More than 100 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli administrative detention launched a mass, open-ended hunger strike on April 24. The same day, Palestinians set up a protest tent in the city center of Nablus and have staged ongoing solidarity protests ever since.
Text by Ryan Rodrick Beiler, photos by Ahmad al-Bazz / Activestills.org
The hunger strike is taking place in the Ofer, Megiddo and Negev prisons. It comes after Israeli authorities reneged on a promise made following the mass hunger strike of more than 2,000 in 2012 to limit the use of administrative detention to exceptional cases.
Hanaa Kabi holds her brother’s picture during a demonstration in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian administrative detainees in Nablus, West Bank, May 03, 2014. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
According to the Palestinian prisoner support and human rights organization Addameer, as of last month Israel was holding a total of 186 Palestinians under administrative detention out of a total 5,265 Palestinian political prisoners.
Addameer reports that:
The general demand of the hunger strikers is an end to the use of administrative detention. The hunger strikers are also specifically demanding that extensions to administrative detention orders are limited to one extension only. …
[A]dministrative detainees are held without charge are trial. They are detained on completely ‘secret evidence’ and neither they nor their lawyers have access to such evidence. Some detainees have spent over eight years in prison, never knowing what was contained in the ‘secret evidence’. While administrative detention is legal under international law, it must be used in very specific circumstance and on a case-by-case basis. This is clearly not the case given Israel has used administrative detention against tens of thousands of Palestinians.
A Palestinian hangs pictures of administrative prisoners on the first day of a solidarity protest tent erected in the city center of Nablus, West Bank, April 28, 2014. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
The family of Bahaa Yaish holds his photo in the protest tent in Nablus, May 3, 2014. Yaish is a Palestinian administrative detainee who spent 10 months in Israeli prisons. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
Palestinians demonstrate in solidarity with hunger striking Palestinian administrative detainees, Nablus, West Bank, May 03, 2014. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
Palestinians participate in a Friday prayer near a protest tent in solidarity with hunger striking Palestinian administrative detainees, Nablus, West Bank, May 02, 2014. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
A Palestinian man signs a solidarity letter to the hunger striking administrative detainees hanged beside the protest tent in the city center of Nablus, West Bank, May 2nd, 2014. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org
Palestinian volunteers organize an activity to hand out olive trees to families of Palestinian prisoners, in Beita village, West Bank, May 1st, 2014. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
A Palestinian looks at a prisoners’ photos hanging beside a solidarity protest tent in the city center of Nablus, West Bank, May 02, 2014. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
Palestinians hold candles during a solidarity event with hunger striking Palestinian administrative detainees, Nablus, West Bank, May 03, 2014 (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
Palestinian women hold photos of administrative detainees during the first day of a solidarity protest in the city center of Nablus, West Bank, April 28, 2014. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
Read more:
Palestinian administrative detainees said to start hunger strike
Administrative arrests: Months or years without due process
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