Israel rejects appeal to free Fatah MP

Israel's high court on Sunday rejected an appeal to end the administrative detention of Palestinian MP Hussam Khader, his lawyer said. Khader has been detained without charge or trial since June 2011. He was due to be released on June 1 but an Israeli military commander extended his detention by six months. Jawad Boulos of the Palestinian prisoners society told Ma'an that Israel's high court decided not to overturn the decision to extend the Fatah lawmaker's detention, but said Khader's administrative detention would not be extended any further. Boulos said Israeli authorities had promised before not to extend Khader's detention. He added that by refusing to release Khader, Israel was reneging on the deal it struck with prisoners on May 15 to end a mass hunger strike. Under the deal, Israel committed not to renew the administrative detention of all 322 Palestinians held without charge if there was no new information that required their imprisonment. Under Israel's administrative detention policy, prisoners can be held without formal charges for renewable periods of six months. Defendants and their lawyers are not given access to the evidence used to imprison them. Prisoners rights group Addameer said after the hunger strike deal it is "concerned that these provisions of the agreement will not explicitly solve Israel’s lenient and problematic application of administrative detention, which as it stands is in stark violation of international law." Some 27 Palestinian MPs are held in Israeli jails, including 24 held without charge or trial. Khader has been arrested repeatedly by Israel, Boulos said. He has been detained by Israeli forces on 26 occasions and spent nine years in Israeli prisons, the lawyer said. Chairman of the parliamentary committee for the defense of refugees, Khader is a known champion of reconciliation with Hamas.