Imprisoned Palestinian brothers launch hunger strike to protest detention

JULY 5, 2016 4:34 P.M. (UPDATED: JULY 6, 2016 1:08 P.M.)

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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Two Palestinian brothers declared a hunger strike on

Monday to protest being transferred to administrative detention, an Israeli
policy of internment without charge or trial based on undisclosed evidence,
according to locals.
Muhammad and Mahmoud al-Balboul were detained on June 9 from the village of
Doha in the occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem, just two months after
their 14-year-old sister, Nuran, was detained after attempting to cross Israels
300 checkpoint between northern Bethlehem and Jerusalem for allegedly
possessing a knife, an accusation that locals denied.
Muhammad, a dentist, was sentenced to six months of administrative detention,
while Mahmoud, a Masters student at al-Quds University, was sentenced to five
months.
The three are children of Ahmad al-Balboul, a prominent leader in Fatah's AlAqsa Martyrs Brigades, who was shot dead along with three other Palestinians
by undercover Israeli forces in March 2008.

The two brothers have joined several other Palestinian prisoners currently on
hunger strike in an attempt to hold Israel accountable for its arbitrary arrest
and detention of Palestinians.
Although Israeli authorities claim the withholding of evidence during
administrative detention is essential for state security concerns, rights groups
have claimed that the policy allows Israeli authorities to hold Palestinians for an
indefinite period of time without showing any evidence that could justify their
detentions.
Israel considers the majority of Palestinian political parties to be terrorist
organizations." As a result, most Palestinians who participate in the political
arena in the occupied Palestinian territory risk being imprisoned by Israeli
authorities.
According to Palestinians, Israel also uses the policy to detain family members
of Palestinian political leaders, in an extension of several policies that rights
groups have deemed collective punishment aimed at disrupting family life for
Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
According to prisoners rights group Addameer, there 7,000 Palestinians were
being held by Israel as of May, 715 of which were held in administrative
detention.