Talks Ending 86-Day Palestinian Hunger Strike Now In Advanced Phase

By Jenn Loro - 22 Feb '16 09:18AM

Israeli officials and their Palestinian counterparts are currently engaged in advanced phase of talks of reaching a compromise deal intended to end the hunger strike of a Palestinian detainee in Israel.

Mohammed al-Qiq is a Palestinian journalist who was accused of being involved with the terror activities of militant Hamas that currently runs West Bank of the divided Palestine. He was picked up by Israeli security forces and was detained without charges being filed on November 21.

According to a report by Haaretz, the deal both sides are working on is the planned transfer of al-Qiq to Al-Makassed hospital- a medical facility run by Palestinians in East Jerusalem which falls under Israeli control. But the journalist indicates that he refuses such proposal.

"He refuses to be cared for in Makassed because it is located under Israeli sovereignty and he says he will not be retained in custody. He said, 'It's death or freedom, and if Israeli security has something against me, it must bring me to justice, rather than to hold me under administrative detention without trial or charge'," remarked former Arab-Israeli MP Afou Agbaria as quoted by i24 News.

The Israeli Supreme Court has just suspended al-Qiq's detention due to his deteriorating health. The detained journalist refused to eat or drink anything except tap water. The doctors, however, indicate they might have to force feed him as a drastic life-saving measure.

Meanwhile, the policy of detention without formal lodging of charges has prompted criticism from the international community particularly from the United Nations and the EU.

Known as "administrative detention", the controversial policy has its roots in British Mandate-era of Palestine which allows security forces to imprison alleged subversive elements without charge.

"I ... call for all persons subject to administrative detention to be either charged or released immediately," said U.N. envoy on Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking Nickolay Mladenov as quoted by Reuters.