RAMALLAH: Five Palestinians are presently on hunger strike in Israeli military prisons, an Addameer press release stated on Thursday. Three of the hunger strikers are long timers, while another two recently joined. Samir Al-Issawi has been on hunger strike for 127 days and has pledged not to cease until he is freed or dies. He is suffering from a dangerously low heart pulse rate, and was threatened by Israeli Prison Services medical staff with a forced glucose injection, a potentially life threatening form of treatment, before agreeing to accept medical treatment. It was previously reported that Al-Issawi had limited ability to use his right hand and right leg. Al-Issawi faints regularly throughout the day. According to Addameer, on December 1st, “during an examination with the prison clinic doctor, Samir tried to stand and lost consciousness. Instead of assisting him, the doctor left him lying on the floor and exited the room." Ayman Shawarna, 36-years-old and on hunger strike for 158 days, has stated that he refuses to end his hunger strike unless Israeli officials agree in print to release him. It was reported that week that Shawarna said he is ready to “intensify" his hunger strike, according to Ma'an News Agency. He is presently being held in a military clinic, shackled to his hospital bed for the vast majority of the day. Due to health conditions as a result of his strike, he cannot sleep and has lost over 90 percent of his vision in his right eye. Both Al-Issaw and Shawarna were released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner swap that released 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, only to be rearrested and placed in administrative detention, a process in which Israel does not charge prisoners with crimes but imprisons them on the basis of “secret evidence". A third administrative detainee, Oday Keilani, has been on hunger strike for 46 days. It was previously reported that he suffers from pain in various parts of his body. His sentence was extended for an additional four months and his lawyers are continually denied access to his case, according to Ma'an. An Addameer lawyer was denied a visit to Keilani this week, the press release added. Jazer Azzidine and Tarek Qa'adan, arrested two weeks ago in a sweeping campaign across the West Bank, have each been on hunger strike for 8 days. Azzidine participated in a previous hunger strike. Hunger strikes as a method of resistance “Hunger strikes are pivotal for the struggle of Palestinian inmates," Karam, a recent computer science graduate from Zemer, told BikyaMasr.com. He continued, “Because when you are deprived of your basic right to dignity, to life, this is the only way to fight the cruelty. None of us want them to starve, but we know that this is the only way to protest and get a little bit of media attention for those living under illegal occupation and behind bars." “The prisoners will put our struggle in the spotlight, and it shows the world that the stereotype of Palestinians as terrorist is unjust. Here we have thousands of oppressed people fighting nonviolently—but the world isn't paying attention." As recently as November this year, 4,520 Palestinians are in Israeli detention centers, 164 of which are children. 156 are in administrative detention, a draconian practice in which prisoners are not charged and “secret evidence" is used against them. Last April Palestinian prisoners gained international notoriety when over 2,000 launched a mass hunger strike that forced Israeli Prison Services to cave into many of their demands.
