Palestinian prisoners’ rights group calls for boycott of Israeli goods

The National Committee to Support the Hunger Strike (NCSHS) has called for the prevention of Israeli goods from entering Palestinian markets in response to the ongoing violations against prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails.

In a statement yesterday, the committee called to prevent commercial vehicles and trucks loaded with Israeli goods from entering the West Bank.

“The boycott option aims to punish the Israeli occupation authorities for refusing to comply with the hunger strikers’ demands,” Issam Abu Bakr, a member of the NCSHS, said.

Abu Bakr stressed in an interview with Quds Press yesterday for the need to cause losses to the Israeli economy “on the grounds that the boycott is a form of popular resistance.”

Some 1,580 Palestinian prisoners began a mass hunger strike to protest against the conditions the Israeli authorities have imposed against them and to demand an improvement in their detention conditions.

Israel currently imprisons around 6,500 Palestinians across 22 prisons. Amongst this are 29 prisoners who have been incarcerated since before the Oslo Accords of 1993 were signed between the Palestinian leadership and Israel, as well as at least 13 children.