Israel punishes Palestinian prisoner who led hunger strikers

The Israel Prison Service (IPS) has subjected a Palestinian prisoner to an arbitrary prison transfer as punishment for his leading role in a 40-day Palestinian hunger strike across Israeli prisons that was suspended nearly two weeks ago.

Waddah Al-Bizreh was transferred from Israel’s Gilboa prison in northern Israel to Ramon prison in the southern Negev desert, as punishment for his role in hunger strike on 7 June,
2017 [Maannews]

Waddah, has been in prison for 15 years serving multiple life sentences, and was a leading figure in Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the occupied West Bank.

Firas said that transfer of his brother was a punitive measure taken by IPS to punish him for having led the hunger strike inside Giboa.

According to Firas, following Waddah’s transfer, tension has risen among Palestinian prisoners who denounced the move as an effort to suppress dissent in the prison.

Read: Palestinian inmates in Israeli jails end hunger strike

Arbitrary prison transfers are a common IPS tactic aiming to suppress resistance among Palestinian prisoners.

Since the suspension of the hunger strike, which the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs claimed resulted in 80 per cent of demands being met, reports have emerged of the continued mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners –particularly women and those in need of medical treatment – at the hands of IPS authorities.