A Palestinian woman jailed in Israel who ended a 43-day hunger strike was deported to the Gaza Strip.
Hana Shalabi, a member of Islamic Jihad, agreed March 29 to end her hunger strike and be freed in exchange for spending the next three years in Gaza. Shalabi is from Jenin in the West Bank.
Shalabi launched the hunger strike to protest being held under administrative detention without charges.
A prisoner can be held in administrative detention without charges for up to four months; it can also be renewed.
Shalabi was the third Palestinian prisoner exchanged for captive soldier Gilad Shalit to be rearrested. She served 25 months in administrative detention prior to being set free.
At least 23 other Palestinian political prisoners are on hunger strikes to protest the use of administrative detention as an indefinite form of detention without charge or trial, accord-ing to Physicians for Human Rights. — jta