Hamas in Gaza says it won’t be cowed by Abbas’ threats

The Palestinian Authority told Israel on Thursday it will no longer pay for the electricity Israel supplies to Gaza, Israeli officials said, a move that could lead to a complete power shutdown in the territory whose two million people already endure blackouts for much of the day.

On Thursday, nearly all businesses and schools remained closed, and public transport stayed off the streets in all cities across the occupied West Bank. Shops in commercial districts shuttered their doors, leaving normally busy streets and markets empty.

Maan, a Palestinian news agency, reported that Fatah is urging Palestinians “to clash with the occupier at all friction points”.

Qawasmi said that Fatah and the Palestinian people support the prisoners and their rights.

However, Israel’s Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan has said that the strike was motivated by internal Palestinian politics rather than a complaint on prison conditions, and called the demands “unreasonable”.

In a letter addressing global parliamentarians, Barghouti said that the Zionist authorities have detained 70 Palestinian lawmakers since 2002, noting that 13 lawmakers are still in Israeli jails for today, in a humiliating move to the Palestinian people.

In the programme, Hamas characterises itself as a Palestinian resistance movement against Israeli occupation, dropping references to holy war against Jews.

It was the “minimum that we can do for our prisoners”, he said.

There are an additional 2,000 prisoners, who belong to the Hamas group, considering to join the hunger strike.

Palestinian bus services were also on strike in East Jerusalem.

Former Israeli politician and author Uri Avnery described Marwan al-Barghouti as the “Palestinian Mandela” in one of his articles.

According to Palestinian figures, Israel is now holding more than 6,000 Palestinians – including 57 women and 300 children – at 24 prisons and detention centers.

Israel’s United Nations envoy Danny Danon has reacted angrily to a letter penned by jailed Palestinian terrorist leader Marwan Barghouti that was distributed to Security Council members this week. Some Palestinians have been held in administrative detention for years.

Catron is an organizer with Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. He also described the conversations they had discussing Israeli-Palestinian peace. Israeli settlers living in the same territory, however, have the right to protest.

The hunger strikers are now only ingesting water and salt and are protesting for better living conditions, including better medical care and access to telephones. Transferring prisoners outside of an occupied territory is a violation of global law.