Israel re-arrests released Palestinian hunger-striker

The Israeli police on Monday evening re-arrested a Palestinian in east Jerusalem a day after he was freed following a 55-day hunger strike.

The Palestinian Prisoner Club Association said in an official statement that an Israeli police arrested Islamic Jihad leader Khader Adnan, who had been released on Sunday after he ended a hunger strike that lasted for 55 days.

The statement said that Adnan was arrested on his way to pray at al-Aqsa Mosque in the old city in east Jerusalem.

"Adnan was arrested by the Israeli police because he was banned from entering the city just one day after he spent two months in an Israeli jail and went on a hunger strike for 55 days," said Eassa Qaraqe'a, head of Prisoners' Affairs department in Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Adnan's health condition deteriorated after he went on a 55-day hunger strike, and he decided to end his hunger strike after the Israeli prisons authorities accepted his demand of stopping keeping him in prison under administrative detention.

"Praying at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque during the holy month of Ramadan is not only the right of Khader Adna, but also the right of every Palestinian in the West Bank and Gaza," said Qaraqe'a.

He accused Israel of turning the city of Jerusalem into a military base under heavy security restrictions imposed on the Palestinians who go to Jerusalem for prayers. Endit