The release of all Palestinian detainees from Israeli jails was called for by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
At an inauguration ceremony for two charitable projects in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Abbas said, “We must continue our demand for addressing the Palestinian refugee issue and the release of all the brave detainees.”
Nearly 4,550 Palestinian detainees are in Israeli jails, including 175 minors and 27 female detainees, along with 670 detainees held under Israeli administrative detention without charge or trial, according to Palestinian figures.
Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails threatened to stage an open-ended hunger strike on Saturday to protest Israeli abuses.
In order to demand better living conditions and an end to indefinite detentions, Palestinians jailed by Israel have used hunger strikes for years.
Palestinians will not leave their occupied territories, Abbas vowed, stating: “We will not leave out country whatsoever the conditions are.”
Although negotiations failed to complete the agreement and lead to a Palestinian state, the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel signed the Oslo agreement in 1993, which gave Palestinians a form of civil rule.
As Tel Aviv refused to stop settlement building and release Palestinian detainees imprisoned before 1993, peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis collapsed in April 2014.
