Doctor treating hunger-striking administratively-detained prisoners says they don't want to die
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Palestinian hunger strikers are only trying to get our attention
Op-ed: Law allowing force-feeding of Palestinian prisoners will join other hastily approved laws that put Israel's legislation to shame.
She is a senior physician in one of the hospitals in central Israel. Over the weekend, I had a conversation with her about her patients – a group of hunger-striking administratively-detained prisoners.
"The rooms at the end of the internal ward have become an Israel Prison Service post. They have been laid in bed, with one hand and the opposite leg chained. The IPS people let them go to the bathroom only. I was afraid that they would develop medical problems, lying in bed all day. I found out that in one hospital they were allowed to march in the room, and I asked them to let them do that here too. They said no, until the commander of the Megiddo Prison arrived and permitted it. In the end, they removed their handcuffs during the day.
"They came to us on the 35th day of their hunger strike," she said. "They have been with us for three weeks. In the beginning I thought, why are healthy people being hospitalized? Then I realized that it's not that simple. A disaster could happen. I felt like I was holding the peace of the Middle East in my hands, and no one was guiding me what to do – neither the Health Ministry, nor the government.
Doctors' Dilemma
Controversial bill supposed to deal with hunger striking; opposed by doctors, human rights advocates.
"All their checkups are conducted in the presence of a warden. Nonetheless, I have managed to create a relationship of trust. From my conversations with them I have learned that they are very aware of everything happening outside. Most of them are eloquent, intelligent.
"It's a strange hunger strike: They agree to drink water, to swallow sugar, salt, vitamins. They are not suicidal. They don't want to kill themselves. I told the strikers that those of them who don't want to eat could get the same dosage in an injection. It's better in the mouth, of course, but it's their decision.
"We give them water, salts, thiamine (vitamin B1). They agree to take everything I give them. But that could change at any minute. One of them told me, 'If my wife knew I was eating she would think I'm not a man.' Another threatened to stop drinking water if he were not allowed to meet with someone from the media.
"We have doctors who say, 'They're terrorists, let them die.' I explained to them that these are administrative detainees: They have not been tried and have not been convicted. Their demand is to be put on trial. I know it's not simple – the Shin Bet says it can't put sources at risk – but the process in which a judge extends their detention period repeatedly without trial is very difficult.
"They keep losing weight, their blood pressure is a bit low, but most of their lab tests are good. Surprisingly, they are pretty healthy. However, something in their body could burst. They could catch an infection disease. I'm not calm.
"In the past few days they have realized that their battle is lost. One of the wardens, or the lawyer who visited them, told them about the teens' kidnapping. It was hard on them. One of them cursed Hamas. They realized that the kidnapping is taking them off the agenda. And what the kidnapping didn't do, the World Cup did.
"On Thursday, a little more than half of those hospitalized here announced that they were willing to go back to eating fully. We are even ready to have shawarma, they said, as early as today. I was relieved. We put them on a gradual rehabilitation process, with checkups. The others are still on hunger strike.
"I am irritated by the way the law on force-feeding prisoners is being handled. The Patient's Rights Act determines that when a patient firmly refuses to get treatment, the physician can convene an ethics committee. The committee hears the doctors and the patients. At the committee's approval, the patient can be treated against his will.
"We are very far from this situation. As far as I can judge, the law is a meaningless, populist maneuver. What bothers me is that there is quite a difficult problem here, and there is no public buzz.
"The hospital's accounts department is satisfied with this situation. People are hospitalized here with full pay, without objections from HMOs and without any unnecessary expenses. It's worth it."
The force-feeding law was supposed to be submitted to the Knesset on Monday for fast-track approval. If okayed, it will join other laws with ad hoc approval, under the pressure of headlines, which did nothing to help the situation for which they were created, and served to put legislation in the State of Israel to shame.
As for the hunger strikers, the IPS says that 200 out of 300 went back to eating over the weekend. There are about 70 hunger strikers left in the hospitals, maybe less. If the physician treating them is right, they don't want to die, they just want our attention.
