A Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike for the past 60 days has slipped into a coma, according to his lawyer.
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A number of other Palestinian prisoners have also resorted to hunger strikes – a practice the United Nations has labeled “a fundamental human right” – to protest their indefinite detention.
Allan is a member of Islamic jihad, a Palestinian militant group, and Israeli security services have said he has been detained for activities relating to the organization but no further details are known.
At the heart of the matter is the new, contentious law that allows a judge to sanction force-feeding or administration of medical treatment if there is a threat to an inmate’s life, even if the prisoner refuses.
Israeli authorities are anxious that the death of a Palestinian hunger striker in an Israeli jail could spark violence and an worldwide backlash.
The association is challenging the law in Israel’s High Court of Justice on the grounds that it is legally and ethically flawed, and contravenes long-running global advice for medical practitioners.
Doctors there have also stated they would not force-feed Allan, but the hospital’s medical director, Dr Chezi Levy, did not rule it out when speaking with the media this week.
A statement from the Barzilai hospital, where Mr Allan is being treated, said his condition had deteriorated on Friday morning but remained stable.
Allan is fasting to protest his nine-month arrest without trial or charges, a measure called administrative detention that Israel uses to detain suspected terrorists.
An initial investigation by the Israeli military concluded that the Palestinian assailant reached the checkpoint from west of the Beit Horon settlement in order to attack the soldier, the Channel 10 news reported.
Naser Allan said his son lost consciousness and was moved from a ward at Barzilai hospital into the intensive care unit of the facility in the southern city of Ashkelon. Hospital spokeswoman Ayelet Kedar said Thursday that doctors did not intervene because Allan was not yet in life-threatening condition.
“It’s time for the Israeli government to put all its effort in bringing right-wing Jewish extremists to justice, but administrative detentions are not the answer”, it said. “But it will be a real victory if he will be released”. “Now he is in hands of his God and all what we can do is praying to God to protect his life”.
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Cheslow is a McClatchy special correspondent.
