Islamic Jihad threatens to end ceasefire

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement has threatened to renew armed resistance against Israel if Palestinian detainees are harmed in prison. Khader Habib, Islamic Jihad representative, said in a press statement: "If any Palestinian prisoner in Israel’s jails is harmed, all Palestinian resistance forces will halt the truce.” Palestinian prisoner Samer Issawi is currently enduring his 214th day of hunger strike against detention conditions. Yesterday over a thousand prisoners joined the hunger strike in solidarity with Issawi, with four detainees beginning a months-long protest against their re-arrest despite being freed during the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal in October 2011. A protest at Ofer prison last Friday attracted international media attention to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and the increasingly controversial system of “administrative detention.”