The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Monday welcomed the Arab League (AL)'s decision to raise the issue of Palestinian prisoners to the United Nations.

"The decision is very important because it opens the way for exposing Israel's arbitrary acts against the prisoners on the international level," said Eissa Qaraqe', Palestinian minister of prisoners affairs.

The Arab states' envoys to the AL held an urgent meeting in Cairo Sunday to discuss the situation of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, as more than 1,500 prisoners have been on hunger strike since April 17.

The AL decided to ask the Arab group in the United Nations to call for a meeting to discuss the conditions of the prisoners and to get an advisory opinion about their case from the International Court of Justice.

Qaraqe' added that the AL will ask the UN to send a mission to check the prisoners in the Israeli jails. "We need as much support as possible to put pressure on Israel to improve the circumstances of the detainees."

The hunger strike, started individually by dozens of inmates days and weeks earlier, is the biggest collective protest in Israeli jails.

The main demand for the prisoners is to stop the so-called administrative detention, under it Israel can keep some Palestinians in prison without a charge, based on secret information that cannot be revealed in courts. They also want an end to the solitary confinement.

Israel holds 4,700 Palestinians, 320 of them on the so-called administrative detention.

ICRC voices concern over situation of Palestinian prisoners

RAMALLAH, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Monday voiced its concern over the health condition of Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli jails.

Nadia Debssi, a spokesman for the ICRC, urged Israel to respond to the demands of the prisoners, especially calls for allowing families to see the fasting prisoners and improve the detention conditions.Full story