Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Nobody would ever advocate that anyone should ever go on hunger strike. I think the 1,500 prisoners in this case were driven to desperation. Most of those who are in jail in Palestine are not even tried. They are held after raids in the occupied West Bank as part of what is known as "administrative detention". It is akin to the system of internment without trial that was in existence in the North some years ago. At the end of April, the number of Palestinian prisoners stood at 6,100, some 300 of whom were children. As the Minister has said, the treatment of Palestinian prisoners is much worse than the treatment of Israeli prisoners, even though many of them have not been convicted of anything. For example, Palestinian prisoners have no access to phones, study or work. The main demand of the hunger strikers was to be able to access phones to call their families. Israel responded brutally, for example by transferring prisoners, placing prisoners in solitary confinement, blocking visits from lawyers and confiscating property. It began a media offensive against a particular leading prisoner. We have our own experience of hunger strikes in this country. I think everyone should condemn the Israeli response in this case.

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