A growing number of Palestinian political prisoners and detainees are engaging in a hunger strike, in an effort to improve conditions in the overcrowded Israeli jails - there are currently almost 8000 political prisoners, and the total is riding by about 400 per year. Since 1967 Israel has imprisoned about 630 000 prisoners, with about 80% being subjected to ill treatment torture is widely used.

Support tents have been set up in Palestinian towns and cities, and yesterday many Palestinian civilians went hungry as a show of solidarity. Ewa Jasciewicz, the detained uk jounalist and activist spent a day without food in her cell, in recognition of the hardships that Palestinian prisoners are subjected to.

The Israeli state's response to date has been callous,with prison officals making plans to taunt prisoners by barbcuing meat outside cells, threats of force feeding and a statement by the Minister for Internal Security, Tzachi Hanegbi that " “as far as I am concerned they can strike for a day, a month and onto death”.

His remarks have been condemned by the Public Commitee against Torture in Israel, in a press release:

"The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) condemns the ruthless and irresponsible remark made by Tzachi Hanegbi, Minister of Internal Security, regarding the hunger strike by security prisoners that “as far as I am concerned they can strike for a day, a month and onto death”.

According to Hannah Friedman, Executive Director of PCATI, “it is unthinkable that an Israeli government minister would express himself in this fashion displaying a total disregard for the lives of the people in his custody. As a government minister in a democratic country it is his responsibility to ensure the basic rights of prisoners to dignity and to contact with family members. The security prisoners are human beings entitled to humane conditions of incarceration in accordance with Israeli law and the international conventions ratified by the State of Israel. The prisoners’ hunger strike follows a long line of complaints submitted by the prisoners, PCATI and other human rights organizations concerning appalling conditions of imprisonment in the Israel Prison Service facilities, and the Public Defenders report of 8.7.2004 which likewise paints a dismal picture of the situation in the detention centers and prisons. In spite of all of these, no action has been taken by the authorities thus forcing the prisoners to strike in order to ensure that their basic rights are respected.

Among the many demands made by the prisoners, PCATI wishes to emphasize the demand to discontinue the degrading strip searches the prisoners routinely undergo in Israel Prison Service facilities. These searches are in violation of the law and a severe infringement of the right to dignity as guaranteed by the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom and are, seemingly, unnecessary and of no benefit to the security needs of the region."

 http://www.stoptorture.org.il/eng/press.asp?menu=7&submenu=1&item=188

See  http://www.palestinecampaign.org/features.asp?d=y&ID=385 for details of the complaints of the prisoners, the improvements they seek and actions that can be taken in the UK.

More also at:  http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3008.shtml
and  http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1092884502814&p=1006688055060