An agreement that would end the hunger strike of some 2,000
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails has been reached in
Cairo, pending approval by a strikers' committee, a senior Palestinian
official told Al Jazeera.
"An agreement was reached in Cairo today [Sunday] on a proposal to
end the hunger strike of the Palestinian prisoners," Issa Karaka, head
of the Palestinian prison authority, told Al Jazeera.
"We are now waiting for the hunger strikers’ committee to determine their position".
Palestinian officials on Saturday said Egyptian officials were trying to mediate between the strikers and Israel.
Karaka told Al Jazeera the main points of the agreement were ensuring
an end to solitary confinement of prisoners; allowing families of
prisoners from Gaza to visit; and halting the renewal of "administrative
detention", under which some prisoners deemed a security risk can be
held indefinitely without charge.
Taher al-Nono, spokesman of the Hamas government in Gaza, earlier
told the Reuters news agency: "We hope the intensive efforts by Egypt
[mediatiors] to meet the prisoners' demands will reach a positive
conclusion in the coming hours."
Draft plan
A Palestinian official who is close to the talks told Reuters the deal may be brought before the prisoners as early as Monday.
The deal "should be presented to prisoners in the Israeli jails,
possibly Monday morning, for endorsement before an official
announcement," said the official, who was speaking under condition of
anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Most of the prisoners that are on hunger strike have refused food for
a month, but three have refused food for more than 70 days. The inmates
launched the strike to press their demands for better conditions and an
end to detention without trial.
Under the draft agreement, administrative detention would be changed
and prisoners would be either charged or released after they were
detained.
A Palestinian lawyer representing the prisoners confirmed the details
of the proposal, and said Egyptian officials had presented it to the
Israelis. continue Reading
No comments:
Post a Comment