Hunger strike a limited win for Barghouti
THE PALESTINIAN prisoners’ hunger strike, led by Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, ended on Saturday night after 40 days.
The 800 prisoners still on strike agreed to halt the action as the month of Ramadan began. In return, the Israeli Prisons Service agreed that each prisoner would have two family visits a month, instead of one.
Both sides were quick to claim victory as soon as the news came out. Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan insisted that the authorities had at no point negotiated with the prisoners and that new “understandings” had been reached with the Palestinian Authority and the Red Cross. He added that the prisoners were already allowed a second monthly visit, that it had been cancelled in the past because of lack of funding from the Red Cross, and would now be restored with PA funding.
Palestinian representatives claimed, however, that the Shin Bet security service had negotiated with the prisoners’ leaders. They also said that on Friday night, Israel allowed Mr Barghouti, who has been isolated from his fellow-prisoners, to join the meeting where the agreement was decided upon. There are also expected to be further discussions on the prisoners’ conditions. This was, at best, a limited win for Barghouti. So far, most of the prisoners’ demands have not been met and while there was a rise in demonstrations and rioting over the past few weeks in the West Bank, the wider Palestinian public has been more muted than expected. While the PA officially supported this hunger strike, it has been clear that President Mahmoud Abbas was trying to end it as soon as possible rather than see his rival Barghouti emerge a hero. Even within the prisons, Barghouti’s leadership has not been as influential as he had hoped. All together, 1,600 prisoners, about a quarter of the Palestinians incarcerated, took part in the hunger strike, with half of them ending it early.