Hunger striking Palestinian detainee in Israeli jails Mohammad al-Qiq rejected an offer by the Israeli military prosecution to release him on May 1, Sunday reported the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission. According to the commission, al-Qiq expressed his utmost rejection to the Israeli offer, maintaining that he will only suspend his hunger strike if Israel ends his detention without charge or trial. He reiterated his insistence to receive medical treatment at a Palestinian medical center once Israel agrees to his demand; to end his administrative detention. Meanwhile, Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Saeb Erekat, held the Israeli authorities responsible for al-Qiq's life, who faces the risk of sudden death at any moment. The PLO official said he had sent identical letters to the US Secretary of State, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Commission, and the UN Secretary-General, demanding them to promptly intervene and pressure Israel to release al-Qiq. On February 3rd, Israeli physicians at Afula hospital, where al-Qiq is being hospitalized, warned that he was showing serious warning signs of a stroke, given the rapid deterioration of his health after over two months of hunger strike. Al-Qiq, 33, a journalist, began an open-ended hunger strike on November 25, 2015, refusing to take nutrients and undergo medical checkups, relaying on water only. He has been detained without charge or trial on the basis of 'secret evidence' which has been withheld from him and his lawyers, thereby denying him the ability to exercise his right to challenge his detention. Al-Qiq is one of many Palestinian detainees who resorted to hunger strike to protest their detention without charge or trial. There are more than 500 Palestinian prisoners being held under administrative detention, a controversial Israeli practice that allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for up to sex-month intervals that can be renewed indefinitely. Israeli officials claim the practice is an essential tool in preventing attacks and protecting sensitive intelligence, but it has been strongly criticized by the international community as well as by both Israeli and Palestinian rights groups. The Israeli human rights organization, B'Tselem, said international law stipulates that administrative detention may be exercised only in very exceptional cases. Nevertheless, Israeli authorities routinely employ administrative detention on thousands of Palestinians. Israel uses administrative detention regularly as a form of collective punishment and mass detention of Palestinians, and frequently uses administrative detention when it fails to obtain confessions in interrogations of Palestinian detainees.
