFP)
Israeli soldiers patrol the top of Mount Hermon near the border with Lebanon in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights on 20 November 2023. (AFP)

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz visited the Syrian summit of Mount Hermon, currently occupied by Israeli forces, on Tuesday and said Israel will remain there and in the buffer zone for an “unlimited time.”

Katz said Israel must stay in the zone to ensure “hostile forces” will not gain a foothold on the Israeli border nor anywhere within 50 kilometers (30 miles) beyond the zone, citing security for Israeli residents in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

For decades, the Syrian-Israeli border remained largely quiet under a 1974 agreement that established a UN-patrolled demilitarized buffer zone after the 1973 Mideast war.

But after Syrian President Bashar Assad’s ouster in December, Israeli forces entered the 400-square-kilometer (155-square mile) buffer zone, calling it a temporary move to block hostile forces.

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said Israel will stay in the zone until another arrangement is in place “that ensures Israel’s security.” That drew criticism from residents of the zone and Arab countries.