Embarking on a hunger strike is generally accepted as being a measure of last resort against perceived injustice. This week the United Nations chief vociferously attacked Israel’s continued policy of detaining Palestinians without charge. Ban Ki-moon urged Israel to release the around 4,700 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, some of whom have been detained for several years.
It is reported that about 2,000 of those prisoners have been on hunger strike for weeks with the aim of seeking better conditions. Ban Ki-moon’s pleas seem to have fallen on deaf ears as an Israeli government spokesman, Mark Regev, seemed to indicate that giving in to the hunger strikers’ demands would be akin to presenting the prisoners with a ‘get-out-of-jail’ card.
A right to a fair trial should be one of the fundamental rights accorded every human being, and regardless of the scale of the allegations made against these men and women, they should have a right to be informed of the charges made against them and also provided an opportunity to defend themselves against the said charges. Unfortunately this is a right very much taken for granted by many of us residing in the comfort of the West.
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