RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Authority minister of prisoner affairs announced that prisoners in Israeli military prisons plan to launch a mass one-day hunger strike on Tuesday, Ma'an News Agency reported. The strike is being conducted in solidarity with three hunger strikers whose health conditions are rapidly deteriorating. Ayman Shawarna, who has been on hunger strike for 156 days, ingesting only water, stated last week he is ready to “intensify" his hunger strike, according to Ma'an News Agency. He is presently being held in a military clinic, shackled to his hospital bed for the vast majority of the day. Due to health conditions as a result of his strike, he cannot sleep and has lost over 90 percent of his vision in his right eye. Samer Issawi, another hunger striker who on Tuesday hit 125 days, also stopped accepting water on November 21. He is fainting regularly, monitors report, and has sustained several injuries. Issawi's health has quickly declined, and his weight has fallen to a mere 46 kilograms. On top of startlingly low blood pressure, a report says, he has lost the use of his right hand and right leg. Both of these prisoners, released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner swap that brought home 1,027 Palestinians, are imprisoned in administrative detention without charge. A third administrative detainee, Oday Keilani, joined the hunger strikers and has not taken food for 43 days. He is reportedly suffering from pain in various parts of his body. His sentence was extended for an additional four months and his lawyers are continually denied access to his case, which Israeli prison services say contains “secret information," reported Ma'an. Last Tuesday Palestinian prisoners from across the entire political spectrum launched a one-day hunger strike in solidarity with Issawi and Shawarna. Ahrar, a prisoner rights organization in Gaza, estimates that thousands of prisoners participated. The PA ministry of prisoner affairs also stated on Monday that “the situation in prisons will explode if anything bad happens to [the hunger strikers]." Ahrar, a Gaza-based prisoners' rights association, recently said it holds the Palestinian Authority responsible for the indifference of the media and the international community towards the plight of imprisoned Palestinians, suggesting that the government has not done enough to raise public awareness. Four more men from Jenin launched full hunger strikes after Israeli military forces detained dozens in a sweeping arrest campaign across the occupied West Bank last week. They are being held in administrative detention. At least one of the prisoners, Jafar Ezzudin, participated in a previous hunger strike. Hunger strikes as a method of resistance “Hunger strikes are pivotal for the struggle of Palestinian inmates," Karam, a recent computer science graduate from Zemer, told BikyaMasr.com. He continued, “Because when you are deprived of your basic right to dignity, to life, this is the only way to fight the cruelty. None of us want them to starve, but we know that this is the only way to protest and get a little bit of media attention for those living under illegal occupation and behind bars." “The prisoners will put our struggle in the spotlight, and it shows the world that the stereotype of Palestinians as terrorist is unjust. Here we have thousands of oppressed people fighting nonviolently—but the world isn't paying attention." As recently as November this year, 4,520 Palestinians are in Israeli detention centers, 164 of which are children. 156 are in administrative detention, a draconian practice in which prisoners are not charged and “secret evidence" is used against them. Last April Palestinian prisoners gained international notoriety when over 2,000 launched a mass hunger strike that forced Israeli Prison Services to cave into many of their demands.
