'Barrel Of Dynamite': Palestinian Man Dies In Israeli Custody, Palestinians Riot; PA Officials: Third Intifada Is Here

By STUART WINER, The Times of Israel – “Four thousand five hundred Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails went on a hunger strike Sunday to protest the death of Arafat Shalish Shahin Jaradat in Megiddo Prison the day before, amid a wave of clashes in the West Bank that has been stoking Israeli concerns of a third Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

Palestinian officials on Sunday morning warned that another popular uprising was indeed unfolding, but asserted that protesters would stick to the path of nonviolence.

‘The death of the prisoner is the culmination of an already tense situation,’ Kadoura Fares, a former PA minister and the head of the Palestinian prisoner’s club, told Maariv. ‘All of the incidents reveal a clear trend – we’re facing an intifada. The hunger-striking prisoners and the tense demonstrations, the violent clashes during which Palestinian civilians are killed, and the frozen peace process – all indicate that we’re sitting on a barrel of dynamite.’

‘It may very well be that Jaradat’s death will turn out to have been the match that lit it,’ he added.

Jaradat, 30, died of an apparent heart attack Saturday afternoon, according to Prison Services spokeswoman Sivan Weizman.

Following the announcement of Jaradat’s death, prisoners briefly rioted in the Ofer Prison in the West Bank. In Hebron, Palestinian protesters clashed with security forces, who dispersed them using teargas. One soldier and two Palestinians were lightly injured.

The Israeli government categorically demanded from the Palestinian Authority that it calm the West Bank unrest, Israel Radio reported…

His death is seen as another source of rage for Palestinians who have already been stepping up demonstrations in protest of Israeli-held Palestinian prisoners, especially four long-time hunger-strikers, including one whose health is rapidly deteriorating.” Read more.

PA Gives No Indication Of Calling For West Bank Calm – “[A] senior aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas gave no indication the Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, would issue any call for calm, and blamed Israel for the spike in unrest. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Abbas aide, said Israel’s treatment of prisoners and anti-Palestinian violence by Jewish settlers were ‘the cause of the deterioration’.” Read more.

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