Israel's minister of public security says a prominent Palestinian prisoner has been placed in solitary confinement for inciting a large-scale hunger strike. Gilad Erdan told Israel's Army Radio Tuesday that Marwan Barghouti was punished for "instigating mutiny and leading the hunger strike." Activists said more than 1,500 of about 6,500 Palestinian security prisoners joined the open-ended protest. The strikers' immediate demands included better conditions and more contact with relatives. Barghouti was arrested in 2002 during the second Palestinian uprising and convicted on multiple counts of murder. Israel charged him with directing suicide bombings and he was sentenced to five life terms. Erdan says the prisoners receive all privileges required by international law. He said the strike was part of an internal Palestinian struggle for power. He vowed not to negotiate with hundreds of Palestinian detainees on the second day of a hunger strike led by popular leader Marwan Barghouti. More than 1,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons launched the hunger strike on Monday, issuing a list of demands ranging from better medical services to access to telephones. Issa Qaraqe, head of prisoner affairs for the Palestinian Authority, said on Monday that around 1,300 prisoners were on hunger strike and the number could rise. The Palestinian Prisoners' Club had put the number at 1,500. A spokesman for the Israel Prisons Service said around 1,100 prisoners started the hunger strike and roughly the same number were believed to be continuing on Tuesday. Erdan vowed that Israeli authorities would not negotiate with the prisoners and said Barghouti had been moved to another prison and placed in solitary confinement. He said Barghouti had been placed in solitary confinement because calling for the hunger strike was against prison rules. Some 6,500 Palestinians are currently detained by Israel for a range of offences and alleged crimes. Of those, 62 are women and 300 are minors. Some 500 are held under administrative detention, which allows for imprisonment without charge. Palestinian prisoners have mounted repeated hunger strikes, but rarely on such a large scale. Barghouti's call for the strike has given it added credibility, with the 57-year-old serving five life sentences over his role in the second Palestinian intifada or uprising. He was convicted of attacks that killed five people. He is popular among Palestinians, with polls suggesting he could win the Palestinian presidency. "Decades of experience have proved that Israel's inhumane system of colonial and military occupation aims to break the spirit of prisoners and the nation to which they belong, by inflicting suffering on their bodies, separating them from their families and communities, using humiliating measures to compel subjugation," Barghouti wrote in a New York Times opinion piece. "In spite of such treatment, we will not surrender to it." — Agencies
