Since April 24, 120 out of the 189 Palestinians held without charge or trial have refused taking any food. Hundreds, and on some days thousands, of fellow prisoners also joined them. The usefulness of the protest was made clear by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’scall on Israel to either charge or release the Palestinian detainees. Among the Palestinians held without charge or trial are doctors, legislators, university professors and teenagers. Israel adopted the 1945 British emergency regulation and extended it to apply to anyone it wants in jail but is unable to prove anything against. The sheer injustice of being held without charge and for an indefinite period takes on an even wider dimension when knowing that it is practiced by, allegedly, the only democracy in the Middle East, which for an unbelievable 48 years has been holding an entire population under a military occupation that is also supporting and protecting the colonial Jewish-only settlement campaign. The number of those on hunger strike that are hospitalised tends to grow with each additional day. The past week witnessed an unprecedented transfer of 13 Palestinian hunger striking prisoners to various Israeli hospitals, bringing the total of Palestinians hospitalised to 80. These are the ones whose lives, Israel’s prison authority feel, are at risk. Many others are kept in jail despite their deteriorating condition. Israeli officials are debating whether to force feed hunger striking prisoners, which is considered a “cruel act”, an inhuman and degrading punishment. The World Medical Association holds that it is unethical for a doctor to participate in force feeding. Continue Reading »