Two Palestinians near death on hunger strike

Two Palestinians, Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh are near death on day 73 of their hunger strike against unjust administrative detention by Israel.  Both men allegedly express loyalty for the party called Islamic Jihad but they have not been charged.

Thaer Halahleh has been told he "could die any moment," by an Israeli prison doctor.

Despite his dire physical condition, he is mentally "still strong" according to a lawyer. Until very recently, Israel continued to deny him  necessary medical treatment.

Bilal Diab was arrested on 17 August 2011, at his home in the village of Kufr Ra’i, near Jenin, at 12:30 am. According to witnesses the family and a large group of friends and neighbours were sitting in the front yard, spending time together late into the night for Ramadan, when approximately 40 masked men, wearing civilian clothes, surrounded the house and entered the yard by climbing the walls of the neighbours’ houses.  Bilal’s brother, Issam, was thrown violently to the ground. His hands were shackled behind his back and then two soldiers stepped on his head.

Bilal and four of his friends were questioned for about 15 minutes. His four friends were then released, but Bilal was shackled, blindfolded and thrown to the ground. He was then dragged across the ground for 250 meters until reaching the military jeep. Bilal was taken to Megiddo prison, and then transferred to Salem Detention Centre for interrogation.

Since then he has been held "in administrative detention".

An Irish protest on behalf of the hunger strikers took place in Dublin yesterday. Tommy Donnelan's video of the event can be seen on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afV9cCQGAss