RAMALLAH, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian leadership expects that the Egyptian efforts will soon succeed in reaching a settlement between Israel and hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners, a Palestinian official said Thursday.
"We have positive signs that the results of these efforts will be seen by Saturday," said Ziad Abu Ein of the Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs Ministry. He refused to elaborate.
According to Abu Ein, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met families of the prisoners on Wednesday and told them that Egypt was holding high-level contacts to "end the suffering of the prisoners."
Abbas also said that Egypt focuses its efforts on stopping the detention of Palestinians without a charge, known as the administrative detention. A key request of the hunger strikers was to stop this kind of imprisonment, which can keep some detainees held for years.
Two of the prisoners on administrative detention have been fasting for 74 days. Abu Ein warned that the death of any of them will "change the situation in the whole region and bring negative, unpredictable outcomes."
On April 17, at least 1,500 prisoners joined the hunger strike and the requests increased and varied from improving the day to day conditions and ending the solitary confinement.
Israel responded to some of the demands and the inmates are studying them.
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