Palestinian administrative detainees said to start hunger strike

Strikers claim Israel reneged on a 2012 agreement to limit the use of administrative detention, a legal tool under which they are all being held, Palestinian rights group says.

Illustrative photo of Palestinian prisoners in an Israeli military prison (By ChameleonsEye / Shutterstock.com)
Illustrative photo of Palestinian prisoners in an Israeli military prison (By ChameleonsEye / Shutterstock.com)

Over 100 Palestinian administrative detainees have started a hunger strike in Israeli prisons, Palestinian prisoner support and human rights group Addameer reported on Thursday.

The strike comes in the context of an agreement that Israel made to end a previous mass hunger strike in 2012, in which it agreed to limit its use of administrative detention, according to Addameer. The prisoners say that Israel has reneged on that agreement.

At the time, I reported that then public security minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch essentially admitted administrative detention was being used far beyond even Israel’s own stated security needs.

The hunger striking prisoners, who have since been isolated from the general prison populations, are being held in three prisons in Israel and the occupied West Bank, the rights group reported. A number of the detainees are set to be moved to other prisons, according to IMEMC.

According to Addameer, there were 183 Palestinians being held under administrative detention as of March 1, 2014, including nine elected members of the Palestinian parliament.

Administrative detention is a practice used by Israel to detain Palestinians without ever charging them with a crime, and sometimes as a preventative measure, all without ever informing them or their lawyers of what they are accused.

A number of high-profile Palestinian hunger strikers have won their freedom in recent years as a result of hunger strikes. Among the more well known of the past hunger strikers have been Khader Adnan and Samer Issawi.

Related:
Administrative arrests: Months or years without due process
Israel admits: Administrative detention unnecessary
Knesset extends 65-year ’emergency’ law that allows administrative detention