Palestinian hunger striker’s father wants him out of ‘hostile’ Israel

The father of a Palestinian terror suspect recovering from a two-month hunger strike says he will be moved to a West Bank hospital to get away from the “hostile environment” of the Israeli hospital currently treating him, the Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported Sunday.

The family of Mohammed Allaan said the 31-year-old will continue treatment for medical complications resulting from his fast at the an-Najah National University Hospital in Nablus. Allaan began the hunger strike in June to protest his internment without trial by Israel, which had been holding him in administrative detention for suspected involvement with the Islamic Jihad terror group.

Allaan’s father, Nasser al-Din, said his son’s condition would improve “away from the hostile atmosphere” at Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon.

The High Court of Justice earlier this month suspended Allaan’s administrative detention after tests showed that he had sustained brain damage as a result of his two-month fast. There were conflicting reports as to whether the damage was reversible.

The temporary suspension of his status as prisoner was enough to allow Allaan to end his hunger strike, family members said.

Throughout Allaan’s hospitalization, Arab supporters and Jewish detractors staged rallies near the hospital and at times clashed with police over Israel’s handling of the controversial method of protest.

The mounting tensions erupted inside Barzilai last week when a fight broke out between Allaan’s relatives and the family of a Jewish patient also being treated at the hospital. Police were called to the scene and arrested five people.

Allaan’s father said that an “extremist Jewish man threatened to reach the door of Mohammed’s room.”

A relative of Allaan said after the brawl that the family was “sick of racists not leaving the premises. They continue to hurt us and the visitors, and there’s no one to stop them.”

A local Israeli councilman who witnessed the incident said Allaan’s family started the dispute over a disagreement with a security guard about visiting hours.