RAMALLAH, May 27, 2017 (WAFA) – Palestinian prisoners’ open-ended hunger strike was suspended on Saturday after an agreement was reached between Israeli Prison Services (IPS) and prisoners’ leaders, said prisoners’ affairs minister, Issa Qaraqe, and head of Palestine Prisoners’ Society Qaddoura Fares.

Qaraqe told WAFA that the agreement came following 20 hours of negotiations between IPS and imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and other strike leaders in Asqalan prison.

On April 17, around 1,600 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails launched a mass hunger-strike to protest the difficult humanitarian conditions in Israeli jails and demand better treatment. Since then, prisoners started feeding solely on water and salt as their only sources of nourishment.

Spearheaded by Barghouti, the strike, widely known among Palestinians and supporters as the “Freedom and Dignity” battle, was joined by prisoners from all Palestinian political factions.

The prisoners’ main demands include an end to solitary confinement and to be moved to prisons in the occupied territories as per the Fourth Geneva Convention, which would make it easier for their families to visit them.

The prisoners also demand an improvement in access to medical care; increasing visit duration from 45 to 90 minutes; families of women prisoners meet without glass barriers to allow mothers to hold their children; an improvement in detention conditions including easing restrictions on the entry of books, clothing, food and other gifts from family members; restoring some educational facilities; and installing public phones to enable prisoners to communicate with their families.

Palestinians throughout the occupied West Bank have been supporting and showing solidarity with the striking prisoners since the beginning of the strike. They set up solidarity tents, participated in protests and marches and declared general strikes.

K.T./M.K.