“The Israeli government is legally and morally responsible for the death of the Palestinian prisoner Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh. The authorities refused to release him even after he was in a terminal health condition and undergoing chemotherapy,” said on Tuesday the chairman of Hadash, MK Mohammad Barakeh.

He also asked why no medical authority in the Prison Service recommended releasing Abu Hamdiyeh even though he was suffering from severe cancer. “It proves that some of the doctors working for the Prison Service are agents of oppression and not medical treatment.” MK Barakeh called to liberate all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Palestinians hold-up pictures of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, during a protest at the city center of the West Bank city of Ramallah, April 2, 2013 (Photo: Activestills)

Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, a Fatah leader from Hebron, died in an Israeli hospital on Tuesday from throat cancer which had spread to his spinal cord. Abu Hamdiyeh had accused Israeli prison authorities of medical neglect and said he was only being given pain killers. He was admitted to Soroka Hospital in late March. Abu Hamdiyeh was first imprisoned by Israel in 1969, accused of membership of the General Union of Palestinian Students. Between 1970 and 1975, Abu Hamdiyeh was detained many times without charge. Abu Hamdiyeh was arrested again in May 2002, and in 2005 an Israeli court sentenced him to 25 years. Israeli military authorities appealed for a lengthier sentence, and in 2007 Abu Hamdiyeh was sentenced to life. Since Abu Hamdiyeh’s arrest in 2002, Israel banned his four children from visiting him.

On Tuesday, prisoners from all factions announced a three-day hunger strike. Detainees in Eshel prison, where Abu Hamdiyeh had been detained, set fire to bed covers and later refused to return to their cells.  In Nafha jail, where prisoners had protested for Abu Hamdiyeh’s release, detainees banged on cell doors at the news of his death.

President Mahmoud Abbas held Israel responsible for Abu Hamdiyeh’s death. “The death of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh shows the Israeli government’s arrogance and intransigence over the prisoners,” Abbas told reporters at the start of a meeting of his Fatah movement in Ramallah. “We tried to get him released for treatment but the Israeli government refused to let him out, which led to his death,” the president said. In Hebron, shops closed as Fatah announced three days of mourning for Abu Hamdiyeh.