Source: Mondoweiss.net
Khader Adnan, 44, died in Israeli custody as he neared his 90th day on a hunger strike protesting his imprisonment. The veteran of two previous hunger strikes, Adnan became an international symbol of Palestinian steadfastness and resistance.
On Tuesday morning, the Palestinian hunger striker and political activist, Sheikh Khader Adnan, died inside the Ramleh prison clinic.
Since February 5 of this year, Adnan, 44, has been on hunger strike protesting his imprisonment by Israel, which has been targeting and harassing the Palestinian political figure and advocate for resistance over the past decade. Adnan was the veteran of two previous hunger strikes before his most recent one and was unlawfully imprisoned by the Israeli authorities without charge or trial several times in the past decade.
Adnan’s latest arrest was due to his affiliation with the militant Palestinian resistance group, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), whose armed wing, Saraya al-Quds, is part of the umbrella faction of the Jenin Brigade — the armed resistance group operating out of Jenin refugee camp. But beyond the immediate reasons for his imprisonment, the Israeli authorities have constantly harassed Adnan over the years because he has continued to be a well-known proponent of resistance during a period of political atrophy and persisted in advocating for the prisoners’ movement, for the families of martyrs, and opposition to the Palestinian Authority’s collaborationism and security coordination at a time when such figures of political struggle have been scarce. Moreover, after Adnan’s first victory over the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) in 2012 during his first hunger strike, after which he obtained his freedom, he became an icon of Palestinian defiance in the face of injustice.
His third long-lasting hunger strike, Adnan is the first Palestinian hunger striker to die since the 1970s when several Palestinian hunger strikers were killed as a result of being force-fed by the Israeli prison authorities. Adnan is also the 237th Palestinian to be killed inside Israeli prisons since 1967….