Around 4,500 security prisoners in Israel’s jails sent back all three of their
meals on Sunday in a show of solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers, and to
protest the passing of a security prisoner in Megiddo Prison on
Saturday.
Prisons Service spokeswoman Sivan Veitzman said the protest
included nearly all the security prisoners in the country, but that the service
did not view the action as a hunger strike.
On Sunday morning, Veitzman
said that the Prisons Service expected the protest to last one, possibly three,
days. By Sunday evening, however, she said the service did not know whether it
would continue on Monday, and no longer had a clear assessment of how long it
would last.
She added that while the protest had not included violence on
the part of any of the security prisoners, prison personnel were on a higher
state of alert than usual.
In addition, she said, only security prisoners
were taking part in the protest, not Israeli Arabs serving time for criminal
offenses.