Israel passes law sanctioning force-feeding prisoners

The Israeli parliament has passed a law that would permit the force-feeding of inmates on hunger strike.

In the West Bank, Qadoura Fares, chairman of the Palestinian Prisoners Club that advocates for Palestinians jailed by Israel, denounced the regulation as a product of a “racist and fascist” authorities.

Spokeswomen for both organisations said they were considering filing petitions at the high court against the law. Hunger strikes in Israeli prisoners have also in the past lead to increased tensions in the Palestinian community. As he was promoting the bill, the minister earlier compared hunger strikes were “a new type of suicide terrorist attack” against Israel.

Over 6,500 Palestinians are now languishing in prisons throughout Israel, according to official Palestinian figures.

But Israel’s Medical Association, which considers pressure- feeding a type of torture and medically risky, has urged Israeli docs to not abide by the regulation.

The United Nations has criticized the legislation, saying it does not comply with human rights standards.

Israel’s Medical Association has strongly protested against this law.

But opposition members decried the new measure, with the Arab Joint List of parties criticising “a law to torture Palestinian prisoners, aimed at uprooting their legitimate struggle”.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel referred to as the regulation shameful.

The UN has previously described force-feeding as “a breach of global law” in the case of the US force-feeding detainees at the prison in Guantanamo Bay.

In June, Khader Adnan of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group went on a starvation strike in jail for fifty six days, refusing strong meals and consuming exclusively water, demanding an finish to his detention with out trial.

“Feeding induced by threats, coercion, force or use of physical restraints of individuals, who have opted for the extreme recourse of a hunger strike to protest against their detention, are, even if intended for their benefit, tantamount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”, Mendez said in a statement.