Police fired tear gas to break up a riot by Palestinian prisoners at a jail in southern Israel today, prison authorities said.
They said several prisoners suffered slightly from the gas but that no one was seriously injured as the rampage was put down at Shikma prison in the Mediterranean city of Ashkelon.
"The incident is now over and the situation is calm," an offical at the Israeli Prisons Service said.
The Prisons Service said inmates resisted when guards, fearing an escape attempt was planned, tried to search a cell after discovering a sketched map of the jail on a prisoner.
"The prisoners vigorously resisted the entry of guards . . . [they] began banging on their doors and threw sharp objects and burning papers, the prison service said.
An official at the Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Ministry, confirmed that the prisoners rebelled over the search and said they had already been angered by having some privileges taken away recently.
Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Minister Mr Hisham Abdel-Razek said yesterday Palestinian prisoners might rebel in Israeli jails if Israel does not release them as part of a US-backed "road map" to peace.
The high security prison has 613 Palestinians and 53 other prisoners, officials said. It was not clear how many were militants jailed in the 34-month-old Palestinian uprising for independence.