In 2007, the
number of Palestinians under administrative detention averaged about 830 per
month, including women and minors under the age of 18. By March 2008, more
than 8,400 Palestinians were held by Israeli civilian and military authorities,
of which 5,148 were serving sentences, 2,167 were facing legal proceedings and
790 were under administrative detention, often without charge or knowledge of
the suspicions against them. In 2010, the Palestinian Central Bureau of
Statistics reported that there were "over 7,000" Palestinians in
Israeli jails, of them 264 under administrative detention. Most of the
prisoners are held at Ofer Prison in the West Bank and
Megiddo and Ketziot prisons in Israel. In April
2008, Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel stated
that 11,000 Palestinian prisoners were in prison and detention in Israel,
including 98 women, 345 minors, 50 members of the Palestinian Legislative
Council, and 3 ministers of the Palestinian National Authority. Of
these 11,000 Palestinian prisoners, 8,456 were from the West Bank, 762
from the Gaza Strip, and 694 from within Israel itself (including 552
from Jerusalem). In October 2008, Haaretz reported that 600
Palestinians were being held in administrative detention in Israel, including
"about 15 minors who do not know even know why they are being
detained."
MINORS
In
2000-2009, 6,700 Palestinians between the ages of 12 and 18 were arrested by
the Israeli authorities, according to Defence for Children International's
Palestine Section (DCI/PS). In 2009, a total of 423 were being held in Israeli
detention and interrogation centers and prisons. In April 2010 the number
dropped to 280. DCI/PS states that these detentions stand in contravention
of international law.ALLEGATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE
The IDF has
been accused of prisoner abuse by Palestinian advocacy organizations.In July
2003, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) reported
that "Israel does not recognize Palestinian prisoners as having the status
of prisoners of war." The Israeli military sets the conditions
of detention and the administrative detention system allows for the imprisonment
of an individual for up to 6 months. This detention can be extended without the
approval of a judge. The FIDH report noted that, "In the case of
administrative detention, the necessary conditions for the execution of a fair
trial are far from being achieved given that the lawyers do not even have
access to the evidence."
FOURTH
GENEVA CONVENTION
Until the
early 1990s, Palestinians were held in detention facilities in the West Bank
and the Gaza Strip. Since then, they have been held in Israeli territory inside
the Green Line. This was described as a violation of the Fourth
Geneva Convention, which states that detained persons have the right to remain
in occupied territory in all stages of detention, including serving of
sentences if convicted. On March 28, 2010, the Supreme Court of
Israel rejected a petition by the human rights group Yesh
Din seeking to halt the practice of detention inside Israel.
PHYSICAL TORTURE
Until 1999,
"moderate physical pressure" was permitted in the interrogation of
suspects by the Israeli Shin Bet, as outlined in the Landau
Commission report of 1987. B'Tselem drew up a list of alleged
interrogation methods that includes: "depriving the interrogee of sleep
for a number of days by binding him or her in painful positions; playing loud
music; covering their head with a filthy sack; exposing the interrogee to
extreme heat and cold; tying them to a low chair, tilting forward; tightly
cuffing the interrogee's hands; having the interrogee stand, hands tied and
drawn upwards; having the interrogee lie on his back on a high stool with his
body arched backwards; forcing the interrogee to crouch on his toes with his
hands tied behind him; violent shaking of the detainee, the interrogator
grasping and shaking him; using threats and curses, and feeding him poor-quality
and insufficient amounts of food."In 1997,
the United Nations Committee Against Torture stated that such methods
constituted torture and were in breach of the United Nations Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,
a convention ratified by Israel in 1991. In September 1999, Israel's High
Court ruled that the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) does not have legal
authority to use physical means of interrogation that are not "reasonable
and fair" and cause the detainee to suffer. While the court noted that a
reasonable interrogation is likely to cause discomfort and put pressure on the
detainee, this is lawful only if "it is a 'side effect' inherent to the
interrogation," and not aimed at tiring out or "breaking" the
detainee as an end in itself.Uri
Davis wrote that the ruling of 1999 came after 50 years of silence
"in the face of systematic torture practiced in Israeli jails and
detention centers against Palestinian prisoners and detainees, as well as other prisoners." However, Davis also notes that after the Supreme Court
ruling, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel found that
"torture has, in most cases, ceased."In 2000, an
official Israeli report acknowledged torture of detainees during the First
Intifada. The report said that the leadership of Shin Bet knew about
the torture but did nothing to stop it. Human rights organisations claim some
detainees died or were left paralysed.
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