Hunger strikers on cusp
LIFE AND DEATH: IMPRISONED LEADER THREATENS TO STOP DRINKING ‘Prisoners are very determined and prefer to die in dignity.’
The mass hunger strike by Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails reached a critical point yesterday – the 31st day of the strike, with Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti threatening to stop drinking water.
“The next 24 hours are critical,” Shawan Jabarin, director of Palestinian rights group Al Haq, based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, told ANA yesterday.
“The prisoners are very determined and prefer to die in dignity rather than continue to be imprisoned in inhumane conditions.”
The prisoners are calling for family visits, which they have been denied, the right to pursue higher education, appropriate medical care and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention, among other things.
“Barghouti warned that if the prisoners’ demands were not met, he would cease drinking water and this could mean a life and death situation,” said Jabarin.
“Many of the hunger strikers are elderly and sick, and a number have been transferred to hospital by the Israelis due to the deterioration in their health.”
About 1 300 Palestinians have been refusing food and vitamins and have subsisted on salt and water during the strike, that has lasted one month so far.
Israeli media and authorities have claimed that hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have dropped out of the strike. But Jabarin disputes this.
“There were a number of hunger strikers who took part temporarily as an act of solidarity. They never committed to the open-ended strike,” Jabarin said.
“There are also others who had to drop out due to being too ill to continue and they were told by the palestinian prisoners’ committee that they should stop.” According to Palestinian media reports, the average weight of the strikers dropped dramatically, with an average loss of 20kg each. Barghouti reportedly weighs 52kg.
The prisoners’ committee appealed to the UN Security Council and the General Assembly to hold an emergency meeting to force the Israeli government to respect prisoners’ rights under international law, and to call on Israel to end inflicting a “slow death” on the detainees.
On Tuesday, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Michael Lynk, released a statement raising concern about Israel’s use of administrative detention, which involves imprisonment without charge, trial, conviction or meaningful due process.
“Israel’s use of administrative detention is not in compliance with international humanitarian law and deprives detainees of basic legal safeguards,” said Lynk.
He noted that many of the 6 000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, including the 500 in administrative detention, are in prisons within Israel, not in the occupied territories.
This contravened international humanitarian law.
Lynk expressed concern about reports that strikers were in solitary confinement, were being denied legal access and subjected to beatings. He added Israeli plans to use foreign doctors to force-feed prisoners – after doctors belonging to the Israel Medical Association (IMA) refused to do so – was unethical and amounted to torture.
Force-feeding is unethical and amounts to torture.