“On behalf of the PLO Executive Committee, we call on the Israeli authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Palestinian journalist Muhammad al-Qiq who has been on hunger strike for sixty-one days. Al-Qiq who is literally on the brink of death has been held under the unlawful practice of administrative detention for the past two months and subjected to severe and unjust acts of torture by the Israeli Prison Service.
We fully support al-Qiq and other prisoners who have courageously adopted hunger strike to expose the inhumanity and illegality of administrative detention; they embody a selfless struggle for justice and independence in Palestine, and expose the brutality and criminality of the continued military occupation, particularly in relation to the thousands of Palestinian men, women and children prisoners in Israeli jails. They are also exercising the essence of nonviolent resistance that should be noted and safeguarded by the international community.
We call on all governments, members of the press community and people of conscience to act to guarantee that Palestinian political prisoners’ rights are safeguarded once and for all and to bring Israel to end its cruel and illegal use of administrative detention and other punitive measures against Palestinian political prisoners. We urge them to form an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate the severe and unlawful violations committed by the Israeli occupation.”