Imprisoned 13 times by Israel, Khader Adnane was a figure among Palestinian prisoners, closely associated with the hunger strike as a form of protest against the conditions of detention, until Tuesday becoming the first Palestinian to succumb to it.
Born in 1978 in Arraba, in the northern occupied West Bank, Khader Adnane was a senior figure in the Palestinian armed Islamic Jihad movement, which he joined while studying mathematics at Bir Zeit University in the late 1970s. 1990.
From 1999, he went to prison in Israel, which accused him of being involved in “terrorist” activities.
In 2012, this professional baker, who also worked as a banker, became a hero among the Palestinians after a 66-day hunger strike, a record.
He then protested against his administrative detention, a controversial but very common provision that allows Israel to detain Palestinians without charge or trial, and gave new impetus to this type of action, which other prisoners largely took up later.
In 2015, he stopped eating again for 56 days, then for 58 days in 2018.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, Adnane had already conducted a total of five hunger strikes before the last, following his arrest by Israel on February 5.
If other prisoners on hunger strike have succumbed to force-feeding, he is the first to die directly from such an action, according to this association for the defense of the rights of Palestinians detained by Israel.
Adnane, whose portrait already adorns walls in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, was described by an Israeli official on Tuesday as a member of Islamic Jihad who “participated in dozens of operational activities” and “held speeches inciting hatred, in support of a hostile organization”.
For Hassan Khreisheh, vice-president of the Palestinian Parliament and friend of the late prisoner, he “was victorious more than once in the prisons of the occupation (Israel) and today he is again by falling as a martyr in his new battle”.
His wife, Randa Moussa, said his death was a source of “pride”, like “a marriage”.
Islamic Jihad, a movement very active in Gaza and the northern West Bank, said that Israel would “pay the price” for this death.
Adnane has also been targeted by the Palestinian Authority. He was notably arrested in 2000 for inciting other students to throw stones at French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who was visiting Bir Zeit. He had then observed a first hunger strike of 10 days.
He had nine children.
02/05/2023 13:56:54 – Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
