Israel Prison Service: End of the Hunger Strike

14 May 2012

Israel Prison Service: End of the Hunger Strike by Security Prisoners
(Communicated by the Israel Prison Service)

1. This afternoon (Monday, 14.5.12), the security prisoners stopped their hunger strike after 28 days.

2. The declaration regarding the end of the strike was made possible in the wake of the understandings that have been formulated in recent days, the main point of which is the security prisoners' signature on a commitment not to engage in terrorism inside the prison walls in exchange for various easements in several areas, including the return of prisoners held in separation to the prison wings and the possibility of first degree relatives' visits to prisoners from Gaza.

3. Pursuant to the ISA statement regarding the understandings, following are several additional points:

A. An inter-ministerial committee chaired by the Israel Prison Service Commissioner, and with the participation of representatives from the Justice, Foreign and Health ministries, as well as from the IDF (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories and the Judge Advocate General), the Israel Security Agency, the National Security Council and the Israel Police, evaluated the significance of the prisoners' requests and issued a serious of recommendations to the political echelon.

B. Before the strike, the Israel Prison Service Commissioner appointed an additional team to evaluate the prisoners' requests regarding their prison living conditions; in the wake of the halt to the strike, several actions will be carried out regarding which positive decisions have been taken.

C. The decisions of the committee were shown to prisoners who did not strike, thus preventing their joining and expanding the strikers.

D. It should be pointed out that throughout the strike, the strikers were under close medical care and received professional treatment as necessary, including check-ups and hospitalization according to need.

E. Upon the conclusion of the strike, the medical monitoring will continue in order to prevent possible complications from an unsupervised return to eating.

F. Security deployment in the prisons and dialogue with the strikers throughout the period prevented a worsening of the situation including possible violent scenarios.

G. Throughout the strike, the Israel Prison Service took care regarding prisoners' rights according to law and acted with complete transparency vis-à-vis official oversight agencies.

ENDS

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