by Najib Faraj
BETHLEHEM, West Bank, Aug 28 (AFP) - Several thousand Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails pressed on with a fortnight-long hunger strike, buoyed by a token concession on the part of Israel, as a suspected Palestinian collaborator was shot dead by gunmen in the West Bank.
On Friday night, the Palestinian prisoners` association said some 800 detainees at Ashkelon prison had temporarily called off their strike after some of their demands for better conditions were met.
The other 3,200 prisoners are maintaining the strike, the association said.
Some 8,000 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons.
The authorities at Ashkelon had agreed to end solitary confinement in tiny cells for recalcitrant prisoners, as well as systematic "humiliating" body searches of prisoners who had been stripped naked, the group said.
The prison would also provide better food and relax restrictions on visits by prisoners` relatives.
However the prisons authority has refused to remove the glass between prisoners and visitors, give free access to telephones, stop punishing inmates by fines and allow them to take university courses by correspondence.
The suspension of the strike until Monday was to allow prisoners to pursue talks with the authorities on other demands, as well as to see whether the improved measures would be extended to other facilities, association head Issa Qaraqie told AFP.
Qaraqie appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross to monitor the implementation of the agreement and said demonstrations in solidarity with the prisoners would continue.
Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath for his part said he would observe a fast, while minister of state Qadura Fares warned that the hunger strike could not go on indefinitely and a solution must be found.
The Israeli government has refused to negotiate with the prisoners, with Public Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi saying he is prepared to watch them die.
In a statement issued Friday, the UN`s top envoy to the region urged Israel to resolve the dispute and guarantee the prisoners` health.
Terje Roed-Larsen "called on the Israeli authorities to comply with its international obligations and to make every effort to find, with the prisoners, an appropriate resolution to the hunger strike.
"The UN agencies and offices remind Israel of its obligations under the fourth Geneva Convention and relevant international human rights instruments which provide for the protection of detainees and prisoners," he added.
Meanwhile, two gunmen executed a suspected Palestinian collaborator outside a mosque in the Al-Amari refuguee camp in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian security sources said.
Hassan Abu Sufiya, 27, from the village of Beit Sira which lies 15 kilometres (nine miles) west of Ramallah, was gunned down in front of dozens of onlookers by the two men, one of whom was masked.
Witnesses said the other gunman was a known member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs` Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat`s Fatah movement.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the sources said it had been unofficially claimed by the Brigades.
Such an execution -- in front of a mosque and in full public view -- is a common sign that someone is suspected of collaborating with the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.