Administrative detentions against Palestinians increased by 245% in 2014

The number of the Palestinian administrative prisoners inside Israeli jails increased by 245 per cent in 2014, Palestinian officials said in a statement.

Head of the PLO’s Authority of Prisoners’ Affairs Abdul-Nasser Farawna said that decisions to renew administrative detentions have been reducing steadily because of the open hunger strike of administrative prisoner Sheikh Khader Adnan at the end of 2011, which lasted for 66 days. Other individuals and official measures also contributed to this.

The statistics department showed that the number of administrative prisoners in 2013 was 145. This means that the number was reduced to half.

At the beginning of 2014, Israel increased the policy of administrative detention. The administrative prisoners went on a 62-day hunger strike however they did not get a positive outcome.

After the purported kidnapping attempt of the three Israeli settlers in Hebron on July 12, 2014, Israel escalated the use of administrative detentions. The number of prisoners reached approximately 500 by the end of 2014 – an increase of 245 per cent.

Farawana called on the international community and international human rights organisations to put pressure on Israel to end this detention policy, which contradicts all international laws and conventions.