Ranking Islamic Jihad official Khader Adnan, who went on a 66-day hunger strike over his detention by Israel, has been released in keeping with the deal reached with him to end his hunger strike in February.

One day before his release on Tuesday, some 2,300 Palestinian inmates in Israeli jails began an open-ended hunger strike, synchronized with Palestinian rallies marking “Prisoners’ Day.”

The Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Ministry stated that there are about 4,700 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including 319 who are being held without charge in Administrative Detention.

The legal basis for Israel’s use of Administrative Detention is the British Mandate’s 1945 Law on Authority in States of Emergency, as amended by Israel in 1979. Administrative detention is normally applied in cases where the available evidence may not be disclosed publicly for security reasons, such as revealing the identities of informers.

Administrative Detention has been applied to Israeli Jews as well.

Within Israel, the Defense Minister has the authority to issue Administrative Detention orders for up to 6 months, and renew such orders. Administrative Detention orders can be appealed to the District Court and, if denied there, to the Supreme Court of Israel.

Within the West Bank and Gaza Strip, any local army commander can issue an administrative detention order, and the order can be appealed at the local military court, or, if denied there, at the Supreme Court.

Article 78 of the Fourth Geneva Convention in 1949 states that “if the Occupying Power considers it necessary, for imperative reasons of security, to take safety measures concerning protected persons, it may, at the most, subject them to assigned residence or to internment.”

Israeli authorities freed Islamic Jihad official Khader Adnan on Tuesday after he refused food from December 18 until February 21, protesting what he said was a violent and humiliating arrest at his home in the occupied West Bank.

The detention of Adnan “for activities that threaten regional security” due to his alleged leadership role in the Islamic Jihad, triggered a series of protests calling for his release across Palestinian governed areas.

Earlier this year, an Israeli military court ordered that Adnan be placed for four months in administrative detention. (© 2012 JewishPress. 04/18/12)