Court denies Palestinian hunger striker transfer to Ramallah

The High Court of Justice on Tuesday evening rejected a petition by a hunger-striking Palestinian journalist to be transferred to a hospital in Ramallah, and ruled he must stay in the Israeli hospital where he is currently being held.

“The court refused the request of Mohammed al-Qiq and will leave him in the hospital in Afula,” his lawyer Jawad Boulos said in a statement.

Qiq, whose condition has been rapidly deteriorating, earlier on Tuesday rejected an Israeli compromise to transfer him to East Jerusalem’s al-Makassed Hospital, saying he would only end his 83-day fast if he is sent to a medical facility in the West Bank, under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction.

The 33-year-old journalist was arrested and held by Israel without charge under administrative detention, and is currently being treated at Emek Medical Center in the northern city of Afula, where he is handcuffed to his bed.

The United Nations has expressed concern about his fate, with the International Committee of the Red Cross describing his condition as critical.

The Arab Israeli physician Afou Agbaria, a former Knesset member, said Qiq was resolved to stick to his guns. “He said, ‘It’s death or freedom, and if Israeli security has something against me, it must bring me to justice, rather than to hold me under administrative detention without trial or charge,” Agbaria said.

The Shin Bet security service says Qiq was detained under the controversial administrative detention directive for activity on behalf of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

Administrative detention allows the state to hold suspects without charge for periods of six months, which can be renewed indefinitely.

Judge Elyakim Rubinstein said in court Tuesday that Israel aims “to save his life but under no circumstances will we remove him from Israel’s borders.”

The court also said that in refusing to transfer to the Arab-run al-Makassed hospital in East Jerusalem, as suggested by the court, Qiq was rejecting a reasonable compromise “within the framework of the frozen administrative measures concerning him.”

Qadura Fares, chairman of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, said the ruling amounts to “a death sentence” for Qiq, while other activists expressed concern Israel’s compromise could see him rearrested if he ends his hunger strike.

“There is no difference between Afula and al-Makassed hospital for al-Qiq,” Ahmad Abu Muhammad of the Palestinian Prisoners Society told the Palestinian Ma’an news agency. “If he decides to go to Jerusalem, they will take him, put two or three soldiers by his bed … it will be exactly the same.”

Qiq’s internment was officially suspended on February 4, but he has still been prevented from leaving the Afula hospital where he is handcuffed to his bed.

A father of two and a correspondent for Saudi Arabia’s Almajd TV network, Qiq was arrested at his home in Ramallah on November 21.

He has been refusing food since November 25 in protest against the “torture and ill treatment that he was subjected to during interrogation,” according to Addameer, a Palestinian rights organization.

The United Nations has expressed concern about his fate, while the International Committee of the Red Cross describes his condition as critical.

According to reports on Tuesday, Palestinian sympathizers are planning protests in solidarity with Qiq in Ramallah.

Agencies contributed to this report.