Both Reuters and the BBC have published reports in the last three hours saying Palestinian prisoner Hana Shalabi, 30, has ended her hunger strike. Under a deal reportedly reached, Shalabi will be freed from prison and deported to the Gaza Strip, where she is to remain in exile for three years.
RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 29 (Reuters) - A Palestinian
woman on hunger strike in protest at her detention without
charges by Israel will be deported to the Gaza Strip under a
deal ending her fast, boths sides said on Thursday.
Hana Shalabi, a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group,
stopped taking food after Israeli troops seized her in the
occupied West Bank on Feb. 16. She was the second Palestinian
detainee in quick succession to go on hunger strike, a protest
since taken up by around two-dozen others.
Qadoura Fares of the Palestinian Prisoners Club said
Shalabi, 30, had agreed to three years' exile in Gaza, which is
geographically separate from the West Bank and under Israeli
blockade, "in return for ending her strike and being freed".
"This is her decision and her own life," Fares told Reuters.
woman on hunger strike in protest at her detention without
charges by Israel will be deported to the Gaza Strip under a
deal ending her fast, boths sides said on Thursday.
Hana Shalabi, a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group,
stopped taking food after Israeli troops seized her in the
occupied West Bank on Feb. 16. She was the second Palestinian
detainee in quick succession to go on hunger strike, a protest
since taken up by around two-dozen others.
Qadoura Fares of the Palestinian Prisoners Club said
Shalabi, 30, had agreed to three years' exile in Gaza, which is
geographically separate from the West Bank and under Israeli
blockade, "in return for ending her strike and being freed".
"This is her decision and her own life," Fares told Reuters.
Reuters also quotes an unnamed Israeli military source as saying the deportation will occur "in the next few days."
The news comes on the 44th day of Shalabi's hunger strike. Last week, reports surfaced saying the prisoner was near death and being subjected to intense pressure by Israeli officials to end her hunger strike. Today's BBC report quotes Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqaa as saying, "She had to accept because Israel put pressure on her. But we are totally opposed to all deportation measures."
Shalabi mounted her hunger strike in protest against Israel's policy of administrative detention, under which Palestinians can be arrested and held for long periods of time without charges and without trial.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian 
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