It’s been almost two months since a group of Palestinian administrative detainees went on a hunger strike April 24. A significant number of the hunger strikers have been behind bars for years without being told what they're accused of and without being put on trial. A hunger strike is a drastic step, but is considered a legitimate nonviolent tool in most of the Western world. None of the Israeli authorities have signaled any willingness to negotiate with the strikers or even to offer a conciliatory gesture to restore calm, as they have done in such instances in the past.
The debate became narrowly focused on practical, operative aspects: on the one hand, Shin Bet is pushing to speed up legislation that would allow force-feeding to prevent hunger strikers’ deaths — which could ignite a third intifada. On the other hand, the military objects to force-feeding and claims it can contain "local insurrections" that would result from a detainee's death.