Bethlehem: Torch-lit march in solidarity with hunger strikers

Dozens of Palestinian citizens on Tuesday night participated in a torch-bearing march in Bethlehem, south of the occupied West Bank, in solidarity with the hunger-striking prisoners in Israeli jails.

The participants rallied in front of the solidarity tent in the Manger Square before they marched carrying torches to the main gate of the Nativity Church.

Addressing the rallying citizens, Palestinian Authority official Issa Qaraqea, head of the Commission of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs, talked about the latest developments regarding the hunger strike of prisoners, affirming there were recent interventions by top Israeli officials to consider the hunger strikers’ demands.

Qaraqea said the hunger strikers are determined to continue their battle to pressure their jailers to respond to their just demands.

About 1,500 Palestinian prisoners started on April 17 an open-ended hunger strike to demand basic rights. Other prisoners joined them later.

Their primary demands include more frequent and lengthy family visits, better incarceration conditions such as improved medical care, access to telephones and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention without charge or trial.