Prisoners' demands for April 2017 hunger strike
The following is a list of demands delivered ahead of a hunger strike by terrorist prisoners set to begin on Prisoner’s Day, April 17, 2017, which is being led by Marwan Barghouti – a terrorist prisoner who is serving 5 life sentences for orchestrating three shooting attacks in which 5 were murdered. Barghouti has been elected PA Parliament member and Fatah Central Committee member while in prison. The original list of demands was published in Arabic by the Israeli news agency Ynet on April 4, 2017, after the agency received it from the Israeli Prison Service management. It was noted that two of the demands are deemed critical by the prisoners: the demand to install public telephones, and the demand to bring back the second monthly family visits organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which the ICRC decided to cut in May 2016.
“The prisoners’ demands
1- Installing a public telephone for the prisoners in all of the prisons and all of the departments for the purpose of human contact with relatives
2- Visits:
A- Bringing back the second [monthly] visit that was stopped by the Red Cross
B- Arranging the visits every two weeks and not having them stopped by any side
C- To allow visits by all first and second degree relatives
D- Extending the length of the visit from 45 minutes to an hour and a half
E- Allowing the prisoner to be photographed with family members every three months
F- Having an escort for the family members at the prison gates
G- Letting in children and grandchildren under the age of 16 at every visit
3- Medical affairs:
A- Closing what is called ‘the Ramle Prison Hospital,’ which is unfit to provide medical treatment
B- Ending the policy of medical neglect
C- Conducting periodic medical examinations (i.e., at regular intervals)
D- Conducting surgeries quickly and [allowing for] irregular [bureaucratic] procedures
E- Bringing in expert doctors from outside
F- Releasing the sick prisoners, particularly those with disabilities and incurable illnesses
G- Not charging the prisoner for the cost of treatment (sic., terrorist prisoners held for over 12 months are given basic medical treatment as offered by the Clalit health service organization, at the expense of the Israeli Prison Service, see the Israeli Government’s Conditions of Imprisonment for Terrorist Prisoners, of Aug.16, 2015 –Ed.)
4- Responding to the needs and demands of the female Palestinian prisoners, whether for a special transfer or for a direct meeting with no barrier at the visits
5- ‘The Posta’ (i.e., transport vehicle) –
A- Ensuring humane treatment for the prisoners during their transportation in the Posta
B- Bringing the prisoners back to the prisons from the clinics and courts, and not leaving them at the transit [prisons]
C- Preparing the transit [prisons] for humane usage, and providing food
6- Adding satellite [TV] channels that are appropriate for the prisoners’ needs
7- Installing cooling devices in the prisons, and particularly in [the] Megiddo and Gilboa [Prisons]
8- Bringing back kitchens to all of the prisons, and placing them completely under the supervision of the Palestinian prisoners
9- Letting in books, newspapers, clothes, food products, and personal items in visits
10- Ending the policy of isolation
11- Ending the policy of administrative detentions
12- Bringing back the studies at the Hebrew (i.e., Israeli) Open University
13- Allowing the prisoners to take the matriculation exams in an official and licensed manner”
“The prisoners’ demands
1- Installing a public telephone for the prisoners in all of the prisons and all of the departments for the purpose of human contact with relatives
2- Visits:
A- Bringing back the second [monthly] visit that was stopped by the Red Cross
B- Arranging the visits every two weeks and not having them stopped by any side
C- To allow visits by all first and second degree relatives
D- Extending the length of the visit from 45 minutes to an hour and a half
E- Allowing the prisoner to be photographed with family members every three months
F- Having an escort for the family members at the prison gates
G- Letting in children and grandchildren under the age of 16 at every visit
3- Medical affairs:
A- Closing what is called ‘the Ramle Prison Hospital,’ which is unfit to provide medical treatment
B- Ending the policy of medical neglect
C- Conducting periodic medical examinations (i.e., at regular intervals)
D- Conducting surgeries quickly and [allowing for] irregular [bureaucratic] procedures
E- Bringing in expert doctors from outside
F- Releasing the sick prisoners, particularly those with disabilities and incurable illnesses
G- Not charging the prisoner for the cost of treatment (sic., terrorist prisoners held for over 12 months are given basic medical treatment as offered by the Clalit health service organization, at the expense of the Israeli Prison Service, see the Israeli Government’s Conditions of Imprisonment for Terrorist Prisoners, of Aug.16, 2015 –Ed.)
4- Responding to the needs and demands of the female Palestinian prisoners, whether for a special transfer or for a direct meeting with no barrier at the visits
5- ‘The Posta’ (i.e., transport vehicle) –
A- Ensuring humane treatment for the prisoners during their transportation in the Posta
B- Bringing the prisoners back to the prisons from the clinics and courts, and not leaving them at the transit [prisons]
C- Preparing the transit [prisons] for humane usage, and providing food
6- Adding satellite [TV] channels that are appropriate for the prisoners’ needs
7- Installing cooling devices in the prisons, and particularly in [the] Megiddo and Gilboa [Prisons]
8- Bringing back kitchens to all of the prisons, and placing them completely under the supervision of the Palestinian prisoners
9- Letting in books, newspapers, clothes, food products, and personal items in visits
10- Ending the policy of isolation
11- Ending the policy of administrative detentions
12- Bringing back the studies at the Hebrew (i.e., Israeli) Open University
13- Allowing the prisoners to take the matriculation exams in an official and licensed manner”