Islamic Jihad: If hunger-striker dies, the cease-fire with Israel is over

JERUSALEM POST – The armed wing of the Gazan terror outfit the Islamic Jihad warned Friday that if one of its imprisoned operatives currently on a hunger strike in Israel should die, the group would break the cease-fire and resume hostilities against the Jewish State.

The statement came after Muhammad Allan, in the 61st day of a hunger strike in protest of his being held without trial in an Israeli prison, lost consciousness Friday morning and was in danger of dying, according to doctors at Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon where he is currently being held.

“After the deterioration in the condition of the heroic prisoner Muhammad Allan, to an unconscious state, after 61 days of hunger strike – in the event that he should fall as a shahid (martyr), as far as we’re concerned the cease-fire is over,” the statement from Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades read.

“The Al Quds Brigades, the armed branch of the Islmaic Jihad, announces that if Allan falls as a shahid, it will be a crime of the occupation toward our prisoners and our people that will force us to respond forcefully, ending our obligation to the cease-fire,” the group added.

Doctors at Barzilai said Friday that Allan’s condition had worsened and he “is receiving medical treatment, including respiration and a saline drip and his condition is stable.”

Both the doctor representing the Red Cross and the patient’s lawyer were informed of his condition, hospital officials added.

Dr. Hezi Levy, the director-general of Barzilai said that “his life is in danger. He has been on a hunger strike for some 60 days. This is not a simple situation. His body is losing materials that are not being replaced, materials that are essential to his body’s systems. The hospital has announced this and informed his family.”

Israeli prisons were on high alert for disturbances amid Allan’s deterioration and hundreds of Muslims protested for his release at the Temple Mount on Friday.

In late July, the Knesset passed into law the “Prevention of Damage by Hunger Strikers” bill, which gives authorities the right to force-feed hunger-striking prisoners. The step can only be applied after it is approved by the attorney general and a president of a district court, and only after a doctor determines that the hunger strike, if continued, would cause irreparable damage to the prisoner or that the life of the hunger striker is in danger.

Authorities must also first try to get the prisoner to consent to the treatment and make them aware of the realities of the procedure, which would be administered by infusions or tubes forced through the mouth or nose into the stomach, and a prison guard would be able to use reasonable force if the prisoner resists.

Hunger strikes have long been a favored tactic of protest by Palestinian security prisoners. In recent years, it has been used repeatedly to protest “administrative detentions,” the procedure in which suspects believed to be involved in security crimes are held in custody for months at a time – and potentially indefinitely – without charge or without being able to see the evidence or allegations against them.

The death of a hunger striker is a possibility feared by Israeli security officials because of the possibility that it would prompt a wave of rioting. The force-feeding bill was meant to give authorities the ability to prevent hunger strikers from dying, without giving in to their demands.