(MintPress) – As U.S. President Barack Obama visits Israel to shore up Washington’s support for the Jewish state this week, at least three Palestinian hunger strikers languish in Israeli prisons, many on the brink of death as they are held without charge or due process of law.
Samer Issawi, a Palestinian from the West Bank, continues to lead the collective action against administrative detention, approaching his 250th day of a hunger strike. Issawi is demanding his unconditional release and has refused offers to be transferred to Gaza.
“I strongly refuse to be deported to Gaza as this practice will just bring back bitter flashbacks from the expulsion process which our Palestinian people were subjected to during 1948 and 1967,” Issawi said in a statement this week.
Although he has received nutritional assistance intravenously, Issawi remains in grave physical condition, suffering from heart problems after losing more than 75 pounds.
Human rights organizations have decried Israel’s use of administrative detention as inhumane, calling upon the Netanyahu government to swiftly try prisoners in civilian courts or release them.
Hunger strikes have resulted in some successes. Ayman Sharawna ended his eight-month hunger strike after securing his release last week. Like Issawi, Sharawna was held without charge or trial but agreed to be transferred to the Gaza Strip after Israeli authorities offered him a “10-year exile.”
Because of the military blockade enforced since 2007, Gaza has been described by residents as an “open air prison” where movement is strictly controlled and citizens are rarely given permission to leave. The 36-year-old is hopeful that his family in the West Bank will be able to join him in Gaza during the time of his exile.
Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence service said that Sharawna would be able to return to his home in the West Bank after 10 years “if it is concluded that he has not gone back to terror activity.” Sharawna is affiliated with Hamas, a militant political group considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States.
Human rights organizations claim that Sharawna’s transfer to Gaza violates international law prohibiting the transfer of individuals from their homes. According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights: “Forcible deportation is a form of collective punishment prohibited under the fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits ‘individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons.’”
Palestinians also decry the alleged torture in Israeli prisons, expressly prohibited under international law.
Earlier this month, Arafat Jaradat, a Palestinian prisoner, died while in Israeli custody. His lawyer claims that he was tortured and killed by military interrogators. Hundreds gathered to mourn his death in the West Bank, including Mohammed Barakeh, a member of the Israeli Knesset representing the left-wing Hadash party.
“I am standing here before you and telling you in all responsibility: Arafat Jaradat’s death was a result of torture. Israel cannot shrug off the responsibility for his blood,” Barakeh said. After Jaradat’s corpse was released from the Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv, family members reported that his body had sustained serious trauma — three broken ribs as well as black and blue bruises around his wrists and ankles.