By Dylan Collins
After undergoing 71 days without food, Palestinian prisoner Hasan Safadi is back on hunger strike protesting the renewal of his administrative detention, a breach of the agreement signed between the Israeli authorities and the Palestinian prisoners’ committee on May 14. Safadi’s administrative detention order was renewed Thursday 21 June 2012 for an additional six months.
Last month’s agreement put an end to the 28-day long mass hunger strike of approximately 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. In return for ending their strike, Israeli authorities promised the higher Palestinian hunger strike committee that they would curtail their rampant use of administrative detention, although nothing was offered in writing.
Palestinian human right group Addameer stated on Thursday that by renewing Safadi’s administrative detention order, Israel has broken the May 14th agreement it struck with the Palestinian prisoners’ committee.
"Hassan, who launched his hunger strike on 5 March, was one of the five long-term hunger strikers in administrative detention who were promised release upon the expiration of their current orders in the agreement that ended the Palestinian prisoners’ mass hunger strike on 14 May. Hassan has been held in administrative detention since 29 June 2011 and this renewal of his detention is a blatant violation of the agreement between the prisoners’ hunger strike committee and Israeli officials," Addameer said in a statement on Thursday.
In response to his renewed detention, Safadi re-launched his hunger strike the same day. He is currently being held in Israel’s Hadarim prison, without charge or trial.
Israeli soldiers deliberately shooting tear gas at journalists during a solidarity demonstration for Palestinian prisoners on Thursday 21 June 2012, outside of Israel’s Ofer prison near Ramallah.
Several Palestinian prisoners are still on hunger strike in protest of Israel’s exploitive practice of administrative detention. Akram Rikhawi, who suffers from many illnesses and is dangerously close to death, is currently on his 73rd day without food.
Israel has yet to fulfill other obligations included in last month’s deal as well. Family visits for prisoners from Gaza have not yet been resumed, as were promised in the deal.
Additionally, Addameer’s statement on Thursday revealed that one of the nineteen prisoners held in isolation, a policy which Israeli officials vowed to discontinue, has not yet been moved into the general prisoner population, and last week an Palestinian prisoner was placed in solitary confinement.
Addameer worries that additional violations of the deal are likely to follow.
"(T)here is now no guarantee that any of the long-term hunger strikers will be released upon their given dates," Thursday’s statement said.
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