Palestinian inmates in Israeli jails start mass hunger strike today

Prisoners hope to draw attention to solitary confinement and detention without charge

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"More than 1,600 Palestinian prisoners will today launch a mass hunger strike in protest at Israel's controversial administrative detention laws that allow it to hold prisoners indefinitely without charge.

The protest – timed to coincide with the annual Prisoner's Day – comes as two inmates in Israeli jails enter their 48th day on hunger strike. In recent weeks, two other captives came close to death after weeks without food, prompting Israel to agree to individual deals for their release that averted the need for a fundamental shift in policy.

The hunger-strikers have a long list of demands, top of which is to protest against administrative detention, a draconian policy that Israel has used to jail indefinitely those it deems a security threat.

More than 300 of over 4,600 Palestinian prisoners are currently held without charge, in some cases for years without ever knowing why. Israel says that revealing evidence in public courts would endanger its informants and methods, but critics argue that it prevents defendants from challenging the charges. Eleven prisoners are already on hunger strike, including Bilal Diab, 27, and Tha'er Halahi, 34, who have shunned food now for 48 days. Mr Diab, who was arrested in August, has collapsed several times, according to Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which has been monitoring the two men."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/palestinian-inmates-in-israeli-jails-start-mass-hunger-strike-today-7648297.html