Palestinian students on hunger strike
By Jennifer Thompson
Students from Birzeit University protested in front of the Palestinian Legislative Council headquarters in Ramallah on November 13, demanding the release of five hunger strikers in Palestinian Authority prisons.
Three of the five are students who were among dozens of Birzeit students arrested for suspected affiliation with the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements after the bombings inside Israel in March. Hundreds of activists have not been charged but are held under administrative detention orders, similar to those used by Israel.
According to the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment (LAWE), the Palestinian High Court ordered the Palestinian Authority to release two of the students on August 18. The five are in the third week of a hunger strike, demanding their immediate release.
According to Palestine Report's Muhammed El-Hasan, 24 students slept at the Ramallah legislature the night before the November 13 meeting, demanding the right to address the council. The protesting students refused to leave until council Speaker Ahmad Qrei' agreed to meet with them. Qrei' told the students the council has already passed a resolution calling for their release, but the PA Executive, headed by President Yasser Arafat, has yet to implement the resolution. He added that he would discuss the issue personally with Arafat.
In mid-November, several council members submitted a proposal to discuss a no-confidence motion against the Executive for neglecting to implement numerous council resolutions.
The LAWE has demanded that the Palestinian Authority uphold the Palestinian High Court decision and immediately release the students, describing its disregard of the decision as a dangerous precedent against the free functioning of the legal system. It condemned the practice of detaining prisoners without charges or trial. n