RAMALLAH: Palestinian leaders on Wednesday denounced Israel’s refusal to negotiate with Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli jails, warning of a “new intifada” if any of them die.
Some 1,500 Palestinian prisoners have joined the hunger strike that began Monday, according to Issa Qaraqe, head of detainees’ affairs for the Palestinian Authority.
Contacted by AFP, Israel’s prison service declined to comment on the number.
The hunger strike has been led by prominent prisoner and popular Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences over his role in the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
The prisoners have made a range of demands, from better medical care to access to telephones.
Some 6,500 Palestinians are currently detained by Israel for a range of offenses and alleged crimes.
Around 500 are held under administrative detention, which allows for imprisonment without charge.
Palestinian prisoners have mounted repeated hunger strikes, but rarely on such a scale.
Qaraqe said the strike followed months of attempts at negotiations with Israeli authorities.
“If their demands are not met, more prisoners will join the strike,” he said.
“We have asked the international community and the UN to intervene immediately.”
He added that if prisoners die, “that could lead to a new intifada.”
Israeli officials have vowed not to negotiate with the hunger strikers, with Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan on Tuesday calling them “terrorists and incarcerated murderers.”
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said that authorities “would not hesitate to implement the law which authorizes the force-feeding of detainees.”
Palestinians slam Israel for refusing talks with hunger strikers
Palestinians slam Israel for refusing talks with hunger strikers
Take back and prosecute your jailed Daesh militants, Iraq tells Europe
RAQQA: Baghdad on Friday urged European states to repatriate and prosecute their citizens who fought for Daesh, and who are now being moved to Iraq from detention camps in Syria.
Europeans were among 150 Daesh prisoners transferred so far by the US military from Kurdish custody in Syria. They were among an estimated 7,000 militants due to be moved across the border to Iraq as the Kurdish-led force that has held them for years relinquishes swaths of territory to the advancing Syrian army.
In a telephone call on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said European countries should take back and prosecute their nationals.
An Iraqi security official said the 150 so far transferred to Iraq were “all leaders of the Daesh group, and some of the most notorious criminals.” They included “Europeans, Asians, Arabs and Iraqis,” he said.
Another Iraqi security source said the group comprised “85 Iraqis and 65 others of various nationalities, including Europeans, Sudanese, Somalis, and people from the Caucasus region.”
They all took part in Daesh operations in Iraq, he said, and were now being held at a prison in Baghdad.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that “non-Iraqi terrorists will be in Iraq temporarily.”
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces jailed thousands of militant fighters and detained tens of thousands of their relatives in camps as it pushed out Daesh in 2019 after five years of fighting.
