(Communicated by the Israel Prison Service)
1. On Monday afternoon, 14 May 2012, the security prisoners stopped their hunger strike after 28 days.
2. The declaration regarding the end of the strike was made possible in the wake of the understandings that have been formulated in recent days, the main point of which is the security prisoners' signature on a commitment not to engage in terrorism inside the prison walls in exchange for various easements in several areas, including the return of prisoners held in separation to the prison wings and the possibility of first degree relatives' visits to prisoners from Gaza.
3. Pursuant to the ISA statement regarding the understandings (see below), following are several additional points:
A. An inter-ministerial committee chaired by the Israel Prison Service Commissioner, and with the participation of representatives from the Justice, Foreign and Health ministries, as well as from the IDF (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories and the Judge Advocate General), the Israel Security Agency, the National Security Council and the Israel Police, evaluated the significance of the prisoners' requests and issued a serious of recommendations to the political echelon.
B. Before the strike, the Israel Prison Service Commissioner appointed an additional team to evaluate the prisoners' requests regarding their prison living conditions; in the wake of the halt to the strike, several actions will be carried out regarding which positive decisions have been taken.
C. The decisions of the committee were shown to prisoners who did not strike, thus preventing their joining and expanding the strikers.
D. It should be pointed out that throughout the strike, the strikers were under close medical care and received professional treatment as necessary, including check-ups and hospitalization according to need.
E. Upon the conclusion of the strike, the medical monitoring will continue in order to prevent possible complications from an unsupervised return to eating.
F. Security deployment in the prisons and dialogue with the strikers throughout the period prevented a worsening of the situation including possible violent scenarios.
G. Throughout the strike, the Israel Prison Service took care regarding prisoners' rights according to law and acted with complete transparency vis-à-vis official oversight agencies.
Understandings regarding the halt to the involvement in terrorist activity by security prisoners in Israel and the conditions under which they are being held
1. The leaders of security prisoners held in Israel have, today (Monday), 14 May 2012, signed a commitment to completely halt terrorist activity inside Israeli prisons and have announced the end of the prisoners' strike. This is in wake of the understandings that were formulated in recent days, mediated by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority.
2. This progress was made possible following the understanding that was given by the commanders of the organizations outside the prisons to prevent such terrorist activity, after which a "green light" was given on their part for the security prisoners to sign the commitment document.
3. According to the commitment, the security prisoners will refrain from all activity that constitutes practical support for terrorism, including recruiting people for terrorist activity, guidance, financing, coordinating among recruits, aiding recruits, etc.
4. The security prisoners' leaders signed a commitment document on behalf of all security prisoners, from all organizations and in all Israeli prison facilities; for their part, it will also be binding on future prisoners.
5. In exchange for this commitment, Israel has agreed to implement a series of easements regarding the conditions under which the prisoners are being held. These include returning prisoners held in separation to the general wings and allowing family visits by first-degree relatives for security prisoners from the Gaza Strip and from Judea and Samaria. It was also agreed that an Israel Prison Service committee will discuss additional claims by the prisoners regarding the conditions under which they are being held.
6. The understandings with the prisoners were formulated in the spirit of a previous agreement that was signed with them in May 2000. That agreement was formulated following a series of discreet meetings and was honored by the sides for a lengthy period.
7. The current understanding document which the prisoners' leaders signed says that, "Activity against security that shall be perpetrated inside prisons or a resumption of prisoners' strikes inside Israeli prisons, shall lead to the cancellation of Israel's commitment to implement the aforesaid easements."
8. In the background to the signing of the agreement, activity was carried out behind the scenes with the active involvement of Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and their security services.
9. For Israel's part, in accordance with the instructions of the political echelon, the Israel Security Agency led in the formulation of the agreement, in full cooperation with the Israel Prison Service and the Public Security Ministry, which managed the crisis within the security prisons throughout the period.
10. Throughout the discussions, it was emphasized that measures which Israel is taking towards the security prisoners were dictated by reality in light of their involvement in terrorism that has occurred in Israel in recent years. These measures are in keeping with the requirements of international law and international treaties.
11. Security prisoners' additional involvement in terrorism will lead to the reapplication of the aforesaid measures and to the abrogation of the understandings.