Palestinians protest at UN office in Ramallah over hunger-strikers

Palestinian demonstrators today blocked the entrance of the UN headquarters in Ramallah in protest against its silence on the issue of the hunger-strikers in the Israeli jails.

The protesters tried to prevent workers from entering the UN premises, but were prevented by the Palestinian Authority police.

Sources in the West Bank city report that the protesters held placards with critical slogans.  Some read, “Silence is complicity,” and “Neutrality is a crime.”

An activist taking part in the protests said that they were there for the “rights of the prisoners, hunger strikers and above all, the minors.” He added: “We tried to block the doors of the UN in order to tell the world that there are a number of Palestinian hunger-strikers who are about to die in the Israeli jails. You must act for justice before they die.”

Elsewhere today, Israeli forces confronted a demonstration of Palestinian students in Al-Arroub refugee camp in Hebron. They had taken to the streets in solidarity with the hunger-strikers. The Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters to disperse them.

Also in Hebron, Israeli undercover forces abducted a Palestinian citizen from a gas station. The man, later identified as Reyad Jaradat, was led to an unknown location.