The hunger strike of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails has entered its second week. The number of new prisoners joining the protest is growing, and the initiatives in the West Bank and Gaza supporting them is multiplying. Fatah, the party of strike leader Marwan Barghouti, has declared a general strike and a “day of rage” on Thursday and Friday, respectively, in the Occupied Territories.
Barghouti is the most notable of Palestinian prisoners and organized the fasting observed by more than 1,500 inmates. At the headquarters of the Committee for Marwan Barghouti, I interviewed Qassam Barghouti, his 32-year-old son, himself a former prisoner in Israel where he served a four-year sentence.
How is your father’s health?
We have no precise information because he is in solitary confinement at Jalame prison. We know from another Palestinian, imprisoned in the same prison, that he has very low blood pressure and severe pain in the abdomen. Prison authorities would give him the drugs, but he rejects them.