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A Palestinian youth kicks a football into a fire near an Israeli military base during a protest for Palestinian Prisoners' Day in Bethlehem. Credit: MaanImages/Chloe Benoist. Published by Maan News

Scenes. Credit: MaanImages/Chloe Benoist. Published by Maan News

Demonstrators in Jenin, Tulkarem, Tubas, Nablus, Qalqiliya, Salfit, Ramallah, Jericho, Hebron, Bethlehem, Gaza. Published by Maan News

Poster for the "Freedom Strike," depicting some of Palestine's most high profile prisoners. From right to left: Marwan Bargouthi, Ahmad Saadat, Karim Yunis, Nael Barghouthi, Fouad Shubaki. Published by Haaretz

Palestinian protesters rally in support of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails after hundred of them launched a hunger strike, Ramallah, West Bank, April 17, 2017. Credit: ABBAS MOMANI/AFP Published by Maan News
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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Thousands of Palestinians marched to mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day across the occupied Palestinian territory on Monday, with Israeli forces notably suppressing a demonstration in the southern occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, and detaining four young Palestinians at another demonstration in the central West Bank.

Israeli forces detained four Palestinian minors during clashes which erupted at the end of a march launched by Palestinian students near the Ofer detention center -- the only Israeli prison in the West Bank -- in the Ramallah district.

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber-coated bullets towards Palestinians, who threw rocks in the direction of soldiers. Israeli forces then raided the nearby village of Beituniya, chasing and assaulting protesters.

The four detained Palestinians were identified as Ahmad Turki, 15, Hassan Ziyad, 14, Usama Arabi, 15, and Muhammad al-Sarafandi, 17.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma'an that a "violent riot" erupted outside of the Ofer prison, with demonstrators throwing rocks in the direction of Israeli security forces, who then fired rubber-coated bullets.

The spokesperson said she was unaware of any injuries on either the Israeli or Palestinian side. Neither the army nor Israeli police reported on any detentions.

Meanwhile, more than 1,500 Palestinians -- including hundreds of women and middle- and high-school students -- demonstrated in Bethlehem in support of the estimated 6,300 Palestinians currently held in Israeli prisons, waving Palestinian, Fatah, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) flags.

“We are out today to express our solidarity and support for the demands of Palestinian prisoners in the occupation’s prisons against its racist and inhuman procedures,” the director of Bethlehem office of the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs, Munqith Abu Atwan said during the demonstration.

Demonstrators expressed support for the “Freedom and Dignity” prisoner hunger strike which began earlier on Monday, bringing together as many as 1,600 prisoners from across the Palestinian political spectrum under the aegis of imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi.

Posters held at the protest read “We do not forget you, our heroic prisoners” and “The night of the prison cell won’t last, the night of the prison cell is short lived.”

The march began at the Bab al-Zqaq intersection between Bethlehem and the town of Beit Jala, and made its way towards Israel’s illegal separation wall north of Bethlehem.

As a smaller number of demonstrators approached the Israeli military base located directly adjacent to Jerusalem-Hebron road in Bethlehem, Israeli forces fired tear gas, sound bombs, and sponge-tipped bullets towards the crowd.

A number of demonstrators suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation and were treated by Palestinian medics, while a Ma’an reporter witnessed at least one Palestinian get hit by a sponge-tipped bullet, while another such bullet hit a truck which was trying to pass through the area.

Several Palestinian youths responded by throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks towards the wall, and setting trash and tires on fire.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that Israeli forces used “crowd control measures” to disperse a “violent riot” in Bethlehem, adding that while no soldiers from the army sustained injuries, at least one demonstrator was confirmed hit by a sponge-tipped bullet.

Similar protests brought thousands of Palestinians into the streets in all major cities across the occupied West Bank, as well as in the besieged Gaza Strip.

According to Israeli news outlet Ynet, Palestinian citizens of Israel erected a tent in support of prisoners in the town of Umm al-Fahm.

Official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that 30 students at the Arab American University in Jenin began a four-day hunger strike in solidarity with the prisoners, while Umm al-Fahm residents declared a similar one-day hunger strike.

Fatah leader Fahmi al-Zaarir also said during the demonstration in Hebron that a number of events were taking place abroad in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, including in Africa and South America.

“The unity of prisoners in occupation prisons will leave the Palestinian street unified behind them,” the head of PPS in Hebron, Amjad Najjar, said. “Unity against the Israeli occupation’s arrogance has always been and still is Palestinian prisoners’ message to all.”

In Gaza, Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Khalil al-Hayya called upon all Palestinian factions to stand up against what he called “the phenomenon of surrender to security coordination and political detention,” referring to the PA’s disputed policy of coordination with the Israeli army.

Israeli authorities have detained approximately one million Palestinians since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip in 1967, according to a joint statement released on Saturday by Palestinian organizations.

Palestinian rights groups have long accused Israeli authorities of torture, harassment, and medical neglect of Palestinians in their custody.
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Thousands of Palestinians Rally in Support of Hunger-striking Prisoners Held in Israel

Israel places strike leader Marwan Barghouti in solitary ■ Palestinian President Abbas calls on the international community to intervene ■ Protesters clash with Israeli forces

Jack Khoury and Yaniv Kubovich for Haaretz
Apr 17, 2017 7:40 PM

Thousands of Palestinians from throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip marched and attended rallies to show their support for hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. The prisoners are demanding improved prison conditions.

The hunger strike, which has been in the works for several weeks, began Sunday evening with around 700 prisoners. It expanded on Monday morning and is expected to include more than 2,000 people in all Israeli prisons. Led by Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, the strike forced other Palestinian factions were forced to join.

Barghouti was moved on Monday to solitary confinement. The Israel Prison Service said it was trying to break up the hunger strike.
The open-ended refusal of food has forced all of the Palestinian factions to unite around the prisoners, issuing a joint statement of support, despite the fact that it was prisoners affiliated with the Fatah movement who called the strike.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas published a statement supporting the hunger-striking prisoners and called on the international community to intervene before their medical condition deteriorates. The prisoners are at the top of the Palestinian leader's agenda, the statement said.

Abbas' statement was released as support rallies were being held in a number of cities in the West Bank, most notably in Ramallah, where more than 2,000 people marched through a few main streets before gathering in Yasser Arafgat Square.

Protesters waved Palestinian flags and pictures of prominent prisoners such as Marwan Barghouti, Karim Younes and of Ahmad Saadat, the secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Some demonstrators announced that they plan to join the hunger strike, in an expression of solidarity with the prisoners.

The spokesman for Hamas' military wing Iz al-Din al-Qassa, Abu Obeida, said in a video aired on Monday in Gaza that the release of the Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons is a matter of time and is at a top priority for the group. He said Hamas is closely watching the strike and that it supports their cause.

The prisoners drafted a list of demands approximately two weeks ago, which includes the revoking of detention without trial and solitary confinement. The hunger strikers also demand the reinstatement of a number of rights that had been revoked, in addition to demanding the installation of a pay phone in each wing, more frequent family visits and the possibility of being photographed with family members during visits.

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