RAMALLAH, Friday, August 20, 2021 (WAFA) – Ra’fat Darawish and Taha Taradi, two Palestinian prisoners who have been on open-ended hunger strike in protest of their administrative detention by Israel, ended today their hunger strike, said the Palestinian Detainees Affairs Commission.

The Commission said Darawish, who has been on hunger strike for 36 days in protest of his unfair detention without a charge or trial, ended his hunger strike after reaching an agreement with the Israeli Prison Service under which he will be released on December 9.

Taradi, meanwhile, broke his hunger strike which he has launched in solidarity with the hunger-striking administrative detainees, following a serious deterioration in his medical condition.

Israel’s widely condemned policy of administrative detention allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals usually ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.

Over the years, Israel has placed thousands of Palestinians in administrative detention for prolonged periods of time, without trying them, without informing them of the charges against them, and without allowing them or their counsel to examine the evidence.

Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended hunger strikes as a way to protest their illegal administrative detention and to demand an end to this policy which violates international law.

M.N