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The Palestinian hunger strike ends
EFL. In case anyone cares. Apparrently, not a lot did.Eighteen days after they began a hunger strike demanding improved humanitarian conditions, Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails resumed eating last night. The Palestinian Authority, through Hisham Abdel Razak in Gaza, claimed the prisoners had won '90 percent' of their demands. But the Prison Service claimed it 'broke' the strike without violence, and there were no negotiations with the prisoners. Bullshit.The only thing they got was hungry... Both sides know that despite the enormous respect of Palestinian society for the prisoners, and despite the Prison Service's own uneasy respect for the highly disciplined prisoner associations behind bars, the strike never completely captured the imagination of the Palestinian public, won few sympathetic headlines in the Israeli press, and failed to spark much in the way of international interest that would put pressure on Israel. In other words, nobody gave a shit, boys. So, bon appetit! One explanation for the failure to grab public attention on the Palestinian side was a Lebanese TV channel's version of 'the American idol' program, known in Israel as 'a star is born,' and which on the Rafi Hariri-owned TV station built up to a nail-biting final competition between a young Palestinian man and young Libyan. Attention throughout the Arab world was on the song competition, and with the voting for the winners seemingly the most democratic election in the Arab world — using SMS text messaging via cellphones — the assumption was the Palestinian, with a self-effacing personality, sympathies of the Arabs, and intense local patriotism (including fifty percent discounts on the Palestinian cellular company's fees for SMS messages for the purpose), was the favorite. "Mahmoud is starving himself to death." "Hey, shut up! "Palestinian Idol's" on!" Typically, it might almost seem for the Palestinians, for whom nothing ever seems to go right, he lost. Zionist plot. Had to be... In short, with the strike failing to spark a new round of civil unrest in the territories, and as it receded from the headlines, both sides were able to climb down some of the tall trees they had climbed. There is a long tradition of quiet negotiations between the Prison Service and the prisoners, and that probably is what went into play over the last few days. To save each other face, the prisoners were saying that they were only 'temporarily' suspending their strike and Yaacov Granot, the Prison Services Commissioner, was saying that 'now that the strike is over it will be possible to examine what humanitarian improvements can be made' in the prisons. The Great Palestinian Prisoner Hunger Strike of 2004, which began with such fanfare, was over. Another proud moment in "The Struggle". With predictable results. Posted by: tu3031 2004-09-03 |
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