Israel set to score 'own goal' with Sarsak

Israel set to score 'own goal' with Sarsak

By Julie Webb-Pullman

Palestinian hunger-striking prisoner Mahmoud Sarsak is in a coma and close to death, according to several website and media reports today.

The Palestine Information Centre reported today that Prisoner Sarsak was transferred from the Ramle prison clinic to Meir hospital on Thursday, and transferred again on Sunday evening to Assaf Harofeh hospital after a serious decline in his condition.

Prisoner website Ahrar-Wledna reported that human rights lawyers visited him on Sunday after his transfer to Assaf Harofeh hospital in Tel Aviv. They reported that Sarsak is in a complete coma, and hospital staff informed the Israeli prison authorities that they could not guarantee his survival.

Agence France Presse reported that he is now back in Ramle Prison clinic, after being returned there from a civilian hospital near tel Aviv.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Israeli Prison Service, Sivan Weizman, is reported to have told Agence France Presse that Sarsak had ended his hunger strike, and is being held in the infirmary wing at Ramle prison, where his health was being monitored as he gradually started eating again.

Sarsak's lawyer, family members, and prisoner groups all denied that he has ended his hunger strike, and expressed extreme concern for his life. Perhaps not surprisingly, Weizmen was unable to be reached by Ma'an News Agency for clarification.

It seems almost inevitable that Sarsak will be the first fatality in the "Battle of the Empty Stomachs for Dignity."

If so, it will be an 'own goal' for Israel, whose refusal to meet minimal international standards for the treatment of prisoners or to observe the minimal requirements of humanitarian and international law stand as testament not only to Israel's moral and legal paucity but also to its seemingly blind - and self-defeating - arrogance.

Sarsak may lose his life - but Israel will surely lose the game.

ENDS

© Scoop Media