HEBRON, June 29, 2011 (WAFA) – An ailing Palestinian prisoner who went on an 18-day hunger strike in protest against medical negligence and bad conditions in an Israeli jail Wednesday resumed his hunger strike only a day after calling it off, according to the Palestinian Prisoner Club (PPC).

Atef Wraidat, who had served nine years of an 11-year sentence for resisting the occupation, suffers from various illnesses, including heart problems. His health conditions got worse in Asqalan prison, south of Israel, where he is kept. He had demanded to be transferred to a prison with better health conditions.

Amjad Najjar, head of PPC in Hebron, told WAFA that the Israeli prison administration tricked Wraidat to end his open hunger strike by promising to transfer him to another prison more suitable for his health condition.

Wraidat ended his hunger strike on Monday evening while he was at Ramla prison hospital, where he was transferred after his health had deteriorated as a result of the hunger strike, heeding calls by Palestinian nationalist figures and families of prisoners who were worried the hunger strike would worsen his health.

However, instead of transferring him to another prison, as promised, the Israeli prison administration imposed sanctions on him after he ended his hunger strike, which included a 4-month ban on family visits, a 2-year ban from pursuing education in prison, a 1-month ban from using canteen services and more than $500 fine.

It also said it will keep him in Asqalan prison for a month and place him in solitary confinement for three weeks, according to Issa Qaraqe’, minister of prisoners affairs.

Two prisoners had also declared hunger strike in solidarity with Wraidat.

More than 7000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have announced that they will go on a one-day hunger strike on July 3 to protest dismal prison conditions and bad treatment.

R.Q./M.A.