Palestinian detainees protest Israel's administrative detention

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Palestinian detainees in an Israeli jail on Tuesday refused food in protest of Israel's policy of administrative detention, a local NGO said.

In a statement, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said 151 Palestinian detainees in the Ofer military prison, west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, refused to take their meals.

“The move is a first step in a series of measures that may include staging a hunger strike to protest the administrative detention,” it said.

The policy of administrative detention allows Israeli authorities to extend the detention of a prisoner without charge or trial.

There are around 5,300 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, including 520 administrative detainees, according to institutions concerned with prisoners’ affairs.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara