A riot erupted outside Israel’s Ofer military base after an IDF court rejected the appeal of Islamic Jihad terror leader Khader Adnan on Monday against his continued detention.
An IDF spokeswoman said “150 Palestinians gathered and hurled rocks at security forces who responded with riot dispersal means,” resulting in some 23 rioters being injured.
The riot comes as Adnan enters day 58 of a hunger strike protesting his being ordered held on suspicion of terror activities under Israel’s administrative detention laws.
Under those laws security officials may seek a court order to detain an individual without charge if they are suspected of being a threat to national security.
Such orders can be appealed to a higher court and must be reviewed by the court every six months.
Palestinian Authority Minister of Prisoners Affairs Issa Qaraqe said the ruling showed “utter disregard for Adnan’s life, effectively condemning him to die.”
Israeli authorities say Adnan has not been denied food and is making an informed choice not to eat of his own volition. They added Adnan is being monitored by physicians.
The UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process called on Israel “to do everything in its power to preserve the health of the prisoner and resolve this case while abiding by all legal obligations under international law.”
However, the World Medical Association maintains hunger-striking prisoners who have made a rational decision to refuse sustenance should not be force fed.
In 1975 the organization resolved, “Where a prisoner refuses nourishment and is considered by the physician as capable of forming an unimpaired and rational judgment concerning the consequences of such a voluntary refusal of nourishment, he or she shall not be fed artificially.”
“The decision as to the capacity of the prisoner to form such a judgment should be confirmed by at least one other independent physician. The consequences of the refusal of nourishment shall be explained by the physician to the prisoner,” the WMA maintains.
Israeli officials say they will consider forcibly terminating Adnan’s hunger-strike should he begin to suffer serious health effects, but note that hasn’t happened yet.
Adnan is a senior member of the Islamic Jihad terror organization from northern Samaria. Islamic Jihad seeks the destruction of Israel and actively targets Jewish civilians.
In late January, the GSS and Israel Police foiled a shooting attack planned by an Israeli Arab in collaboration with an Islamic Jihad terror cell from Tulkarem in northern Samaria.
Last August, Islamic Jihad terrorists from Gaza were involved in the deadly cross-border ambush of an Israeli civilian bus that left 8 Israelis – 7 of them civilians – dead.
Islamic Jihad leaders in Gaza – whose terror cells are heavily involved in rocket attacks on Israel’s southern communities – have been targeted with airstrikes rather than arrest and detention.
