The Fatah movement has declared April 28 a Day of Rage, a series of rallies in support of the hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. For the first time since the outbreak of the second intifada almost 17 years ago, in 2000, the movement’s activists are openly calling on Palestinians to clash with Israeli forces at West Bank roadblocks.

The announcement issued by Fatah, the largest faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization and the party that controls the Palestinian Authority (PA), said the actions were intended to show Israel the support of the Palestinian people for their prisoners and to assert their right to struggle against its occupation of their land. “We will clash with the occupier everywhere,” the announcement said.

Israel views this clarion call as crossing a red line. From Israel’s viewpoint, if events on that day spin out of control and result in injuries or loss of life, the responsibility will lie with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. A Palestinian defense source confirmed to Al-Monitor that Israel had conveyed a harsh protest to the security coordination mechanism between Israel and the Palestinians and warned that unless the Palestinian police stop the protesters, the Day of Rage could turn into a Bloody Friday.

This public and direct call encouraging young Palestinians to take on the “occupation forces” is an expression of the tremendous frustration simmering among Fatah leaders that the prisoner hunger strike, launched April 17, is not attracting as many participants as expected. Fatah leaders are also frustrated with Israel’s refusal so far to respond to any of the demands of the strikers, led by senior Fatah member Marwan Barghouti, or even to enter into negotiations with leaders of the protest.