26 Palestinian administrative detainees within the Israeli prison system have joined the mass hunger strike, which a number of their counterparts had initiated earlier this week to protest Israel’s administrative detention policy, according to The Palestinian Information Center.Qaddoura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, said in a press release on Thursday that these new hunger strikers are held in Negev and Ofer prisons, the PNN has reported.
Fares stated that the new hunger-striking prisoners are lawmakers.
Qaddoura Fares has been a state minister in the Palestinian National Authority, a
member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and one of the signatories of
the Geneva Initiative, as well as a member of the Supreme Steering Committee
of the Palestinian Peace Coalition / Geneva Initiative.
One week ago, 200 prisoners started an open-ended hunger strike in protest of administrative detention, imposed upon citizens without conviction or charge.
Israel utilizes this method of detention, whenever it fails to surface (or fabricate0 charges against Palestinian civilians and officials arrested without reason.
Elderly captives in administrative detention also intend to participate in a one-day hunger strike, in solidarity.
