Palestinians riot in PA cities, demand support for hunger strike

Palestinians rioted and blocked off roads in their own cities, demanding greater solidarity with the hunger-striking terrorists imprisoned by Israel.

Palestinian activists rioted and blocked off roads leading to the Palestinian city of Ramallah for the second consecutive day on Monday, demanding greater Palestinian support for the hunger-striking terrorists imprisoned by Israel.

While some Palestinian solidarity events have been held, the activists told the Palestinian Ma’an news agency that they were dissatisfied with the lack of Palestinian participation and wanted to obstruct locals from reaching Ramallah “in an attempt to make them remember the suffering of Palestinian prisoners.”

Residents of the Palestinian village of Surda, north of Ramallah, told Ma’an that a group of young men returned Monday morning to close the main road that connects Ramallah to a number of villages with burning tires and dumpsters.

Clashes broke out between the rioters and Palestinian police who arrived to reopen the road.

A few kilometers away, a separate group of demonstrators near al-Jalazun refugee camp closed off the main highway leading northward, using burning tires and dumpsters.

Further south, the main road in the village of Kafr Aqab leading to the Qalandiya checkpoint, just north of Jerusalem, was also blockaded by activists.

Northwest of Ramallah, a road blocked by Palestinian youth in the village of Abud caused heavy traffic jams.

The hunger strike, in its 29th day, was launched by Palestinian terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life terms for the murder of five Israelis.

Barghouti, 58, is demanding better conditions for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, while Israel has dismissed the strike as an attempt to raise his political profile on the Palestinian street.

About half of the strikers have abandoned it, including Barghouti himself, who was filmed eating chocolate bars and cookies while hiding in his cell bathroom.

By: World Israel News Staff