Youth members of the Fatah movement gathered outside the Palestinian embassy in Cairo Sunday to protest harsh Israeli treatment of 1,200 Palestinian prisoners on an open-ended hunger strike.

"For those who sacrificed freedom, you deserve a strong campaign; don't worry Abu Ammar, their lives are not for compromise," were among the protesters' chants.

The protesters issued a statement in solidarity with their fellow citizens on hunger strike and to condemn the aggressive policies of the "Zionist enemy" towards the prisoners.

The statement urged Arab and international human rights organisations to investigate the harsh reality of life inside Israeli detention centres and prisons and support the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Fatah media spokesman in Cairo Riyad Saidam said the Palestinian national struggle had historically been embodied in either military confrontations or strikes and demonstrations.

The Palestinian prisoner crisis had emerged after the 1948 creation of the Israeli state, he noted, reaching 750,000 prisoners during the 1967 war. He stated that at least 400 prisoners had died in Israeli prisons due to deliberate killing or worsening living conditions.

Israeli authorities deny the prisoners family visits and some have not seen their relatives for over seven years, according to Saidam.

In October 2011, Israel and Hamas signed an Egypt-brokered prisoner swap deal that specified the return of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held captive in Gaza for over five years, in exchange for around 1,027 Palestinian prisoners. The deal stipulated the right of Palestinian prisoners to receive family visits inside Israeli prisons.

The Cairo protest was accompanied by a press conference attended by the Palestinian Ambassador to Egypt Barakat Al-Farra and the Palestinian Minister of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Issa Karake.

"The Israelis only understand the language of power, and we will work hard until we see the flag of Palestine raised over Jerusalem," Al-Farra said.

Large numbers of Palestinian prisoners were facing severe health problems after being on hunger strike for almost 68 days, awaiting effective Palestinian moves to pressure Israel to respond to their demands, Al-Farra added.

He referred to other demands by the prisoners, such as permission to use electronic appliances and the presence of lawyers during investigations. Al-Farra also advocated ending the so-called administrative detention law which legalises the arrest of Palestinians under the claim that they are a threat to Israel's national security, a law that has been in place since the end of the British mandate in Palestine in 1948.

The ambassador accused the Israelis of attempting to enforce a state of total isolation on the prisoners in a bid to convince them that their government and people are indifferent to their suffering.

Karake, himself a former political prisoner in Israel, highlighted the possibility of expanding the hunger strike to include water if Israel continued to ignore the prisoners' demands.

"Almost 2,500 hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners are facing the threat of death, as noted in Israeli – not Palestinian – medical reports, thanks to Khader Adnan whose spark ignited the flame of rebellion more than at any time before," Karake said.

The start of the strike last month coincided with the release of Islamic Jihad's Khader Adnan, a prisoner who refused food for 66 days before agreeing to a deal under which he was freed.

Karake emphasised the importance of granting prisoners education rights, ending solitary confinement for some prisoners, and recognising them as prisoners of war, not terrorists.

Karake said he was visiting Cairo to attend an emergency meeting of the Arab League to discuss such the crisis.

According to Karake, among the diplomatic steps that might be taken in the coming months are a request to establish a UN-led investigation committee to visit Israeli prisons, legal recognition of Palestinians as prisoners of war by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Lahai, and a revision of all bilateral Arab-Israeli agreements to force the Israeli government to reconsider its intransigent position pertaining to the prisoners.

Moreover, he advocated a strong campaign by the Arab media to "re-shape Western perceptions" of Palestinians in the face of pro-Israeli media bias in the US and Europe.

Karake told Ahram Online that he hoped the obstacles and hardships endured by the hunger strikers might encourage reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas and stop further disagreement among Palestinian factions.