The colonizers have lied again; the May 14th agreement has been broken

There are now confirmed reports that Israel has begun violating the May 14th agreement it made with 2,000 Palestinian prisoners who had been on hunger strike. This hunger strike and the hunger strikes of Khader Adnan and Hana Shalabi were in protest of Israel's practice of “administrative detention”, a term which refers to the practice of imprisoning Palestinians without charge or trial.

According to Ahed Abu Gholmeh, a lawyer present during the talks between Israeli officials and the Palestinian hunger strike committee that struck the May 14th agreement, Israeli officials promised to the hunger strike committee that, “there will be no new administrative detention orders or renewals of administrative detention orders for the 308 Palestinians currently in administrative detention, unless the secret files, upon which administrative detention is based, contain 'very serious' information.” As writer for the Electronic Intifada Linah Alsaafin puts it, “rumors of Israel reneging on its promises have solidified into facts.”

There have been confirmed reports that twenty-five Palestinians have had their administrative detention orders renewed with AFP reporting this includes two Palestinian members of parliament; one from the Fatah party and one from the Hamas party. A renewal of an administrative detention order typically translates to an added 6 months in prison after which time Israeli officials will decide whether or not to renew the order again. Prisoners held in administrative detention can have their detention orders renewed for years, even decades, all without ever knowing what they are being charged with.

This news comes as Palestinian hunger strikers Mahmoud Sarsak and Akram Rikhawi are still on their protracted hunger strikes in protest of their imprisonment. Sarsak, an administrative detainee and Palestinian national football team player, has in fact entered his 80th day of hunger strike and hope for his survival is fading. Rikhawi is on his 64th day of hunger strike and although independent physicians have been denied any access to Rikhawi it is assumed that at this point his health is deteriorating rapidly.

Unsurprisingly the corporate media coverage of these events is pathetic. This is to be expected as Israel currently receives unconditional military, economic, and diplomatic support from the state and corporate sectors in the United States.