Israel legalizing torture with force-feeding law: Activist

Press TV has conducted an interview with Ra'afat Sub Laban Al-Dameer, from the Association for Human Rights in Ramallah, to discuss the approval of a law by Israel that authorizes force-feeding Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: We are looking at two issues here. One is detention without charge being the core problem here and then of course the issue of force-feeding through these tubes which obviously videos of it show how brutal [they are], this is a form of torture as it has been cited by certain organizations. Why do you think Israel is pushing ahead with it even though the UN has come and said that this should not happen?   

Dameer: The issue of hunger strike is related to Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons demanding their rights. They are facing violations inside Israeli prisons, they are facing detention without trials and hunger strike is one of the means for them to protest these violations and illegal practices.

So we have seen it recently there has been a number of hunger strikers who have been on hunger strike for a while and they managed eventually to get the requests they have been making. So basically Israel has legislated this law as a response [to] these detainees who are actually succeeding in claiming certain rights and redressing some of the violations they face in Israeli prisons. So definitely it is a blow to the just demands of Palestinian prisoners and to the violations that they are facing on a daily basis.

Press TV: Do you think that the decision by Israel to go through with this is in any shape or form an act which they know constitutes to torture because of that it is something that they pursued or they do not want this hunger striking to continue? What I am trying to say is that are they trying to eliminate hunger striking or they are trying to enforce a type of torture which this act entails?  

Dameer: I think it is both. On one hand they are trying to stop Palestinian detainees from claiming rights through the means of hunger strike as a means of protest and on the other hand we perceive this bill as a form of legalizing torture. Basically the Israeli prisons have proceed with force-feeding which is deemed a form of torture and ill treatment and there would be no legal consequence for the people actually applying the force-feeding because it is actually legalized under Israeli law itself.

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