The Times of London bleats out the news that the palestinian hunger strike has ended, with Israeli yielding to the terrorists’ prisoners’ demands.
There were close to 20 demands, almost all of which were way beyond the basic rights of prisoners as set out in international law. So it sounds like Israel really caved in.
Except, we didn’t.
Despite the misleading Times headline, we relented on one demand only – one additional family visitation per month – after the number had been reduced from two to one…not by us, but by the Red Cross!
“The details of any arrangement that would induce the prisoners to call off their strike were crystal clear: The key issue for them was the restoration of family visits to the previous number – twice a month. The Red Cross had halved this a year ago.
In other words, the hunger strike was a colossal waste of time, despite the attempts of some to try to find some other “win” for the palestinians.
But Palestinian analyst, Jack Khoury, opined in Haaretz that in addition to the restoration of bi-monthly family visits, the mass hunger-strike did achieve other results.
These included bringing the prisoner issue back to the consciousness of Palestinians, from across the political spectrum, who showed their solidarity in mass protests across the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, leading to serious clashes with Israeli security forces, resulting in numerous injuries and several deaths.
Nope, the only winners here were Israel – who did not cave in – and Israeli chocolate and confectionery maker Elite, whose Tortit got much publicity after it was revealed that is what Marwan Barghouti was cheating on his hunger strike with.
