Ramallah, July 27 (RHC)-- Ten months ago Israeli forces arrested Palestinian football player Guevara al-Namoura and held him behind bars without charge or trial under what’s known as administrative detention deemed illegal based on international law.

Three months later his pregnant wife gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Julia.

This month his administrative detention order was supposed to end, however the Israeli regime extended his illegal detention.

Almost two weeks ago, Guevara started an open ended hunger strike protesting his illegal detention, and hoping to see and cuddle his seven-month old Julia.  

Guewara is not alone.  At least 14 other Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails are on hunger strike in protest of their unfair administrative detention without charge or trial.

The Prisoners’ Affairs Commission revealed that Israeli prison authorities maltreat the hunger-striking detainees, and had moved them to solitary confinement to force them end their protest.

Israel uses the so-called administrative detention policy to arrest and hold Palestinians without filing formal charges.  Tel Aviv insists that they were arrested on secret reports which are inaccessible to prisoners and their lawyers.  Human rights groups say Israel should either prosecute those prisoners or release them, especially that the detention orders can be renewed indefinitely and the detainees could even stay in prison up to 10 years.

Israel holds some 5000 Palestinians in its jails including hundreds who are held behinds bars without any charge or trial.  For the Palestinian prisoners, the hunger strike is an attempt to expose Israel’s illegal policy of administrative detention that must come to an end.  Israel, however, continues to be intransigent in dealing with the hunger strikers’ legal demands to make sure that no more prisoners would follow the same path in the future.