Scores of Arab terrorists reincarcerated by Israel after returning to terror are planning a mass hunger strike on Tuesday, the day truce talks between Israel and Hamas begin ahead of the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana) on Wednesday.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) Prisoners' Affairs Union on Monday said 63 jailed terrorists, part of the 1,027 freed in the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal, will be taking part in the strike.
One of the issues to be raised in the upcoming truce talks - and the cause for the hunger strike - is the Hamas demand for hundreds of terrorists to be released in exchange for the bodies of IDF soldiers Second Lt. Hadar Goldin and First Sgt. Oron Shaul hy''d, who were killed in Operation Protective Edge.
The terrorists being demanded include the re-arrested Shalit deal terrorists who returned to terror, including the murderer of police Chief Superintendent Col. Baruch Mizrahi.
In announcing the hunger strike, a statement was released saying it aims to "demand that the Palestinian negotiators find a solution to the situation and ensure their release as quickly as possible."
The talks are expected to last only a day given the start of Rosh Hashana on Wednesday evening. Hamas has already rejected the lone demand of Israel, namely the disarmament of Gaza.
Instead, the Tuesday meeting will "allow a timetable to be put in place for (talks) after Eid al-Adha," Bassem al-Salhi of the Palestinian Arab negotiating team told AFP, referencing the Muslim "feast of sacrifice" in which the sacrifice of Ishmael by Abraham is celebrated in an appropriation of the original Torah story. This year the holiday falls on the first weekend of October.
"Since the start, the Palestinians have asked that the prisoners question be discussed, but the Israelis have categorically refused to deal with this matter," al-Salhi said of negotiations during the operation, in which Hamas breached numerous ceasefires while making exorbitant demands including a sea and airport, aside from the terrorist releases.
The PA Prisoners' Affairs Union says over 7,000 Palestinian Arabs are currently in Israeli jails. The group and other PA ministries tasked with "Prisoners' Affairs" have been actively finding ways of deceiving Western sponsorsfrom the fact that they are channeling funds to convicted terrorists.