Judges ruled that the two
men remained a security risk to Israel, and that their hunger strike
was not a reason to release them from administrative detention,
according to lawyer Jamil al-Khatib.
Al-Khatib said he had not
yet gotten a chance to inform Bilal Diab and Tha'er Halahlah of the
court's decision, but he said he expected both men would continue their
hunger strike.
Diab, 27, and Halahlah,
33, are among an estimated 1,600 to 2,000 Palestinians detained in
Israeli prisons who are staging a mass hunger strike to protest prison
conditions and administrative detention, a controversial Israeli
military practice that allows authorities to detain people indefinitely.
The process also allows
for detention based on secret evidence, and there is no requirement to
charge the detainees or to allow them to stand trial.
Diab and Halahlah,
members of the Gaza-based militant group Islamic Jihad, are both in
custody under administrative detention. Diab has been in custody for
nine months, while Halahlah has been in custody for 22 months.
On Sunday, Al-Khatib said
his clients were nearing death and accused the Israeli high court of
procrastinating in delivering a ruling.
"I believe what the court
is doing here is trying to break the will of both prisoners so they
will back down in their hunger strike," he said.
An Israeli foreign
ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor, told CNN that both men "were arrested
for their direct involvement in promoting terror" and suggested that
administrative detention constituted "the only available means to thwart
the danger" the men posed to Israel.
Looking pale and weak,
both men appeared in wheelchairs before the Israeli high court Thursday
while their lawyers petitioned the judges that they be released, arguing
that their continued detention was illegal and that their deteriorating
medical conditions should be taken into consideration.
Amany Daify, a project
coordinator for Physicians for Human Rights, an Israeli group advocating
on behalf of the hunger striking prisoners, said both prisoners "are in
a life-threatening condition" and continued to refuse to be given
minerals or liquids.
"There is no documented history of any person who survived without food or supplements beyond 75 days," Daify said.
According to a
spokeswoman for the Israeli Prison Service, Diab is being held at an
Israeli hospital while Halahlah is being cared for at prison medical
facility.
More than 4,500
Palestinian prisoners are in Israeli prisons for a variety of offenses,
ranging from rock-throwing to murder. Of these, about 300 are being held
in administrative detention, according to rights groups.
The vast majority of
prisoners refusing to eat began their protest on April 17, while a
handful have been without food for longer.
While hunger strikes are
not a new tactic of Palestinian resistance, a series of recent
high-profile cases have brought increased attention to the practice and
served as a rallying cry for Palestinians, who have staged multiple
protests in the West Bank and Gaza in support of prisoners.(Kevin Flower per "CNN")
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