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.
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.
Like the previous campaign, the current protests are focused on the heroism of a single prisoner Samer Issawi. This East Jerusalem native has been on and off hunger strikes for over 200 days. Pictures of the once well built man now a near skeleton of a man being brought to court on a wheel chair have triggered protests throughout the state of Palestine.
The protests have been escalating in size and depth with more and more communities taking part in street demonstrations and protest tents outside UN offices and the Red Cross offices. Issawi was joined by the rest of the prisoners for a one day hunger strike offices have caused Israeli officials to worry that if the protests continue it could turn terribly violent.
