Hunger strikers denied hospitals

JERUSALEM- Israel declared its hospitals off-limits yesterday to the 2 800 Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli prisons, saying they could be treated in makeshift facilities behind bars if taken ill.

“I am not prepared for there to be a situation where the lives of patients and medical teams are endangered in our hospitals as a result of us having to admit these murderers,” health minister Danny Naveh told Army Radio. “If a field hospital has to be set up at a Prisons Service installation, then that is what should be done,” Naveh said.Israeli public cecurity minister Tzahi Hanegbi, like Naveh a member of prime minister Ariel Sharon’s right-wing Likud party, said last week he didn’t care if the prisoners starved to death.Seen by Palestinians as symbols of resistance to Israeli occupation, the inmates at 10 jails are refusing food to force wardens to stop strip searches, allow more frequent family visits, improve sanitation and install public telephones.Israeli officials call the liquids-only fast that began on August 15 a ploy by prisoners to secure easier communication with militant groups waging a four-year-old Palestinian revolt.About 7 000 Palestinians, excluding ordinary criminals, are held in Israeli jails.Among the inmates are those who openly identify with Islamic groups sworn to Israel’s destruction, and thus elicit little sympathy among the general Israeli public.Hisham Abdel-Razek, the Palestinian minister for prisoners affairs, called Naveh’s comments “inhuman and arrogant”.”Israel is behaving like a state above the law and Israeli ministers are acting as if they are above Israeli law,” Abdel-Razek told Reuters.- Nampa-Reuters”If a field hospital has to be set up at a Prisons Service installation, then that is what should be done,” Naveh said.Israeli public cecurity minister Tzahi Hanegbi, like Naveh a member of prime minister Ariel Sharon’s right-wing Likud party, said last week he didn’t care if the prisoners starved to death.Seen by Palestinians as symbols of resistance to Israeli occupation, the inmates at 10 jails are refusing food to force wardens to stop strip searches, allow more frequent family visits, improve sanitation and install public telephones.Israeli officials call the liquids-only fast that began on August 15 a ploy by prisoners to secure easier communication with militant groups waging a four-year-old Palestinian revolt.About 7 000 Palestinians, excluding ordinary criminals, are held in Israeli jails.Among the inmates are those who openly identify with Islamic groups sworn to Israel’s destruction, and thus elicit little sympathy among the general Israeli public.Hisham Abdel-Razek, the Palestinian minister for prisoners affairs, called Naveh’s comments “inhuman and arrogant”.”Israel is behaving like a state above the law and Israeli ministers are acting as if they are above Israeli law,” Abdel-Razek told Reuters.- Nampa-Reuters