Israeli soldier on 'solidarity' hunger strike

An Israeli soldier who has refused to serve in the Palestinian territories has gone on hunger strike in a military prison in solidarity with Palestinian administrative detainees, a report said on Sunday. The 31-year-old army reservist, Yaniv Mazor, was jailed for 20 days last week for refusing to take part in army duties in protest at Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, Haaretz newspaper said on its website. The day after his incarceration Mazor went on hunger strike, it said, adding he had stressed through his lawyer the protest was not to highlight his own situation but in solidarity with Palestinians held in administrative detention. Some 1,550 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel ended a mass hunger strike on May 14 in exchange for a package of measures which would allow visits from relatives in Gaza and the transfer of detainees out of solitary confinement. A number of others however continued their fasts, including footballer Mahmud Sarsak, 25, who has now gone for more than 80 days without food, although he is taking vitamins and sugar and drinking milk. Administrative detention is a procedure that allows suspects to be held without charge for renewable periods of up to six months.