The Palestinian Authority’s Prisoners affairs Minister Issa Qaraqe called for a day of global fasting on Thursday, May 11, when black banners will be raised and the sounds of Muezzins and church bells will spread throughout Arab communities for a full hour – to protest Israel’s treatment of the murderous terrorists it keeps behind bars.
The prisoners’ demands include more family visits, an end to solitary confinement, better health care and greater access to education, in which they include the right to watch PA TV channels which often attack Israel and Jews. They also want more laundry privileges, and more blankets.
Meanwhile, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has thoroughly rejected demands made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, to stop the payments of salaries to terrorists behind bars.
Minister Qaraqe himself has issued a statement saying: “The President [Abbas] emphasized his absolute refusal of the Israeli demands to stop the allowances of the families of the prisoners and Martyrs (Shahids), and emphasized his absolute support for them.”
Palestinian Media Watch has documented a case where the wife of an imprisoned terrorist complained to PA TV that she hadn’t received her monthly government allowance for almost four years. “A year and a half ago, I went to the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs,” she said, adding that their response to her complaint was: “Your husband transfers [his salary] to the person he chooses. It’s in his power not to transfer [it to you] and we can’t do anything about it.”
That example and others show that the PAS pays its salaries to the 6,500 or so security prisoners in Israel, and the money doesn’t always go to their families as a form of social welfare. It’s pay for play, clear and simple.
The current hunger strike is also a complex power play between PA heir apparent Marwan Barghouti, who is serving several life sentences, and the elderly Chairman Abbas on the one hand, and between Barghouti, the PLO and Hamas on the other. The fact that only 1,500 prisoners have joined the hunger strike shows the yawning gap between the opposing terror groups inside the prisons. It probably also reflects quite accurately the electoral advantage of Hamas in the PA, should real, democratic elections were ever held there.
The striking prisoners’ committee has accused the Israeli government of violating the dignity and rights of the striking prisoners and placing them under psychological measures and pressures. One such case gained much publicity on Sunday, when the hunger striking, freedom fighting Barghouti was caught on security camera stuffing his face with cookies and delicious candy.
War is hell.