Palestinian prisoner ends hunger strike as detention cancelled

Palestinian detainee Mohammed Allan has ended his 65-day hunger strike against his detention without trial after the Israeli supreme court suspended his arrest warrant, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

“The story is over, administrative detention is cancelled and therefore there is no strike,” Jameel Khatib told Reuters.

Israel was holding Mr Allan, an Islamic Jihad affiliate, under so-called administrative detention, a practice which Palestinians and rights groups oppose. Israel had agreed to temporarily cancel the administrative detention on medical grounds, after tests showed that Mr Allan was suffering brain damage.

Mr Allan (31), a West Bank lawyer and member of the Islamic Jihad, stopped taking food on June 16th. He lost consciousness and was placed on a respirator on Friday after his lungs stopped working and he had seizures.

Consciousness

He regained consciousness on Tuesday after he was given salts and minerals intravenously and told his lawyers that he would stop consuming water within 24 hours if Israel refused to release him. His lawyers rejected an Israeli offer to let him go if he agreed to live in exile in Gaza for four years, prompting a fresh Israeli proposal on Wednesday to release him at the end of his current six-month prison term if he agreed to immediately end his hunger strike. This offer was also rejected.

Tension was already high in the West Bank with almost daily attacks on troops and settlers since an 18-month-old Palestinian boy and his father were killed in an arson attack on their home three weeks ago, likely carried out by Jewish extremists. Israel feared that Mr Allan’s death could spark a new wave of violence across the West Bank and possibly rocket fire from militants in Gaza.

As Mr Allan’s health deteriorated, Israel passed a new law permitting the forced feeding of hunger strikers. However, the Israel medical association opposed the Bill and doctors refused to carry out tests that would have set the forced feeding in motion.

Victory

Palestinian prisoner affairs minister Isa Karaka said the fact Israel had agreed to release Mr Allan was a victory for the prisoners. However, Dr Arieh Bahrah, a bereaved Israeli father, and a member of the Almagor terror victims’ association, described the release as scandalous.

“After this, there will constantly be hunger strikes: anyone who wants to get released will only have to go on hunger strike for a month.”