Doctors refuse to force-feed Palestinian hunger striker

Doctors at the HaEmek Medical Center in Afula refuse to force feed Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Qiq, despite a decision by the Ethics Committee at the hospital that allows them to do so. Al-Qiq has been on hunger strike for over two months to protest his detention by Israel.

Mahmoud Hamid, an Israeli doctor and member of the Doctors for Human Rights organization, says he is “very concerned about Qiq’s situation, but is encouraged by the refusal of the medical staff to treat him forcibly.”

Qiq, a 33-year-old father of two and a correspondent for Saudi Arabia’s Almajd TV network, was arrested on November 21 at his home in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

He is being held under Israel’s controversial administrative detention law, which allows the state to hold suspects for renewable six-month periods without trial.

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 human rights organization.

He has appealed against his internment but Israel’s Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to order his release although it said it would follow his health on a daily basis.

The Shin Bet, the Israeli domestic security service, says Qiq was arrested for “terror activity” as part of the terror group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.