PALESTINIAN PRISONERS ON HUNGER STRIKE, OTHERS BOYCOTT ISRAELI COURTS

Ramallah, 25 Ramadan 1436/12 July 2015 (MINA) – Two Palestinian prisoners have been on a hunger strike for over 20 days protesting administrative detention without trial in Israeli jails, the Palestinian committee of prisoners’ affairs said Saturday.

The committee explained in a statement that one of the prisoners, a Palestinian lawyer Muhammad Allan from Nablus in the northern West Bank, has been on hunger strike since 25 days.

The other prisoner, Uday Isteiti from the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, has been on hunger strike for the past 24 days, Ma’an News Agency reports as quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

Allan is held at Israel’s Ayala prison, while Isteiti is held at Eshel prison, according to the statement.

The committee highlighted that a few days ago Dawood Hamdan from Bethlehem ended a hunger strike after 31 days also in protest of administrative detention.

The ongoing hunger strikes come as 60 Palestinian prisoners decided to boycott Israeli courts in protest of administrative detention, the statement added.

The decision went into effect on July 1, according to the statement which added that “all 484 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails without trial will join the boycott,” without specifying when the mass strike will take place.

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails reportedly said that the decision to boycott Israeli courts was a move against Israel’s policy of administrative detention, and to support “the Palestinian Authority in its efforts to submit complaints to the International Criminal Court against the Israeli occupation.”

Prisoners, according to the committee, “decided to completely boycott the so-called courts specialized in addressing or renewing administrative detention as well as appeal courts and Supreme courts.”

In 2014 there was an 80 percent increase in administrative detention cases, according to rights group B’Tselem.

While administrative detention is legal under international law, the international community and rights organizations have condemned excessive use of the practice by Israel. (T/P010/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)