Women hold a sit-in outside the Red Cross offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah on March 20, 2012 in support of Hana Shalabi, a Palestinian woman on hunger strike. (Photo: AFP - Abbas Momani)
A Palestinian woman who has refused food for the past month to protest her imprisonment by Israel without charge is in grave danger of dying, a medical rights group said Tuesday.
Hana Shalabi has lost 14 kilograms (31 pounds), her muscles are wasting away, and she is in excruciating pain, said Ran Cohen of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, which has provided her a doctor.
Shalabi has taken only water since she was violently detained in a night raid on February 16.
"We are worried. Her physician has demanded she be transferred to [a] hospital," said Cohen.
Shalabi's brother warned last month that she was willing to die to secure her freedom.
“Her protest is an open hunger strike until she is freed. That is the one demand," Ammar Shalabi told Al-Akhbar.
Shalabi, 30, is being held without formal charges under an Israeli system called "administrative detention."
The system allows Palestinians to be detained without trial and without access to the evidence they are held on for renewable 6-month periods.
More than 300 of some 6,000 Palestinians currently held by Israel on security-related charges are in administrative detention.
Shalabi was held by Israel for 25 months under the system before she was released last October as part of a prisoner swap in which some 1,000 Palestinians were freed in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held in Gaza for five years.
Rights groups including Amnesty International have said such detentions are illegal under international law.
Prison authorities say 20 Palestinian detainees have launched hunger strikes in support of Shalabi in the past two weeks. Earlier this year, administrative detainee Khader Adnan staged a hunger strike for 66 days. He ended the protest after forcing Israel to strike a deal to free him in April.
Land Day
Also Tuesday, a grass roots coalition of Palestinian and Arab activists said it is planning marches near Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt on March 30. Other demonstrations are planned at Israeli military checkpoints near Jerusalem and at Israeli Embassies in Europe.
March 30 is traditionally marked by 1948 Palestinians as "Land Day," a time of protests against the confiscation of Arab-owned lands by Israel. In recent years, Palestinians have joined in.
Last year, thousands of Arab protesters mobilized by calls on Facebook marched on Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza, sparking clashes that left at least 15 people dead.
(AP, Al-Akhbar)
Hana Shalabi has lost 14 kilograms (31 pounds), her muscles are wasting away, and she is in excruciating pain, said Ran Cohen of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, which has provided her a doctor.
Shalabi has taken only water since she was violently detained in a night raid on February 16.
"We are worried. Her physician has demanded she be transferred to [a] hospital," said Cohen.
Shalabi's brother warned last month that she was willing to die to secure her freedom.
“Her protest is an open hunger strike until she is freed. That is the one demand," Ammar Shalabi told Al-Akhbar.
Shalabi, 30, is being held without formal charges under an Israeli system called "administrative detention."
The system allows Palestinians to be detained without trial and without access to the evidence they are held on for renewable 6-month periods.
More than 300 of some 6,000 Palestinians currently held by Israel on security-related charges are in administrative detention.
Shalabi was held by Israel for 25 months under the system before she was released last October as part of a prisoner swap in which some 1,000 Palestinians were freed in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held in Gaza for five years.
Rights groups including Amnesty International have said such detentions are illegal under international law.
Prison authorities say 20 Palestinian detainees have launched hunger strikes in support of Shalabi in the past two weeks. Earlier this year, administrative detainee Khader Adnan staged a hunger strike for 66 days. He ended the protest after forcing Israel to strike a deal to free him in April.
Land Day
Also Tuesday, a grass roots coalition of Palestinian and Arab activists said it is planning marches near Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt on March 30. Other demonstrations are planned at Israeli military checkpoints near Jerusalem and at Israeli Embassies in Europe.
March 30 is traditionally marked by 1948 Palestinians as "Land Day," a time of protests against the confiscation of Arab-owned lands by Israel. In recent years, Palestinians have joined in.
Last year, thousands of Arab protesters mobilized by calls on Facebook marched on Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza, sparking clashes that left at least 15 people dead.
(AP, Al-Akhbar)
Uprooted Palestinian 
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