Palestinian hunger strike heightens tension with Israel

A HUNGER strike by more than 1 000 Palestinian prisoners over their treatment in Israeli jails has turned into a heated dispute over whether the leader of the protest secretly broke the fast, and whether Israel tempted him to do so.

The strike, which began on April 17, followed a call by Marwan Barghouti, the most high-profile Palestinian in Israeli detention, for a protest against poor conditions and an Israeli policy of detention without trial that has applied to thousands of prisoners since the 1980s.

Barghouti, a leader of the Fatah movement, has seen his popularity grow among Palestinians since he was convicted of murder for the killing of Israelis during the second intifada and sentenced in 2004 to five life terms.

Surveys show many Palestinians want him as their next president.

While hunger strikes are not uncommon among the 6 500 Palestinians in Israeli jails, this is one of the largest yet.

On Sunday, Israel accused Barghouti of secretly consuming cookies and chocolate bars and released footage from the Israel Prison Service claiming Barghouti was lying to the Palestinian public about fasting.

But the footage does not conclusively show the prisoner is Barghouti, 58, and it is not clear what he is eating or if he is doing so.

Held in solitary confinement, he would not have been able to smuggle it in.

Barghouti’s wife, Fadwa, has denounced the video as an effort to discredit him, and said it might well date back to 2004.

Israel has resorted to force-feeding in the past, even though its Medical Association opposes this as a form of torture and has urged doctors not to carry it out.