RAMALLAH: According to the Palestinian Solidarity Network, Samir al-Barq has ended his third hunger strike of the year. Al-Barq is being held in administrative detention. He recently resumed a hunger strike he had given up in exchange for his release after Israel broke its agreement to release him into Egypt. Administrative detention, used regularly by Israel, is imprisonment without charges or a trial. According to B'Tselem, from 219 administrative detainees in Israeli prisons at the end of 2011, 29 percent had been held between six months to a year, 24 percent from one to two years, and another 18 individuals between two and five years. As recently as September, Israel held 4,606 Palestinian political prisoners, 212 of which were in administrative detention. Al-Barq, held since 2010 without being charged or put on trial, ended a 125-day hunger strike after his lawyer reached an agreement with Israel that would result in his release into Egypt. Israel, however, has delayed his release. Presently being held in Ramle Prison Clinic, the 35-year old science teacher is serving his seventh administrative detention term. After Israel reneged on its original agreement to release al-Barq to Egypt, his lawyers stated that he would no longer accept any deal to end a hunger strike that placed him in exile, demanding instead that he be released immediately to Jayyous, his home village near Qalqiliya. The details around al-Barq's decision to end his hunger strike, however, have not yet been released.
