Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade for taking this issue. As he might know, 1,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are on hunger strike. The strike is in its 23rd day and has been named "Freedom and Dignity". The prisoners are only accepting water and salt to sustain themselves. The reason why the prisoners are on strike is the continuing brutalisation of Palestinian prisoners in Israel. I include 300 children who are not on hunger strike but who are in the prison population. I will read out the demands of the hunger strikers because they are crucial in terms of why the prisoners are on hunger strike. They include an end to the denial of family visits, the right to pursue higher education while in prison, appropriate medical care and treatment and an end to solitary confinement and detention and imprisonment without charge or trial. The prisoners are subjected to solitary confinement, torture, medical negligence, abuse, withdrawal of phone calls to their family members and violations of their basic human rights.

Over the past 23 days, some of the prisoners have been moved to other jails by the Israeli authorities, which is highly suspect. The Israeli Government has even stated that it is willing to force feed some of the prisoners, which I find unbelievable. I thought this was probably an exaggerated statement but apparently it happened in the 1980s with other Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails. One of the prisoners' leaders, Marwan Barghouti, has been in solitary confinement for the past 23 days, which is quite outrageous. The Israeli Government has refused to negotiate with the prisoners on their demands and refers to the prisoners are terrorists. I would refer to them as political prisoners.

There is growing international solidarity with and support for the prisoners. In general, Ireland has a very good record of showing support for Palestinian rights and statehood. We had a similar situation in the early 1980s with hunger strikers in Northern Ireland so we know what people have to do to demand their rights and the extremes to which they will go to highlight their issue. I am asking the Minister to highlight this issue and summon the Israeli ambassador and tell him to negotiate with the prisoners because it is only a matter of time before some prisoners die.

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