Palestinian Editor

Two United Nations human rights experts today reiterated their call on the Israeli authorities to stop the process of legalizing force-feeding and medical treatment of prisoners and detainees on hunger strike against their will. 

Their call comes after the current Knesset decided to continue the legislative process of a Bill to amend the Prisons Act (preventing damages due to hunger strikes) initiated by the previous legislature. 

The independent experts warned that the Bill is expected to primarily affect Palestinians held by Israel, including those in administrative detention. 

The UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez, underlined that “feeding induced by threats, coercion, force or use of physical restraints of individuals, who have opted for the extreme recourse of a hunger strike to protest against their detention, are, even if intended for their benefit, tantamount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.” 

As stressed in past expert findings, the conscious decision of the person and his or her informed and voluntary refusal of medical measures are crucial to fulfil, respect and protect human rights. 

“Under no circumstance will force-feeding of prisoners and detainees on hunger strike comply with human rights standards,” the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Dainius Pûras, said. “Informed consent is an integral part in the realization of the right to health.” 

The international experts have engaged with the Israeli authorities on different occasions regarding the issue of force-feeding of hunger-striking prisoners and detainees. “The way to end the hunger strikes is not to force feed hunger-strikers but to address the underlying human rights violations against which they are protesting, namely, the practice of administrative detention”, they said. 

“We reiterate our call on the Government of Israel to refrain from force-feeding and other coercive measures and look for alternative solutions to extreme situations resulting from hunger strikes, including good faith dialogue,” they said. “We stand ready to provide the necessary guidance and assistance to the authorities on these matters.” 

The independent experts call has been endorsed by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Makarim Wibisono. 

ENDS 

The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity. Learn more, log on to: 

Torture: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Torture/SRTorture/Pages/SRTortureIndex.aspx

Right to health: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Health/Pages/SRRightHealthIndex.aspx

Human rights in the OPTs: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/CountriesMandates/PS/Pages/SRPalestine.aspx

OHCHR Country Pages: 

Occupied Palestinian Territories: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/MENARegion/Pages/PSIndex.aspx

Israel: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/MENARegion/Pages/ILIndex.aspx

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United Nations Peace envoy, Nikolay Mladenov, says the terrorist crime committed by the Jewish settlers burning a Palestinian family in Duma, West Bank, reinforces the need for an immediate decision to put an end to the Israeli occupation."

Expressing his anger, Mladenov said in a statement released today, that the primary objective of this crime is political.

"I share in the strong condemnation of this crime. I call for a full and immediate investigation to bring the perpetrators of this terrorist crime to justice," Mladenov said. 

Jewish settler from Occupied East Jerusalem ran over a Palestinian today Friday afternoon, while praying in Ras al-Amud neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem.

Israeli forces prevented Muslim  Palestinians under the age of 50 years old from entering Al-Aqsa mosque. According to eyewitness, the settler driving a car hit the Palestinian man and ran away while the Palestinian, who is under 50 years old, was praying in the streets of Ras al-Amud neighborhood.

According to the sources, the Israeli occupation Forces helped the settler to flee to near Jewish settlement.

Suspected Jewish attackers torched a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank on Friday, killing an 18-month-old toddler and seriously injuring three other family members, an act that Israel's prime minister described as terrorism.

Suspected Jewish attackers torched a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank on Friday, killing an 18-month-old toddler and seriously injuring three other family members, an act that Israel's prime minister described as terrorism.

The house in Duma, a village near the city of Nablus, had its windows smashed and fire bombs thrown inside shortly before dawn as the family slept, the military and witnesses said. Graffiti in Hebrew reading "revenge" was scrawled outside.

Both the child's parents and his four-year-old brother were badly hurt. They were taken by helicopter for treatment in an Israeli hospital, officials said. A second house in the village was also set ablaze, but no one was at home.

This would be the worst attack by Israeli assailants since a Palestinian teenager was torched to death in Jerusalem a year ago. That followed the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers by Palestinian militants in the West Bank.

The Israeli military boosted forces in the area to search for the suspects, described by a spokesman as "two masked terrorists", and prevent any escalation in violence. The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas called for revenge.

Ibrahim Dawabsheh, a Duma resident, said he heard people shouting for help from the house and rushed to it. "I saw two masked men outside," he told Reuters. He went to get help and when he returned they had gone.

"We found the parents outside with burns, they said there was another son in the house. We brought him out and then they said there was another boy inside, but we couldn't reach the bedroom because of the fire. He was left inside until rescue forces came," Dawabsheh told Reuters.

Pictures circulated by Palestinian media on the Internet showed a smiling, chubby-faced boy, named as Ali Dawabsheh. Footage from the house showed blackened walls and singed family photos scattered across charred belongings.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was shocked and promised that "all means" would be used to bring the assailants to justice. "This is a terrorist attack. Israel takes firm action against terrorism, no matter who its perpetrators are," he said.

Part of Netanyahu's right-wing coalition is the ultranationalist Jewish Home party, which advocates more settlements and settler rights in the West Bank. Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett was quick to denounce the attack, but

Palestinians accused the party of laying the ground for it.

Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said an investigation was underway and called the arson

"nothing short of a barbaric act of terrorism".

A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held Israel responsible. "Such a crime would not have occurred if the Israeli government did not insist on pursuing settlements and protecting settlers," Nabil Abu Rdainah said.

"PRICE TAG"

Hamas spokesman Hussam Badran called for retribution. "This crime has made occupation soldiers and settlers everywhere legitimate targets," he said.

Fearing the killing would provoke violence in Jerusalem, police restricted entrance to al-Aqsa mosque for Friday prayers to men over the age of 50 and to women. Police increased their presence in areas where stone-throwing clashes often occur.

Israeli Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the torching was an apparent "Price Tag" attack, a reference to militant settlers who threaten to exact retribution for any Israeli government curbs on settlement expansion in the West Bank.

Israel tore down two illegal structures in the Beit El settlement near Ramallah and removed dozens of people from another settlement near Nablus on Wednesday, prompting protests.

The "Price Tag" group has been blamed for torching a number of mosques in the West Bank in recent years. Those attacks caused widespread damage but no casualties.

Though Israel has promised to crack down on such assailants only a handful of indictments have been handed down.

The Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, they have limited self rule but nearly 60 percent of the territory remains under the full control of the Israeli military.

Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law. The last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in 2014.