Jordan Times
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
Jordanian Prisoners in
Israel on Hunger Strike
By Alia Shukri Hamzeh
AMMAN — As Jordanian prisoners in Israel began a hunger strike on Tuesday, the
government reiterated that it was doing its utmost to ensure their release.
“Obtaining the release of the prisoners has always been the government's top
priority and main objective,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Rajab Sukayri told
The Jordan Times.
Sukayri said the government spares no effort to guarantee the release of around
20 Jordanians held in Israeli jails. He added that Foreign Minister Hani Mulki
will press Israel on the issue when he visits Tel Aviv on Saturday.
During his two-day trip to the Palestinian territories and Israel, Mulki will
hold talks with officials on reviving the peace process and bilateral
agreements.
Meanwhile, Saleh Ajlouni, head of the Committee of Families of the Jordanian
Prisoners, said the relatives urged His Majesty King Abdullah to obtain the
release of the detainees, charging that the government has been “delinquent” in
pursuing the issue.
The prisoners yesterday began the strike and issued a statement demanding their
release and insisting they would not rescind regardless of consequences.
Held in around seven Israeli jails on “political and security offences,” the 20
prisoners — including four who were sentenced to life before the 1994 peace
treaty — called on human rights activists and all “those with a conscience” to
help them.
Other Palestinian and Arab prisoners held in the jails have reportedly joined
the strike. Prisoners would live on water and salt during the strike, which,
they said, was also in protest against the government's “failure in performing
its national duty” to ensure their release, according to Ajlouni.
He added that expressing “solidarity with the prisoners and their families” by
the government was not enough.
Fadi Farah, a former prisoner, who was released four years ago in a deal struck
between the Israelis and Palestinians, told reporters the prisoners suffered
physical and psychological abuse by their jailers.
Farah said the government was unaware of their conditions and sufferings. “This
strike comes out of despair. It is no picnic for them and they are really
suffering there,” he said.
Analysts say the government was hopeful that the return of the Kingdom's
ambassador to Tel Aviv, Marouf Bakhit, last month, after a four-year absence in
protest against Israel's excessive use of force against the Intifada, would help
ensure the release of the prisoners.
The prisoners protested the dispatch of Bakhit to Israel, saying Jordan should
have insisted on their release beforehand.
But Israel's Haaretz daily on Monday quoted Arab Israeli Knesset member Ahmed
Tibi as telling Prime Minister Faisal Fayez and Mulki during his Amman visit
that the Israeli government “is not currently prepared to release the
prisoners.” Other news reports said Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's
trip to Jordan was postponed last month over the same issue.