If a Palestinian detainee who is engaging in a hunger strike dies under Israeli custody there could be an “uprising” and “revolution” on the Palestinian street, warned Ashraf Al Ajami, former Palestinian Authority minister for prisoner affairs.
“There is a lot of tension in the Palestinian street, and it may cause maybe a revolution or a hard reaction,” Ajami told WND in an interview.
“And for the prisoners (in Israeli jails) it will be some kind [of] rebellion or maybe something like that. And maybe also in the West Bank, the people, community maybe (there) will be some kind of reaction. Maybe an uprising,” Ajami said.
The former PA minister was offering his own personal analysis and was not himself intending to make threats. He pointed to a threat from the Islamic Jihad terror group to end its truce with Israel and re-start a rocket campaign if the detainee, Muhammad Allan, an Islamic Jihad operative, dies as a result of his now 66-day hunger strike.
On Thursday, Israel reportedly deployed an Iron Dome anti-missile battery in the Ashdod area south of Tel Aviv in case Allan dies and terrorists in the Gaza Strip renew rocket fire.
Allan is hunger striking to protest his administrative detention without trial.
Israel says Allan participated in “grave terrorism” but that he cannot currently be put on trial due to classified information involved in the case.
Israel’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled to suspend his detention due to his failing health.
Just before the court ruling, Allan’s lawyer told media that Israel had offered to release the detainee in early November when his administrative detention ends if Allan agrees to end his hunger strike, which has resulted in some brain damage.
Allan is in serious condition in Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, and doctors say his life remains in danger. He went into a coma and was placed on a respirator on Friday after his lungs stopped working. He was reportedly given salts and minerals intravenously but not calories or proteins.
On Tuesday, Allan reportedly regained consciousness for a period of time and vowed to stop consuming water within 24 hours unless his demands were met.
Last month, the Knesset passed into law the “Prevention of Damage by Hunger Strikers” bill, which gives the country the right to force-feed hunger-striking prisoners if certain conditions are met. The force-feeding can take place only if the individual case is approved by the attorney general and a president of a district court. Also, medical staff must determine that the hunger strike poses a risk to the detainee’s life.
Speaking to WND, the former commander of the United States’ detention center at Guantanamo Bay gave Israel advice on how to deal with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Muhammad Allan: Force feed him immediately.
Col. Michael Bumgarner declared, “Without reservation, they should force feed him.”
Bumgarner served as commander of the Joint Detention Group – the guard force at the Guantanamo Bay detention center used by the U.S. to house dangerous terrorist suspects – from April 2005 through June 2006.
He was instrumental in putting down widespread hunger strikes by more than 150 prisoners during his tenure at the facility.
He argued that if Israel does not force feed Allan, “You are going to have a constant breakdown within any of your institutional settings there.
“We found that the more we tried to entice them and encourage them all it did was encourage more of a hunger strike. … Inside the prison it is very simple,” he said. “You cannot enter into a position of greater policy being run by the individuals inside the prison. That’s exactly what happened at Guantanamo and things got totally out of control. They thought they were influencing national decisions by their behavior.”
