Israeli-jailed Palestinian inmates have
started a protest movement against the harsh measures implemented by National
Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Massive protests have heightened tensions
within prisons, which Palestinian prisoner affairs authorities warned on
Thursday could erupt if not addressed.
Once the Israeli Prisons Administration
started punishing Palestinians collectively, including by restricting canteens
and other amenities on Friday and Saturday, protests broke out.
The new regulations also require handcuffing
inmates who leave their cells, even to go to the prison clinic, limiting hot
water showers to three minutes, further restricting monthly family visits, and
ending morning sports.
Ben-Gvir issued an order earlier this month to
shut down bakeries that supplied daily bread to convicts.
The Supreme Emergency Committee for Prisoners
announced an urgent campaign of civil disobedience in response to the actions,
which was followed by a hunger strike to coincide with the beginning of
Ramadan.
The leader of the Palestinian Prisoners Club,
Qadura Faris, told Arab News that the recent actions were motivated by the
government and intended to degrade and subdue both the inmates' and the
Palestinian people's will.
He claimed that after the issue was brought to
the notice of the appropriate international authorities, they were asked to act
and put pressure on the Israeli government to relax the restrictions.
The Israeli army detained 32 Palestinians in
the West Bank at dawn on Thursday, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club
in Ramallah, increasing the total number detained since the year's beginning to
800.
The 70-year-old mother of a man who was handed
a life sentence, Laila Zawahra of Bethlehem, told Arab News that the harsh
Israeli restrictions were having a negative impact on the detainees' family.
She alleged that in an effort to stop planned
protests, prison officials had begun moving inmate leaders.
"My 41-year-old son Mohammed and the
welfare of his fellow prisoners are top priorities for me. They will begin a
hunger strike on the first day of Ramadan, in addition to suffering from this
cold, said Zawahra, who also announced that she and other families of detainees
were preparing to hold sit-ins to draw attention to the prisoners' condition.
4,780 Palestinians are now being held by
Israel, including 914 administrative detainees, 29 women, and 160 minors.
According to Palestinian political expert
Riyad Qadriya, the Israeli government's most recent targeting of prisoners may
lead to protests on the streets.
Ben-Gvir had pushed for a firm position
against Palestinian detainees even before becoming a minister, according to
Israeli journalist Dana Ben-Shimon, who spoke to Arab News.
"Now he is acting in this manner to
appease the electorate. The Israeli security services are aware that any
measures taken against Palestinian prisoners will have an impact on the
Palestinian public outside the prison, even in the Gaza Strip, which is
witnessing a state of calm different from the situation in the West Bank,” she
said.