strike

Some 86 Palestinian security prisoners, mostly Hamas terrorists jailed in Gilboa Prison in northern Israel, announced Saturday they were ending their hunger strike, joining 100 other prisoners who had already decided to end their strike over the past few days.Last Sunday, over 1,000 security prisoners jailed in prisons across Israel, such as Megiddo, Ketziot, Shikma and Hadarim, declared they would be going on an “indefinite” hunger strike to protest the conditions of their confinement. The strikers demanded access to more television channels, more phone contact with relatives and more family visits, as well as better medical treatment and that disabled inmates or those suffering chronic illness be freed. Jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti led the hunger strike, urging mass protest in a New York Times op-ed. Barghouti was convicted in 2004 of five counts of murder, several counts of conspiracy to commit murder, and aiding and abetting terrorist activities, and he is serving five consecutive life terms and an additional 40 years.