800 prisoners resume hunger strike

Around 800 Palestinian prisoners who suspended a hunger strike after winning some concessions from their Israeli jail resumed fasting yesterday saying nothing had changed, their spokesman said.

The Israeli Prisons Authority denied the inmates were back on strike, saying they had food in their cells and were eating.

"They resumed (fasting) today," said Issa Qaraqe, head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, referring to 800 Palestinians in Ashkelon prison who broke their strike on Friday after saying they had reached a partial deal with its officials.

"Israel must sit with the prisoners and negotiate with them over their demands. The continuation of the strike is dangerous. Maybe there could be instances of death in the prisons and it would be a big catastrophe," Mr Qaraqe said.

Around 2,800 prisoners, seen by Palestinians as symbols of resistance to Israeli occupation, have been refusing food to demand wardens stop strip searches, allow more frequent family visits, improve sanitation and install public telephones.

Israeli officials dismiss the liquids-only fast, which began on August 15 with 1,500 hunger strikers, as a ploy to secure easier communication with militant groups waging a nearly four-year-old revolt in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.