Adnan urged the prisoners, especially the ones who have been on hunger strike the longest, to endure the hardships of their act and not change their action before achieving at least a partial triumph in their battle against injustice.

He said that “backing off” from the hunger strike now will be “highly destructive” to the prisoners.

He called on to pay special attention to prisoners who have been on hunger strike the longest, including Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh, who have entered their 57th day in hunger strike, and warned that “if something happens to these prisoners, the Israeli occupation will stomp all over prisoners.”

Raising a poster of Halahleh, Adnan criticized the lack of popular and official support for the prisoners, as well as what he called the inadequate media coverage and the absence of unified legal representation.

Adnan said the Israeli interrogators used all kinds of harsh treatment and psychological torture against him in prison including matters that affect his wife and children. He said they wanted him to believe that his wife was unfaithful to him and that his daughters were not really his.

He stressed that he was not aware of the potential of his hunger strike but was pleased of the results, including the local, regional and international media coverage that has tapped into the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, as well as the support he received in the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem, and from Arabs in Israel and the Diaspora.

Adnan urged one striking prisoner who has been refusing to drink water for seven days to end this extreme measure, expressing regret that he had stopped drinking water for six hours during his strike, describing this move as not wise.

“We want a hunger strike that would last if Israel refuses our demands,” said Adnan.

He called on prisoners to pay attention to the details of his own hunger strike, use his and others’ previous experience to protect themselves and achieve their demands, as well as seek legal and medical counseling.

Minister of Prisoners Issa Qaraqe warned in the press conference against using the issue of the prisoners’ hunger strike for the narrow and political gains of the factions.

He also condemned the punitive measures the Israeli prison authority is adopting against the hundreds of striking prisoners.

He said that the prisoners have set April 30 as the deadline for the Israeli Prison Service to respond to their demands. If Israel does not respond positively, the situation in the prisons could deteriorate a nd the strike could escalate, he warned.

Qaraqe said he wrote United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him to immediately intervene to protect the Palestinian prisoners from the Israeli practices that violate international law, UN charter and signed agreements.

R.Q./M.S.