Israel

Israel: Deal Reached to Calm Tensions with Palestinian Prisoners

Published FEB 3 2023

Story

Image credit: Reuters [via Al Jazeera]

The Facts

Hamas-affiliated Asra Media on Friday said a deal had been reached with Israel to make life return to normal for female Palestinian prisoners who reportedly faced increasingly tough measures in the past week, some of which prisoners' rights groups confirmed have been lifted.
Al Jazeera
This comes a day after a state of heightened alert with reinforced staffing levels was imposed as Israeli authorities reportedly received intelligence that prisoners were planning to harm prison staff.
Reuters
This also follows the emergence of social media images and a video appearing to show three Iranian-made projectiles, similar to the shrapnel found in the city of Sderot after an attack from Gaza, with text on them warning: "The female prisoners are a red line."
The Times of Israel
Israeli guards have been accused of torturing, isolating, and firing tear gas and pepper spray at female Palestinian prisoners held in the Damon Prison, as well as raiding their cells and cutting off their unit's electricity.
Middle East Monitor
Tensions between Palestinian prisoners and the Israel Prison Service have mounted after dozens of detainees suspected of terror offenses were transferred to solitary confinement over recent days.
Haaretz
The leadership body of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails vowed in January to counter the Israeli crackdown with "insurrection and disobedience." It threatened to start a massive hunger strike on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in late March.
The New Arab

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

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PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

Experienced Israeli officials, as well as all major Palestinian groups, know better than Itamar Ben-Gvir that his hardline approach to Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails risks further escalating violence in the Gaza Strip. Yet, he is unlikely to stop provoking Palestinians, as if confrontations in the West Bank were not enough. Netanyahu is forcing Israelis to pay for his regime's recklessness.

Haaretz

Narrative B

Though Palestinian militant groups will try to use the prisoner issue by linking it with Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, Ben-Gvir had to advance these measures to ensure Israel's ability to regain control of its prisons. Palestinian prisoners had been treated with too much leeway — even celebrating the attacks in East Jerusalem from their jail cells, all at the expense of Israeli taxpayers.