Palestinian prisoners announce new confrontation after 'agreement broken' by Israel

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails announced on Tuesday through a statement, made public by the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, that they are preparing for a new confrontation with the Israeli prison authorities.
 
The statement said that the prisoners' leadership within Israeli jails is discussing protest actions, including a possible mass hunger strike after the Israeli authorities broke an agreement made last March with the prisoners.
 
In March, Palestinian prisoners' leadership announced a mass hunger strike to begin by the end of the month in protest of restriction measures by Israeli authorities implemented after the Gilboa prison break. The strike was called off after an agreement was reached the eve of the first day of the strike.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Club said Israeli occupation has arrested 150 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of August, adding that the first day of this month witnessed the largest detention campaign as the Israeli occupation forces arrested more than 40 Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/b5XRuOTJtJ

— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) August 8, 2022

"The most important issue at the time was that Israeli jails authority had informed the prisoners that they will start practising a set of measures for high-sentence prisoners," Ayah Shreiteh, spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoners' Club told The New Arab.
 
"These measures include shackling hands and feet at all times and constant transferring of the prisoners from one jail to another every three months," said Shreiteh.
 
"The agreement by which the hunger strike was suspended included to halt the introduction of these measures, and now prisoners were informed that they will be introduced once again, which clearly breaks the agreement," she added.
 
The prisoners' statement noted that the prisoners had activated the "supreme emergency committee"; an organizational body that regroups all political factions inside Israeli jails.

"This is the type of body that can call for a mass hunger strike," according to Shreiteh.

The imprisonment conditions of Palestinian prisoners, especially child prisoners, has been documented by various human rights groups. Three out of four Palestinian prisoners are subjected to ill-treatment & torture from the moment of their arrest#FreeAhmadManasra pic.twitter.com/0qWrmomCha

— سعدیہ (@pa41006813) August 15, 2022

Escalation in Israeli prisons between the prisoners and authorities has been on the rise since September after the Gilboa prison break.
 
The current escalation coincides with a large Israeli wave of arrests against Palestinians in the West Bank; over 200 Palestinians have been arrested in the last month, according to the Prisoners' Club.

Israeli raids also killed five Palestinians in August alone.
 
Israeli forces say that the ongoing wave of arrests is a continuation of their offensive "Wave Breaker" launched last May in reaction to a series of Palestinian attacks inside Israel.
 
"We see it rather as part of the pre-electoral atmosphere in Israel, which includes the violence against Palestinians outside and inside of prisons," noted Ayah Shreiteh.

"Even prisoners themselves understand it that way and have been telling us that thy expect an escalation to happen before the next Israeli elections, and here it is."