Israel agrees to release Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike Israel-Palestine Conflict News

Hisham Abu Hawwash was arrested without charge and trial to end a 141-day hunger strike after reaching an agreement on February 26 to release Israel.

A Palestinian prisoner who has been on a 141-day hunger strike to be jailed without jail time has agreed to end his fast after reaching a release agreement with Israel next month, his lawyer said.

Hisham Abu Hawwash, the father of five 40-year-old children, is the latest to go on hunger strike among several Palestinians to protest his “administrative detention”, a measure that detains a prisoner indefinitely without charge or trial.

Administrative detainees are detained “in secret evidence” without being informed of the charges against them, and cannot defend themselves in court.

Abu Hawwash’s lawyer, Jawad Boulos, said on Tuesday that he had agreed to end the hunger strike after Israel pledged to release him on February 26. There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials.

After all, they won the determination and the will.#HishamAbuHawash #Hisham_Abu_Hawash pic.twitter.com/9fWekK1tEp

– Jana Jaber (@JanaJaberP) January 4, 2022

Palestinians rally in support of Abu Hawwash in the occupied West Bank and the siege of the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Islamic Jihad has threatened military action against Israel after its death.

Prisoner groups warned that Abu Hawwash was in “imminent danger of death.”

Abu Hawwash is on charges of arresting several inmates who have been denied food and water in recent weeks. Hunger strikers have been hospitalized for long periods of time until Israeli authorities agree to release them.

Like many before him, Abu Hawwash was hospitalized last month. In the last few days, he went in and out of a coma, and temporarily lost his sight and ability to speak, according to local media.

Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, who reported from Ramallah, said there had been “a lot of fear” in Abu Hawwash’s life and that his wife and lawyer were in the hospital with him on Tuesday evening.

His longest hunger strike was the release of Samer Issawi, a prisoner who has been on hunger strike for eight months since its end in 2013.

‘He risked his life’

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club has said that Israel has recently increased its use of administrative detention, which has led to an increase in the number of prisoners who have gone on hunger strike in response to a measure denying individuals the right to a proper trial.

The group also said that more than 1,600 administrative arrests had been ordered against Palestinian prisoners in 2021 alone.

To date, there have been at least 500 administrative detainees in Israeli prisons and detention centers, according to the Addameer Prisoners’ Rights Support Group.

Milena Ansari, an Addameer prisoner advocate, welcomed the announcement that Abu Hawwash would be released.

“It’s great news,” Ansari told Al Jazeera in Ramallah. “[But] it is not fair not to be released immediately because there is no charge, ”he said.

Palestinians detained without charge for development a Boycott of Israeli military courts.

This is to “emphasize the mockery of the trials that are taking place … without any accusations or guarantees of fair trial,” Ansari said.

Abdel Latif al-Qanou, a spokesman for Hamas, the group that governs Gaza, said Abu Hawwash had made “a new victory” that “reaffirms the ability of our people and our detainees to win all the struggles against the occupation.”

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric welcomed the agreement reached with Abu Hawwash.

“We have always made it clear that detainees should be tried or released in accordance with the legal procedure,” Dujarric said.

The 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank are subject to Israeli military courts, and Jewish settlers living in illegal settlements and positions are citizens of the Israeli civil justice system.

Israel took over the West Bank in the 1967 war, but Palestinian leaders want to form a major part of their future state.