PALESTINIAN prisoner Kifah Hattab, 53, entered the eighth day of a hunger strike on Wednesday in the latest of a series of hunger strikes launched by the prisoner who has demanded to be considered a prisoner of war in accordance with the Fourth Geneva Convention, according to a statement released by the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs.
On Nov. 23, Hattab launched a hunger strike after being transferred to Israel’s Nafha prison a week earlier, as he refused to wear his prisoner uniform or stand in line for the daily prisoners’ count, according to the committee. He has continued to demand that Israeli authorities acknowledge him as a prisoner of war.
Hattab, from the city of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, is a captain pilot in the Palestinian Authority and has been held in Israeli prison since 2003, when he was sentenced to two life sentences for alleged involvement in an armed organisation during the Second Intifada.
The committee added that this was not Hattab’s first hunger strike and that the prisoner had launched three strikes in the past in order to be acknowledged as a prisoner of war. Earlier this year, Hattab launched a 50-day hunger strike, eventually ending his strike after meeting with a lawyer who had arranged for several of Hattab’s demands to be met by the Israel Prison Service.
Meanwhile, Anas Shadid, 20, and Ahmad Abu Farah, 29, have been on hunger strike since Sept. 24 and 23 respectively, in protest at being placed under administrative detention – an Israeli policy of internment without charge or trial based on undisclosed evidence.
The committee stated on Saturday that both had slipped into a coma and have partially or completely lost their ability to breath, speak, drink, and hear. The committee also warned that Israeli authorities had threatened to force feed both hunger strikers.
An Israeli court temporarily suspended the prisoners’ detention orders on Nov. 18 due to the deteriorating health of the hunger strikers, according to Palestinian prisoner solidarity network Samidoun. However, the hunger strikers have continued to refuse food until they are completely released from detention and transferred to a Palestinian hospital.
Another Palestinian held in administrative detention, Ammar Ibrahim Hamour, declared an open hunger strike on Nov. 21. Israeli authorities have issued two six-month administrative detention orders against Hamour since he was initially detained by Israeli forces.
Meanwhile, Nour al-Din Amar, 30, has been on hunger strike for around 29 days after forgoing food at the beginning of November in protest at serving more than three years in solitary confinement. Scores of Palestinian prisoners have launched hunger strikes in the past year to protest over various issues, most notably administrative detention. The most prominent hunger strikers included Muhammad al-Qiq, Bilal Kayid, and brothers Muhammad and Mahmoud Balboul.
l Israeli forces detained three Palestinians over suspicions of starting fires in Jerusalem and Israel on Tuesday and Wednesday, while at least four Palestinians were detained over accusations of smuggling weapons from Israel into the occupied West Bank to support Palestinian political groups.
Israeli police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri said in a statement on Wednesday that Israeli forces had detained two 16-year-old Palestinians allegedly attempting to set a fire from a ‘pile of tyres… and tree branches’ near the industrial zone of Atarot. According to al-Samri, the detainees had a lighter and papers in their possession, while ‘their clothes had residue from the fire.’ They were taken in for interrogation.
In another incident on Wednesday, a Palestinian was detained on suspicion of throwing a Molotov cocktail into the Israeli town of Nataf in central Israel, sparking a fire, according to Israeli news media Ynet. The detainee was reportedly a Palestinian from the West Bank village of Qatanna in the Jerusalem district. However, no more information was provided on the Palestinian’s identity.
Remnants of Molotov cocktails were found in the area during an investigation launched by the Jerusalem Fire and Rescue Services, while another Molotov was found near the Israeli separation barrier that cuts through the West Bank, Ynet reported. The fire reportedly destroyed some 25,000 dunams (6,178 acres) of a forest and caused damage to buildings in the town.
Scores of Palestinians have been detained over suspicions of arson or inciting others to commit arson, at least 10 of whom were Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. Critics have claimed that Israeli politicians were quick to blame Palestinians for the fires as a political manoeuvre to further convince the international community of Palestinian hostility toward the Israeli state.
Meanwhile, the Joint List – the Israeli parliament coalition representing Palestinian citizens of Israel – and the Fatah movement of the occupied West Bank condemned Palestinians who have celebrated the fires for revenge over the adhan controversy, while Palestinian civil defence crews have provided reinforcement in order to assist Israel in controlling the fires in Haifa and Jerusalem.
On Tuesday, Israeli border forces also detained at least four Palestinians over suspicions of smuggling weapons to Palestinian organisations in the West Bank, Israeli media reported. According to Israeli media, two of the detainees were from the Negev in southern Israel, while the other two were from Hebron in the southern West Bank and had entered Israel without permits.
The four reportedly were taken for interrogations with Israeli intelligence, as Israeli authorities suspect they were planning to smuggle the weapons for their use in an attack against Israel by a Palestinian political group.
• Israeli naval forces on Wednesday opened live fire at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of al-Sudaniyya in the northern Gaza Strip. Witnesses said that Israeli boats opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats and forced the fishermen back to the shores of the besieged coastal enclave. No injuries or damages were reported.
An Israeli army spokesperson said she would look into reports on the incident. Israeli military incursions inside the besieged Gaza Strip and near the ‘buffer zone’ which lies on both land and sea sides of Gaza, have long been a near-daily occurrence. Palestinians who work near the ‘buffer zone’ often come under fire from military forces, as the Israeli military has not made clear the precise area of the designated zone.
The Israeli army regularly open fires on Palestinian fishermen and farmers along the border areas, despite a ceasefire agreement that ended the 2014 war. The practice has in effect destroyed much of the agricultural and fishing sectors of the blockaded coastal enclave.
Israeli forces also regularly detain Palestinian fisherman off the coast of Gaza working within the fishing zone, generally for alleged security reasons. According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Israeli forces detained 71 fishermen and confiscated 22 fishing boats throughout 2015.
The centre said that Israeli naval forces also opened fire on Palestinian fishermen at least 139 times over the course of the year, wounding 24 and damaging 16 fishing boats.