Hamas loses out as Palestinian hunger strike benefits Fatah
Hamas prisoners have chosen not to join the hunger strike led by the currently imprisoned PLO leader Marwan Barghouti, making both the PLO and Barghouti look good.
The decision by the Palestine Liberation Organization’s imprisoned leader Marwan Barghouti to lead a mass hunger strike is a political gamble that could pay off well if it succeeds. Some 1,500 prisoners held in Israeli jails, mostly belonging to the PLO secular factions, Fatah and left-wing groups, have refused to eat anything since April 17.
The hunger strike comes on the eve of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s visit to Washington on May 3 and at a sensitive time between Abbas and the Hamas leadership in Gaza. The Palestinian president appears poised to put an end to the Gaza-West Bank division, even if it requires financial and other means of pressure on Hamas.
