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Israel Wants PA to Crack Down On Protests Over Prisoners

Israeli media have reported that Israel is ready to release $100 million it collects on behalf of the Palestinian government in return for the Ramallah leadership cracking down on the protests, reports Daoud Kuttab.
Palestinian women take part in a protest against the death of a Palestinian detainee in an Israeli jail, in Gaza City February 24, 2013. Palestinian officials on Saturday demanded an international investigation into the death of a Palestinian detainee who died in an Israeli jail hours earlier. A spokeswoman for Israel's Prison Authority said that the detainee, 30-year-old Arafat Jaradat, had apparently died of cardiac arrest. An emergency service team had tried to resuscitate him but failed, she said. REUTE

For the second time in a year, the suffering of Palestinian prisoners has touched the consciousness of Palestinians and has put the Israelis in a corner.

While Palestinian politicians have been talking about a reconciliation that is spinning its wheels, or about what to say to Barack Obama, the real story is taking place behind Israeli prison bars. Last February, Khader Adnan ended a 66-day hunger strike with a partial promise that administrative detentions would end. They haven’t and as a result prisoners and their supporters are again protesting.

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