Palestinian Prisoners Begin Hunger Strike

Facts

• In Israel, 30 Palestinian prisoners have reportedly begun an open-ended hunger strike to protest their incarceration by "administrative detention," a process that allows Israel to hold prisoners for renewable durations based on secret evidence that requires neither charges nor trial.
• The prisoners declared their hunger strike using the slogan "Our Decision is Freedom." They reportedly rejected a request from the prison management to postpone their action until Wednesday.
• As reported by the Palestinian news agency Wafa, another 50 prisoners are anticipated to join the hunger strike on Thursday.
• This latest move follows a high-profile hunger strike by Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh, who went 172 days refusing food. He ended his strike last month after receiving written agreement for his release on Oct. 2.
• The number of administrative detainees in Israeli prisons has reached approximately 760 out of the 4,650 total Palestinian prisoners, according to Palestinian sources.

Sources: Al Jazeera, Samidoun, Jordan, and Middle East Monitor.

Narratives

• Pro-Palestine, as provided by The New Arab. In the face of a brutal occupation and unjust detention techniques, the use of hunger strikes is one of the only ways Palestinian prisoners can reclaim their human rights. These prisoners are being wrongly held, and have little other option than to protest against the Israeli state and its abhorrent practices.
• Pro-Israel, as provided by i24 News. Administrative detention is necessary to keep dangerous suspects off the streets without revealing sensitive intelligence that would harm Israel's security. This approach has been proven to prevent deadly terror attacks. This context must be applied when covering the stories of any hunger strikes.

Predictions