Palestinians call for strike after prisoner dies of cancer

JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian factions are calling for a general strike in the occupied West Bank and urging Palestinians to confront Israeli troops after a Palestinian prisoner died of lung cancer. Nasser Abu Hamid died earlier on Tuesday at the age of 50. He was a former leader of Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, the armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party. He was sentenced to seven life sentences in 2002 for involvement in the deaths of seven Israelis during the second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, against Israel’s occupation in the early 2000s. Palestinian leaders blamed Israel for Abu Hamid’s death, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party called for strikes in cities across the West Bank.