A Palestinian source verified to Ma'ariv newspaper that Egypt has successfully brokered an agreement with Israel while consulting with the Palestinian factions headed by Hamas and Fatah. However, the agreement will only become effective when the prisoners approve it and when Israel officially declares that it will implement all the clauses of the deal.
Summary :
Egypt has successfully brokered an agreement to end the hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners, negotiating with Israel while consulting with the Palestinian factions. Rimon Margieh reports that Israel will grant some of the prisoners' demands concerning solitary confinement, visitation and administrative detention.
Publisher:
Maariv (Israel)
Original Title:
A deal to end the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike is taking shape
Author:
Rimon Margieh
First Published:
May 14, 2012
Posted on:
May 14 2012
Translated by:
Sandy Bloom
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According to the agreement, Israel accepts the following demands: that all prisoners held under solitary confinement will be removed from isolation and allowed to serve their sentences with their fellow prisoners. In addition, families of prisoners from the Gaza Strip will be allowed to visit their loved ones behind bars. Regarding the issue of administrative detention, a solution is in sight that will lead to the end of the hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla, who have refused food for 76 days. According to the source, Israel will release these prisoners at the conclusion of their current detention period.
Additional clauses of the agreement, which is still taking shape, relate to the day-to-day lives of the prisoners. For example, Israel's Prison Service will allow two prisoners who are brothers to serve their sentences in the same wing — not in separate prisons or different wings of the same prison — in order to facilitate visits by their families. In addition, the fees of products sold in the prison canteen will be reduced from what the prisoners complained were exorbitant prices.
Egypt entered the picture to help broker a deal with Israel after the medical conditions of several prisoners deteriorated, placing their lives in danger.
Israel
Palestinian Authority
