Deal reached to free Hana Shalabi
Ma’an – 29/03/2012
BETHLEHEM — A deal to release Palestinian hunger-striker Hana Shalabi to the Gaza Strip temporarily was reached late Thursday, officials with knowledge of the negotiations told Ma’an.
The officials say Shalabi will be sent to Gaza for three years in exchange for giving up a 43-day strike against Israel’s policy of holding detainees without charge.
The Palestinian prisoners society confirmed the deal in a statement praising Shalabi’s resolve. It expressed its appreciation for her efforts to bring attention to Israel’s policies toward prisoners.
Qadoura Fares of the prisoners society said Shalabi agreed to the deal “in return for ending her strike and being freed. … We reject deportation, but this is her decision and her own life,” Fares said.
Shalabi’s lawyer, Jawwad Boulous, also confirmed the agreement.
According to a high-ranking Palestinian source, the deal was reached after Palestinian officials and Red Cross intervened to confirm that Shalabi approved.
The Palestinian Authority minister of civil affairs, Hussein al-Sheikh, said the leadership in Ramallah was not involved in the negotiations as it rejects Israel’s deportation policy.
The deal apparently followed talks between Shalabi and the Israeli government, he said.
Al-Sheikh added that Israel is responsible for the hunger-striker’s well-being and should instead release Shalabi unconditionally to her home and family in the West Bank, not to Gaza. … Full article
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Palestinian hunger striker Hana Shalabi hospitalized

Palestinian protesters hold posters of Hana Shalabi in 2011. (file photo)
Press TV – March 20, 2012
Female Palestinian prisoner Hana Shalabi, who has been on a hunger strike since February 16, has been hospitalized.
“Hana Shalabi was transferred this evening to Israel’s Meir hospital after her state of health deteriorated,” Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqaa said on Monday.
An independent doctor from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel who examined Shalabi said her life was at risk. The doctor described a weakening of her muscles, weight loss of 14 kilograms, and a very weak pulse.
She has been on a hunger strike since her arrest in the northern West Bank on February 16. She was originally ordered to be detained without trial for six months.
Although Shalabi was among more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in October 2011 in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, she was later re-arrested and sent back to prison.
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