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UN Official Urges Israel to Either Charge or Release Akhras

Israeli left-wing activists lift a placard bearing the picture of Palestinian administrative detainee Maher al-Akhras during a demonstration calling for his release, in the central city of Rehovot, on October 11, 2020. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)
Israeli left-wing activists lift a placard bearing the picture of Palestinian administrative detainee Maher al-Akhras during a demonstration calling for his release, in the central city of Rehovot, on October 11, 2020. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)
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UN Official Urges Israel to Either Charge or Release Akhras

Israeli left-wing activists lift a placard bearing the picture of Palestinian administrative detainee Maher al-Akhras during a demonstration calling for his release, in the central city of Rehovot, on October 11, 2020. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)
Israeli left-wing activists lift a placard bearing the picture of Palestinian administrative detainee Maher al-Akhras during a demonstration calling for his release, in the central city of Rehovot, on October 11, 2020. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)

The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, has expressed concern about the condition of Maher al-Akhras, a Palestinian held in an Israeli jail and on hunger strike for 81 days.

Mladenov’s office told WAFA news agency that the Special Coordinator has called on Israel to either charge Akhras, specify a time for his imprisonment, or immediately set him and all administrative detainees free.

Akhras, 49, was arrested on July 27 and was placed in administrative detention, a policy that Israel uses to hold suspects without charge. He was then moved to Hawara Camp where he began a hunger strike.

Israel’s Supreme Court refused to immediately release Akhras, postponing its decision to October 26. This prompted him to continue with his hunger strike.

Health Minister Mai al-Kaileh urged international and humanitarian organizations to intervene. She said that there is a Palestinian father dying from hunger while chained to his bed in an Israeli hospital.

Spokesman for the Commission of the Detainees and Ex-Detainee Affairs Hassan Abed Rabbo confirmed that the prisoners who are affiliated with the Fatah movement and the Popular Front movement began the hunger strike in solidarity with Wael Al-Jaghoub, Hatem Al-Qawasmi and Omar Kharwat who are held in solitary confinement by the Israeli prison service.

Abed Rabbo added that more prisoners plan to join the strike.

For his part, Akhras addressed those who showed solidarity with his cause, expressing determination to remain on hunger strike. He will not have food anywhere but his house, he stressed, adding that the one condition to suspend his hunger strike is “freedom.”

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Druze Group ‘Rijal al-Karama’ Rejects Disarmament, Calls for Weapons Regulation in Sweida

Mourners attend funeral of those killed in clashes in southern Sweida town on Saturday (AFP)
Mourners attend funeral of those killed in clashes in southern Sweida town on Saturday (AFP)
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Druze Group ‘Rijal al-Karama’ Rejects Disarmament, Calls for Weapons Regulation in Sweida

Mourners attend funeral of those killed in clashes in southern Sweida town on Saturday (AFP)
Mourners attend funeral of those killed in clashes in southern Sweida town on Saturday (AFP)

A leading Druze movement said on Sunday that the issue of surrendering arms remains unresolved, even as local leaders in southern Syria announced the official start of implementing a peace agreement brokered by Druze clerics and dignitaries in Sweida province.

Bassem Abu Fakhr, spokesman for the “Rijal al-Karama” movement, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the group's weapons were solely for defense and had never been used offensively.

“The matter of handing over weapons falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense, and no final decision has been made yet,” Abu Fakhr said. “Our arms have never posed a threat to any party. We have not attacked anyone, and our weapons exist to protect our land and honor.”

He added that while the group does not object to regulating the presence of weapons, full surrender was out of the question.

“We have no issue with organizing arms under state authority, provided they remain within the province’s administrative boundaries and under state supervision,” he said. “But the matter of weapons remains unresolved.”

Formed in 2013, Rijal al-Karama was established to protect the Druze community and prevent its youth from being conscripted into fighting for any side in Syria’s protracted conflict, which erupted after mass protests against then President Bashar al-Assad.

The group continues to operate as an independent local defense force, separate from state security institutions.

Abu Fakhr told Asharq Al-Awsat that a high-level meeting held last Thursday in Sweida—attended by senior Druze spiritual leaders Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri and Sheikh Hammoud al-Hanawi, along with local dignitaries and community members—resulted in an agreement to reactivate the police and judicial police under the Ministry of Interior.

Abu Fakhr also denied recent reports claiming that Druze clerics, tribal leaders, and faction commanders had agreed to fully surrender their weapons to the state.

“This issue has not been resolved by all parties in Sweida,” he said, reiterating the group’s position: “We have no objection to organizing the weapons under state oversight, as long as they remain within the administrative boundaries of the province, but not to surrendering them.”

The statement underscores continuing tensions over the role of armed groups in Sweida, a province that has largely remained outside the control of both government and opposition forces throughout Syria’s civil war.