Sir, – Jackie Goodall (Letters, October 18th) states that administrative detention, used to detain Maher al-Akhras, is used only when the suspect is deemed likely to pose a significant threat to the security of Israel.
But Israel has committed to releasing him on November 26th, if he ends his hunger strike.
The proposition offered by Ms Goodall is therefore that Mr al-Akhras is a “significant threat to the security of Israel”, but only until November 25th, after which he is no longer a threat.
The obvious absurdity of that proposition exposes the lie that administrative detention is a security mechanism used by Israel. It is a mechanism of political torture, routinely used against all classes of Palestinians, including children and elected parliamentarians, with between 300 and 500 Palestinians detained without charge at any given time, for periods of up to 12 years.
Since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967, Israel has arrested almost 20 per cent of the total Palestinian population in the occupied Palestinian territories. – Yours, etc,
JOHN GEOGHEGAN,
Glasnevin,
Dublin 11.