Palestinian prisoner’s health declines amid hunger strike

By JACK JEFFERY

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A prisoners group says a Palestinian held without charge by Israeli authorities is in “extremely dangerous” condition more than three months into a hunger strike. A rights group says twenty-four-year-old Miqdad al-Qawasmi is the least healthy of six incarcerated Palestinian hunger strikers. The prisoners are protesting against being held in administrative detention, a policy in which Palestinians are held without charge for months or years on suspicion of undisclosed security offenses. Rights groups say the policy denies Palestinians due process. Israel says it is needed to detain militants without sharing sensitive intelligence in trials. An Israeli medical official says al-Qawasmi was transferred to intensive care Tuesday in “difficult but stable” condition.