The objective of the strike is ostensibly to protest prison conditions, to receive more visitation time with family and to end detention without trial, but a number of observers see the effort as part of a Barghouti run for PA leadership.
The Israeli Prison Service simultaneously transferred the Palestinian prisoners who called for disagreement to other facilities, where they remain isolated, arguing, 'the call for a hunger strike is contrary to the prison regulations'.
The former Tanzim leader, wrote in the op-ed that a hunger strike was "the most peaceful form of resistance available" against what he said is "Israel's illegal system of mass arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners".
In a show of solidarity with their loved ones, the families and relatives of the protesting inmates launched a hunger strike in the West Bank on Tuesday, the Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported.
Some 6,500 Palestinians are now detained by Israel for a range of offences and alleged crimes, and of those, 62 are women and 300 are minors. Israeli rule over the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured during the 1967 war and claimed by the Palestinians as part of a future state, reaches the half-century mark in June.
"These are terrorists and incarcerated murderers who are getting exactly what the worldwide law requires", Erdan said in an interview with Israel's Army Radio.
You can bet they wish they got the same treatment as the terrorists in Israeli prison.
Israeli media slammed a recent column by Barghouti that was published in the New York Times, in which he explained the rationale for his hunger strike, criticizing the paper for failing to mention that Barghouti had been jailed for murder as a leader of Fatah's armed wing.
Australian Prime Minister Urges China to Put Pressure on North Korea
However, North Korea didn't respond to Wu's request to visit Pyongyang , according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency . Vice President Mike Pence is seeking to project precisely that: a more stable, predictable and reliable United States.
Israel's controversial "administrative detention" policy sees a varying number of Palestinians held without charge in prisons, often accused of links to militant group Hamas.
The protest was led by Barghouti, 58, a leader of the mainstream Fatah movement of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, serving five life terms after being convicted of murder in the killing of Israelis in a 2000-2005 uprising.
He is popular among Palestinians, with polls suggesting he could win the Palestinian presidency.
More than 300 Palestinians have been in prison since before Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed the Oslo accords in 1993.
The New York Times apologized Monday for publishing an opinion piece by convicted terror leader Marwan Barghouti demonizing Israel and questioning its right to exist.
Demonstrators had set up a rally in the West Bank to voice their displeasure at the poor conditions in which imprisoned Palestinians are kept in on Monday (17 April) before violent scenes started taking place.
"It is to be emphasised that the IPS does not negotiate with prisoners".
Responding to Barghouti's hunger strike, Yisrael Katz, Israeli intelligence minister, described the Palestinian leader as a "despicable murderer" and called for the "death penalty for terrorists".
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