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Addameer –الضمير ‏ @Addameer_ps

After a miraculous 77 days, #BilalDiab & #ThaerHalahleh ended their hunger strikes late last night. #palhunger

Addameer –الضمير ‏ @Addameer_ps

Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike achieved key demands. 19 prisoners in long-term isolation will be moved within 72 hours. #palhunger

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Striking Administrative Detainees End Hunger Strike: under the deal Israel agreed to provide a list of accusations to administrative detainees, or release them at the end of their term.

Israel also agreed to release all detainees from solitary confinement, to lift a ban on family visits for detainees from the Gaza Strip, and revoke the "Shalit law," according to the official.

RAMALLAH, May 15, 2012 (WAFA) – Five administrative detainees in Israeli jails who have been on hunger strike for over two months ended Tuesday their strike after they agreed to the deal struck on Monday between the prisoners and the Israeli prison authority, the Palestinian Prisoner Club (PPC) said.

Around 2000 Palestinian prisoners ended their hunger strike started on April 17 after the Israel Prison Service agreed to most of their demands. Prisoners’ representatives announced an end to the hunger strike after reaching an agreement with Israel, brokered by Egyptian mediators.

The demands included an end of administrate detention, which is imprisonment without charge or trial, end of solitary confinement, allowing family visits for Gaza prisoners and better living conditions in prisons, among others.

Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh have been on hunger strike for 77 straight days, the longest hunger strike, demanding an end to their detention. The two, along with three others who were on hunger strike for two months, were reported earlier to have refused the deal and demanded an immediate end of their administrative detention.

However, PPC attorney Jawad Boulos said the five prisoners have accepted the deal and agreed to end their strike after meeting with members of the prisoners’ negotiating leadership.

Halahleh’s father said the prisoners agreed to end their hunger strike in return for Israel not renewing their administrative detention after they complete their present detention period.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Arabic media spokesman, Ofir Gendelman, said, “It is our hope that this gesture by Israel will serve to build confidence between the parties and further peace.”

Gendelman said that Israel decided to release the remains of 100 Palestinians, which have been held by the Israeli authorities since 1967 and buried in unknown cemeteries in Israel.

Khader Adnan, a Palestinian prisoner who was released almost a month ago after 66 days of hunger strike, was the spark behind one of the longest hunger strikes in history followed by prisoner Hana Shalabi who went on a hunger strike for 44 days before she agreed to end her strike in return for releasing her to Gaza for three years. Both Adnan and Shalabi are from the Jenin area.

M.H./M.S.

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Lawyer: Administrative detainees agree to hunger strike deal

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Prisoners on long-term hunger strike agreed late Monday to join a deal ending the strikes in exchange for improved conditions, a lawyer said.

The Egyptian-brokered deal to end the mass hunger strike in Israeli jails will see the prisoners -- including Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla on a 77-day strike -- released at the end of their administrative detention term.

Ofir Gendelman, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Ma'an that all prisoners must end the hunger strike within 72 hours, and not later refuse food, for the deal to hold.

Palestinian prisoners society lawyer Jawad Bulous met the five hunger-strikers for several hours late Monday with prisoners representatives, he told Ma'an.

Thaer Halahla, Bilal Diab, Jaafar Izz Addin, Omar Shalal and Hasan Safadi all agreed to end their hunger strikes and be transferred to a civilian hospital in Israel for treatment, he said.

The father of Thaer Halahla, 33, told Ma'an his son telephoned him to tell him he agreed to the deal in exchange for release at the end of his current administrative detention term on June 5.

Meanwhile, the brother of Bilal Diab, 27, said he phoned their mother to tell her he will be freed at the end of his term on August 17, and had stopped his strike.

Bulous, Egyptian officials, and prisoner representatives from Hamas and Islamic Jihad witnessed the deal, he said.

Shafiq Izz Addin, brother of Jaafar who held a 54 day hunger strike, said the prisoner informed his family he will stop the strike in exchange for release at the end of his detention term on July 20.

Omar Shalal spent 69 days on hunger strike and Hasan Safadi refused food for 71 days.

Mahmoud Sirsik, a footballer from Gaza who refused food for 59 days, will also be released, but Bulous said the date had yet to be clarified.

Around 2,000 prisoners joined a mass hunger strike launched on April 17 to demand fair prison conditions, according to prisoners groups' estimates.

The group of prisoners held in administrative detention launched an earlier strike in protest at their detention without charge.

The deal to end the strike was signed by prison representatives from different factions on Monday, officials said.

Senior Hamas official Saleh Arouri, who was a member of the negotiations team, said that under the deal Israel agreed to provide a list of accusations to administrative detainees, or release them at the end of their term.

Israel also agreed to release all detainees from solitary confinement, to lift a ban on family visits for detainees from the Gaza Strip, and revoke the "Shalit law," according to the official.

The "Shalit law" restricted prisoners' access to families and to educational materials as punishment for the five-year captivity of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Shalit was freed in October in a prisoner swap agreement.

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