The second week of the Palestinian political prisoners hunger strike has taken its toll, reports Khaled Amayreh from the West Bank Hundreds of Palestinian political and resistance prisoners in Israeli detention centres have resumed their two-week hunger strike after Israeli prison authorities refused to honour an earlier promise to alleviate prisoners' suffering. Last week, Israeli prison officials reportedly reached a tacit agreement with the fasting prisoners whereby humiliating strip searches and mid-night raids would stop. However, two days later, Israeli officials denied having reached any agreement or understanding to that effect, saying callously that the prisoners were "free" to end their strike or keep it up till death. Official Israeli insensitivity towards the hunger-striking prisoners echoes earlier statements by Israeli Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi who was quoted as saying when the hunger strike started two weeks ago, "as far as I am concerned, they can starve to death." Palestinian and Red Cross sources have pointed out that the health of many prisoners is "fast deteriorating" and that "a solution to this problem must be found today, not tomorrow." One Palestinian lawyer who was allowed to visit the Hadarim prison in central Israel on Sunday 29 August intimated that Israeli authorities were awaiting the death of some prisoners before doing anything. "They [the Israelis] want to show the prisoners that nothing is free and that some prisoners will have to die before Israel can meet their demands," said the Nazareth lawyer who asked that his identity remain anonymous. Aware of the gravity of the situation, Palestinian Authority (PA) officials have stepped up their desperate appeals to the international community and various human rights organisations to intervene expeditiously with the Israeli government. Last week, a high-ranking United Nations representative, Terry Red Larson, urged the Israeli government to apply the terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the prisoners. The call, however, fell on deaf ears in Israel. Indeed, far from heeding Larson's appeal, Israeli prison police reportedly raided the prisoners' quarters in several jails, beating them and confiscating whatever small amounts of salt the prisoners had managed to conceal in their cells. Isa Qarqie, director of the Palestinian Prisoner Club -- a semi- official body monitoring Israeli treatment of Palestinian prisoners -- described the draconian measure as a "another malicious attempt to impose maximum physical and psychological harm on the already debilitated prisoners". "Look, if this took place in any other part of the world, we would hear a big outcry. It is a shame that much of the world is utterly silent while Israel is slowly killing 7,500 human beings who demand humane treatment in accordance with international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention." Earlier, PA premier Ahmed Qurei expressed similar frustration at the feeble international reaction to Israel's callous treatment of the striking prisoners. He told reporters in Ramallah that "we are living in a callous and hypocritical world that is indifferent to our suffering." Meanwhile, a Palestinian woman prisoner who has been released from an Israeli jail has spoken of "unspeakable horror" and "nightmarish treatment" in Israeli jails. Nur Abu Hijleh told reporters this week that the overall situation in Israeli detention centres was "worse than Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo". "They [the Israeli prison police] told us that we were not entitled to any humane treatment, including breathing fresh air... They said we only had the right to eat, drink and sleep... but nothing more." Abu Hijleh described the treatment meted out to prisoners as "manifestly criminal" and "Satanic", citing "humiliating and sadistic" midnight strip searches. The enduring hunger strike has galvanised the entire Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip who have been holding intermittent general strikes, sit-ins and street protests in solidarity with the prisoners. Moreover, many Palestinians, including officials and especially relatives of the striking detainees, have been fasting for many days to underscore their identification with the prisoners. In Nablus, the large northern West Bank town, the mother of one of the striking prisoners died of a heart attack this week, having been herself on hunger strike for 13 consecutive days. Aisha Al-Zaben, 55, was the mother of Ammar Al-Zaben, who is serving 27 life sentences for resisting the Israeli military occupation. Another son of hers was killed by Israeli soldiers a few years ago. Eyewitnesses said she collapsed unconscious, holding a picture of her son. She died on the way to hospital.
