Ladies and Gentlemen in the Afro-Asian Solidarity Committees For Peace and Solidarity
Cordial Greetings,
The Palestinian people commemorates the Palestinian Prisoners Day annually on April 17. This year the occasion coincides with a launched open-ended hunger strike by 1,500 Palestinian political Prisoners in the Israeli jails,
which is considered among the largest hunger strike for not only basic rights of the prisoners, but also to shed light on the difficult bad humanitarian conditions inside the Israeli jails. Prisoners' demands include installation of a public telephone in all prisons to allow communication with relatives, resuming bi-monthly family visits, allowing second-degree relatives to visit, increasing duration of the visits and allowing prisoners to take photographs with their families.
Many prisoners suffer from medical negligence in jails. Prisoners must pay for their own medical treatment, and are not provided with adequate healthcare. Sick prisoners have also reported being denied water.
There are currently 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners held by Israel, including more than 500 administrative detainees, 58 females and 300 children.
The International Permanent Committee for Solidarity with the Palestinian people calls upon all the international Solidarity communities to support the Palestinian Political prisoners in their hunger strike by solidarity actions which include sit ins, peaceful marching and solidarity press releases. Your efforts will be highly and really appreciated in this domain.
Talaa Saoud Al-Atlassi
Head of the International Permanent Solidarity Committee with the Palestinian people