Senior Palestinian officials "threaten to receive Barack Obama, in the Palestinian territories, with well-attended, enraged protests"

Headline: “Ramallah prepares to receive Obama with angry protests in support of the prisoners”

“Yesterday [March 12, 2014], senior Palestinian officials threatened to receive US President Barack Obama, who is expected to visit the Palestinian territories next Saturday, with well-attended, enraged protests in city centers and at military checkpoints, to demonstrate [their] anger towards the US administration’s position on the Palestinian cause and the issue of the prisoners in the Israeli occupation prisons…

[PA] Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake called on civilians, the prisoners’ families, institutions and the [Palestinian] factions to participate in large [numbers] in the ‘Prisoners’ Right to Freedom’ march, which is expected to be held next Saturday. The marchers will set out from the protest tent located in front of the UN offices, in the direction of the Muqata’a (the PA Presidential Headquarters in Ramallah).

Karake said: ‘The prisoners have given their support for this activity in order to send a unified message: our people, with all its groups and factions, is standing by its leadership in its demand to release the prisoners, before any kind of negotiation is renewed…’

Karake called on President Obama to intervene to end the tragedy of the striking prisoners before he arrives. He said that, [should Obama make] his visit in the shadow of this tense situation and the lack of solutions to the issue of the strikers, he would find himself facing widespread popular protests and calls  to fulfill his obligations.”