Palestinian Hunger Strike, Allan: A Symbol of Resistance

Local Editor

When Mohammed Allan's friends found out he was launching a hunger strike, they knew his stubbornness meant he would not give up easily.

"We knew he would go until the end with it," Odai Alaweyeh said of the 31-year-old Palestinian lawyer said to be a member of the Islamic Jihad Movement.

"He is the kind of person who, if he believes in an idea or cause, he goes until the end."

Allan finally ended his hunger strike on Thursday after beginning it on June 18 to protest his detainment without trial by "Israel".

His decision to stop fasting came after "Israel's" High Court suspended his detention -- and after he had twice been in a coma.

The court ruled that he must remain in hospital, but left open the question of what would happen if or when his health improved.

He was bedridden Thursday, but conscious and being given vitamins and minerals intravenously.

Allan has been held since November in what is known as administrative detention, which allows internment without charge or trial for six-month intervals that can be renewed indefinitely.

Palestinian authorities say "Israel" has offered to release Allan in November, at the end of his second six-month interval, but activists have continued to push for immediate freedom.

Hundreds of Palestinians are now held in administrative detention, according to "Israeli" authorities, and detainees have regularly gone on hunger strike to protest.

From Einabus near Nablus in the "Israeli"-occupied West Bank, Allan was little known only several weeks ago.

But his thickly bearded face has recently become something of a new symbol of Palestinian resistance, with his photo posted on social networks and branded on posters supporting his cause, not to mention being published by newspapers and television stations.

His lawyers say he was never informed of the accusations against him during his recent detainment, and his friend Alaweyeh described him as "religious, but not radical".

"He is stubborn, but he is a good and straightforward man," he said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team