For the 18th day in a row, thousands of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons continue their civil disobedience measures against the repression campaign initiated by ultranationalist Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir.
On February 14, the Supreme Emergency Committee for Palestinian Prisoners Affairs announced the beginning of civil disobedience in response to an ongoing repression campaign by the Israeli prison authorities, including reducing the hours Palestinian prisoners can use the shower area to only one hour a day.
Civil disobedience by the prisoners includes the closing of the different prison sections, stopping aspects of daily life, the wearing of a mandatory brown jail uniform and refusing to undergo the so-called daily security check-up.
According to the Palestinian Detainees Affairs Commission, the civil disobedience measures will escalate to an open-ended hunger strike beginning on the first day of the upcoming fasting month of Ramadan.
Early in February, Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails issued a message to their people urging them to get ready for a significant uprising against the oppression campaign by Israel’s extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Ben Gvir announced on January 8 his decision to cancel a policy which allows any lawmaker in the Israeli Knesset to visit incarcerated Palestinians in prison.
Since then, the Israel Prison Service (IPS) has begun moving inmates and transferring them between the 20 prisons used exclusively for Palestinian political prisoners.
Approximately 140 Palestinian prisoners were transferred to Nafha in January. The prison is notorious for terrible living conditions, which some prisoners describe as inhumane.
Human rights organisations have long condemned Israeli prison authorities for their inhumane treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
Palestinians have been resorting to hunger strikes since 1968 to fight issues such as solitary confinement, denial of family visits, inadequate medical treatment, and other degrading conditions.
Currently, Israeli prisons are home to more than Palestinian political prisoners, including 160 children and some 30 women.
Source: “Palestinian News & Info Agency