Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli Ashkelon jail have decided to go on open-ended hunger strike next Sunday in protest against escalating repressive measures by the prison administration.
Since last April, prisoners there have been facing repeated overnight raids on their cells, punitive fines, and arbitrary transfers. They are also not allowed to see their relatives or buy their needs.
According to the Palestinian Prisoner Society, the administration of the jail persists in ignoring the demands of the prisoners and escalating aggressive measures against them.
It said prisoners demand an end to barbaric and armed raids into their cells, the abolition of sanctions imposed on them, treatment of patients, and introduction of specialized doctors.
Prisoners also demand installing air conditioners in the hall, changing TV stations, restoring the representative of the detainee, allowing in clothes and books on a regular basis, and providing a place to prepare food.
Among other demands are being allowed to take pictures with their parents and their wives, turning on water heater tanks during daylight hours, changing speakers in the family visit booth, allowing the purchase of fruits and vegetables without restrictions.
In April, violent confrontations took place between Palestinian prisoners and Israeli jailers in Ashkelon, where prison forces raided cells, attacked inmates, and wreaked havoc on their belongings.
According to Haaretz, prisoners are threatening to go on a hunger strike after dozens of them were transferred to a wing in which cellphone jamming devices were installed.
On Monday, 80 prisoners were moved to such a wing at Ramon Prison, and these sources claim that Israel is not abiding by agreements reached last April, according to which public phones were to be installed.
Prisoners are now demanding the silencing of the disrupting devices and that some prisoners be allowed to spend the day in a wing without such devices, so that they can use their mobile phones.
In April, after a hunger strike that lasted for a few days, prisoner leaders and Prison Service representatives reached an agreement about these devices and the installation of public phones.
The agreement stipulated that prisoners would be moved to wings with jamming devices but, in exchange, public phones would be installed there as well, something the Prison Service has objected to for many years.
In this context, the Palestinian female detainees in Damon jail have announced their intention to go on open-ended hunger strike on July 1 to pressure the administration to improve their incarceration and living conditions in the prison.
According to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs, the hunger strike is aimed to pressure Damon jailers to remove security cameras from the prison yard, make necessary repairs in the detention facility and provide a library.
The detained women also demand jailers to improve the visit conditions of their families, who are forced to wait long hours with no reason before allowing them to enter the jail.
