Prisoners strike to protest harsh Israeli measures

All Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons will go on a general strike on July 3, in protest against new Israeli policies toughening the living conditions of Palestinian prisoners behind Israeli bars, according to a statement distributed by the Palestinian Prisoners Club. Solitary confinement and preventing access to education are among the top grievances of the prisoners. Last Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially announced plans to toughen the conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. "I have decided to change Israel's treatment of Palestinian prisoners sitting in prisons," he said during the closing statements at the Presidential Conference held in Occupied Jerusalem. Academic studies= "Israel is taking a series of steps to change the prisoners' conditions. We will stop among other things, the absurd practice in which Palestinian prisoners enroll in academic studies. The celebration is over," he said. Israeli authorities have been putting hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in solitary confinement and isolation. The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Club have repeatedly announced that at least one third of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have been denied the right of family visits. No visits The families of those prisoners have officially been informed that they were not allowed to visit their children in Israeli jails until further notice. Palestinian authorities have complained to international bodies about Israeli practices. The Palestinian officials said that only immediate relatives with over the age of 70 and under the age of 14 are allowed to apply to visit inmates in Israeli prisons.