Police prepare for more clashes outside Ashkelon hospital where Mohammad Allaan is being treated, after 15 arrests during protest Sunday
The High Court of Justice is expected to convene on Monday to discuss the appeal filed by the lawyer of Palestinian hunger-striker Mohammad Allaan calling for his immediate release from Israeli detention.
Allaan slipped into a coma on Friday and has been described in critical condition following over 60 days of a hunger strike.
His lawyer, Kamal Natur, appealed to the court on Saturday to release him on medical grounds.
Allaan has been held by Israel without trial since November under a special anti-terror measure called “administrative detention.” He is allegedly affiliated with the Islamic Jihad terror group, and Israeli intelligence claims he played a role in the group’s activities.
He has been hospitalized since Friday at the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon where he remains unconscious but stable after being given fluids and salts intravenously. He was also breathing with the aid of an artificial respirator.
If and when he regains consciousness — and if he continues to refuse to eat — Israel’s government must decide whether it will invoke a law passed in July allowing the force-feeding of prisoners when their lives are in danger.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club submitted a request to hospital officials Sunday asking them to wake Allaan from the coma in order to check where he stands on his condition, according to Haaretz.
Several demonstrations in support of Allaan have been held since his condition began to deteriorate over the past two weeks, and especially over the weekend.
On Sunday, at least 15 people were arrested in demonstrations outside the Barzilai Medical Center. Two people were lightly injured.
Police were deployed in force to separate some 200 Jewish and Arab protesters.
Activists from a demonstration held by far-right Jewish protesters clashed with those from the opposing Arab rally.
The demonstration called by far-right Jewish activists, including prominent lawyer Itamar Ben-Gvir, was joined later Sunday evening by some Ashkelon residents. Demonstrators shouted “Death to Arabs.”
The arrests were made from both sides. One of those arrested at the Jewish demonstration was reportedly a local minor.
Three buses of Arab Israelis were stopped by police at Ashkelon Junction, the southern entrance to the city, to prevent them from joining the demonstrations outside Barzilai. The passengers clashed with police, throwing rocks and rioting at the highway intersection. Police responded with tear gas and arrested several rioters.
By late evening, police said they had brought the demonstrations under control. They said they were braced for more protests Monday.
Earlier Sunday, a Palestinian doctor, Dr. Hani Abedin, was prevented by the Israel Prison Service guards from seeing Allaan. According to the Maariv news site, Abedin coordinated his visit with Barzilai officials and was set to visit Allaan together with Joint (Arab) List MK Ahmad Tibi, who is also a doctor, a gynecologist.<
According to Tibi, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally intervened to prevent the visit. It was an “inexplicable political decision,” Tibi said.
On Saturday, demonstrators in the northern area of Wadi Ara called for an “intifada” in all Israeli prisons should Allaan die.
As reported by The Times of Israel