A Palestinian woman held by Israel without charge was
deported to the Gaza Strip on Sunday under a deal that ended her 44-day
hunger strike.
Hana Shalabi was put into so-called "administrative detention" on
Feb. 16. An Israeli military official said that in return for her
release from jail, she had agreed to three years' exile in the Gaza
Strip.
A resident of the occupied West Bank, Shalabi went on hunger strike
the day she was arrested, in protest at being held without trial.
She had been jailed previously by Israel and freed in October as part
of a swap for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held captive in Hamas
ruled Gaza for more than five years.
Shalabi arrived in Gaza before nightfall in an ambulance, after a
tearful farewell with family members who saw her at Gaza's Erez crossing
with Israel before she was deported, medics who escorted her said.
Palestinian officials in both the West Bank and Gaza voiced objections to Shalabi's deportation.
Islamic Jihad leader Khader Habib, who waited to greet Shalabi at the
Erez crossing, said his faction had not been consulted about the deal.
Hussein al-Sheikh, an official in President Mahmoud Abbas's
Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, said last week "we were not part
of the deal and we reject deportations".
Last month, Israel struck a deal with another member of Islamic
Jihad, Khader Adnan, persuading him to end his 66-day fast, after
assuring him that he would be released before his six-month
"administrative detention" term was over.
At least another two-dozen Palestinian inmates remain on hunger strike in Israeli jails.
Reuters
Hitskin.com
الخميس أغسطس 09, 2012 12:15 am
