Health of Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike at risk

The global Committee of the Red Cross warned Friday that alleged Islamic Jihad activist Mohammed Allaan, held without charge since November, was “at immediate risk” of death after fasting for 50 days.

The UN maintained that hunger strikes are a non-violent form of protest used by individuals who have exhausted other forms of protest to highlight the seriousness of their situations.

While the new law does not specifically mention Palestinians, Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan, who sponsored the legislation, said last week it was necessary since “hunger strikes of terrorists in prisons have become a means to threaten Israel”.

The younger Allan is on hunger strike to protest his administrative detention, a controversial measure that allows Israel to detain suspects without charge for long periods. It urged Israeli doctors not to abide by the law.

The United Nations on Saturday condemned the law, citing a statement by the Israeli Medical Association to the effect that force-feeding is tantamount to torture, the UN labeled the practice “a violation of internationally-protected human rights”.

Ahead of the bill’s approval, Issa Qaraqe, Chairman of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Commission, said the law legalizes murder of Palestinian hunger striking detainees. “Generally, however, when a hunger strike is the logical expression of a lucidly thought out struggle and not a pathological response by a severely depressed patient considering suicide, prison doctors have to respect the expressed will of the patient and limit themselves to the position of medical counsellor”.

Peaceful protests such as hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners are “a fundamental human right”, the officials said. “Informed consent is an integral part in the realization of the right to health”.