TEL AVIV: On Thursday, Addameer, a nongovernmental organization for prisoners support and human rights, issued a press release proclaiming “outrage" at Israel's decision to renew the administrative detention of Hassan Safadi. Israel had promised Safadi's lawyer to terminate his administrative detention and release him from prison. Administrative detention is a process in which Palestinians are held in the Israeli Prison System without charge. Over 300 Palestinian prisoners are presently being held in administrative detention, many of whom are subjected to extended periods of solitary confinement. Safadi was put in administrative detention for a 6-month term after being arrested at his home in Nablus last year. The term was renewed, and he has now been held without a trial for over a year. As part of an agreement made last month with the Israeli Prison System to end the mass hunger strike of 1,600 Palestinian prisoners, Safadi ended a 71 day hunger strike on May 14. In the deal, Israel agreed to release several prisoners, and not to renew the administrative detention of over 300 Palestinians. “Hassan [Safadi], 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," Addameer's press release stated. The administrative detention of over three dozen Palestinian prisoners has been renewed by the Israeli Prison System, the press release added. “Of course we didn't expect them to keep their promises," Omar, a 23 year-old university student from Ramallah, told Bikyamasr.com. “Did we really think they were going to release the hunger strikers without causing more problems for them? How many prisoners have been promised their freedom in the past? Israel agreed to give us a state after 1994," he continued, referring to the Oslo Accords. “Well, we're still waiting." Abu Toameh, a member of the communist party at Tel Aviv University, elaborated. “Aside from the physical torment of imprisonment and the forced feedings that many prisoners have been subjected to, Israel successfully tortures Palestinians on a mental plane as well. “There is nothing surprising about Safadi's case. Israel's occupation policies are designed to impose emotional suffering on Palestinians by creating a complete environment of instability," Abu Toameh continued. Other conditions of last month's agreement that Israel is accused of breaching include an end to the excessive use of solitary confinement, the facilitation of familial visits for prisoners from the Gaza Strip, and an end to further administrative detention orders. Addameer also said it fears that any future negotiations to end hunger strikes will be marred by Israel's failure to honor the terms to which it agreed. The press release stated there is “no guarantee that any of the long-term hunger strikers will be released upon their given dates." Late Thursday afternoon, Safadi's lawyer announced that he had re-launched his hunger strike in defiance of Israel's decision to renew his administrative detention. He is currently being held in solitary confinement.
