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May 14, 2012 (Alarabiya with agencies)
Egypt has brokered a deal aimed at ending a hunger strike of some 1,600 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, a Palestinian source close to the negotiations said on Monday.
“Egypt has concluded a deal to resolve the prisoner crisis that included Israel’s acceptance of prisoners’ demands in exchange for ending the hunger strike,” said the source, who is close to the talks in Cairo, according to Reuters.
An Israeli committee is scheduled to meet with the Palestinian prisoners to acquaint them with the terms of the deal, Al Arabiya correspondent said.
One in three of the 4,800 Palestinians serving time in Israeli jails began refusing food on April 17 in a protest against detention without trial and to demand improved conditions such as an increase in family visits and ending solitary confinement.
Egyptian mediators have been meeting Palestinian officials negotiating on behalf of the hunger strikers, and the source said an official announcement of the deal would be made after prisoners and Israeli authorities work out details on putting the accord into motion.
While Israel had signaled it was prepared to offer concessions on prison conditions, it has showed no willingness to end so-called administrative detention, where prisoners can be held indefinitely without charge or trial.
Israeli officials had no immediate comment.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas warned on Sunday of a “national disaster” if any of the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails were to die.
Abbas spoke as two of the hunger strikers, Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla, entered their 76th day without eating, and after international rights groups and governments said they were concerned that prisoners could die if they continued to refuse food, according to AFP.
“The situation of the prisoners is extremely dangerous,” Abbas told a meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee.
