Palestinian prisoners
Encyclopedia
Palestinian prisoners in Israel mainly refers to Palestinians imprisoned in Israel
following apprehension resulting from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
. The future of Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel has long been considered central to progress in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations
.
The majority of prisoners are held after conviction by the Israel Prison Service
, which is under the jurisdiction of the Internal Security ministry, but there are also those who are administrative detainees
. According to B'Tselem
, as of 31 August 2011, there were 5,204 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, of them 272 in administrative detention.
On October 18th, 2011, 477 of an agreed 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released as part of an exchange
for a captive Israeli soldier
.
, between the years after the Six Day War (1967) and the First Intifada
(1988), more than 600,000 Palestinians were held in Israeli jails for a week or more. Rory McCarthy, The Guardian
's Jerusalem correspondent, estimated that one-fifth of the population has at one time been imprisoned since 1967.
According to B'Tselem, there was a decline, starting in 1998, in the number of Palestinians held in administrative detention
where, on average, less than 20 were held from 1999 to October 2001. However, with the start of the Second Intifada (2000), and particularly after Operation Defensive Shield
(2002), the trend was reversed, and the numbers began to steadily climb.
According to the Fédération Internationale des ligues des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH), from the beginning of the Second Intifada in 2000 through to April 2003, more than 28,000 Palestinians were incarcerated in prisons or prisoner camps. In April 2003 alone, there were more than 5,500 arrests.
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. The main prisons in which Palestinian prisoners apprehended by Israel are held are in the Ofer Prison
in the West Bank
and the Megiddo and Ketziot
prisons in Israel.
On 17 April 2008, the annual day of commemoration for Palestinian Prisoners, Adalah
: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, published a summary report of statistics noting that there were 11,000 Palestinian prisoners being held in prison and detention in Israel, including 98 women, 345 children, 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 there are 600 Palestinians being held in administrative detention in Israel, including "about 15 minors who do not know even know why they are being detained."
's Palestine Section (DCI/PS). The number of Palestinian children held in detention and interrogation centers, as well as prisons, both in Occupied Palestinian Territory and inside of Israel, was 423 in 2009. In April 2010 the number was 280. DCI/PS reports that these detentions stand in contravention of international law
.
There are several Palestinian leaders and politicians held in Israeli jails, including 47 Hamas
members of the Palestinian Legislative Council
, in addition to some ministers and the mayors and municipal council members of various towns and cities in the West Bank.
Marwan Barghouti
a leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militia and al-Mustaqbal
political party, was arrested and tried by an Israeli civilian court for attacks carried out by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
. He was convicted on May 20, 2004 on five counts of murder and sentenced to five life sentences and forty years.
Ahmad Sa'adat
, the secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP) is currently held by Israel. In 2002, he was tried, convicted and imprisoned in Jericho
by the Palestinian National Authority
, for his role in the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi
on October 17, 2001 by the PFLP. The Palestinian Supreme Court later declared his imprisonment unconstitutional. His imprisonment by the PNA, rather than extradition to Israel as required by the Oslo Accords, was negotiated between the PNA, Israel the US and the UK. Under the terms of that agreement, the imprisonment was to be monitored by US and UK observers. On March 14, 2006, after both the American and British monitors, as well as the Palestinian guards of the Jericho jail abandoned their posts, Israeli forces surrounded the prison in Jericho and took Sa'adat. He has been held under administrative detention by Israel since then.
Several Palestinian mayors and members of municipal councils have been detained. In 2005, three members of Nablus
's municipal council including the mayor Adly Yaish
, Qalqilya mayor Wajih Qawas, Beita
mayor Arab Shurafa, and two members of the Bani Zeid
municipal council — all members of Hamas
were arrested.
.
The 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
(also known as 'Oslo 2') calls for the release of Palestinian detainees, in stages, as part of a series of "confidence-building measures." Because the accords fail to call for the immediate release of all Palestinian prisoners, they have been criticized by for being out of step with the Geneva Conventions
, which note that when an occupier withdraws from a given territory: "Protected persons who have been accused of offences or convicted by the courts in occupied territory, shall be handed over at the close of occupation, with the relevant records, to the authorities of the liberated territories." Upon the Israeli withdrawal from populated Palestinian centers in 1995, many of the Palestinian prisoners in military jails were transferred to jails inside Israel, which some Palestinian activists contend is a breach of articles 49 and 76 of the Geneva Conventions prohibiting deportations. From the signing of Oslo through to 2001, an additional 13,000 Palestinians were arrested, tried and/or convicted, and because there is no clause in Oslo prohibiting or pertaining to arrests made after the signing of the accords, those arrested after the signing of Oslo II in 1995 are excluded from the conditions outlined in the agreements to follow.
The 1998 Wye River Memorandum
specified that Israel was to release 750 Palestinian prisoners, some 250 of which were released by the time of the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum in 1999. Wye 2 reduced the number of those who were to be released from 500 to 350, and these were freed by mid-October 1999. Israeli pledges to release an undetermined number of prisoners at the beginning of Ramadan
were met, albeit belatedly, when 26 'security' prisoners, half of whom had a few months left to serve were released on 29 December. An additional seven prisoners from East Jerusalem
were released the day following after protests from the Palestinian Authority, who had expected more. Further releases of Palestinian prisoners by Israel in 2000 included 15 in March 2000 and 3 in June 2000, as a "goodwill gesture".
In a meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh
in February 2005, Israel pledged to release another 900 Palestinian prisoners of the 7,500 being held at the time. By the spring of 2005, 500 of these had been released, but after Qassam
rocket attacks on Sderot
on May 5, Ariel Sharon
withheld the release of the remaining 400, citing the need for the Palestinian Authority to rein in militants.
On August 25, 2008, Israel released 198 Palestinian prisoners in a "goodwill gesture" to encourage diplomatic relations and support Fatah
leader Mahmoud Abbas
. The Israeli government has also offered to release 450 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit
, an Israeli soldier held by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip
since June 2006.
On December 15, 2008, Israel released an additional 224 Palestinian prisoners from Ofer Prison
in the West Bank
in an effort to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
. 18 Prisoners were released to the Gaza Strip
.
In a July 2003 report by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) that was presented to the UN Human Rights Committee, it was noted that "Israel does not recognize Palestinian prisoners as having the status of prisoners of war." In practice, it is the Israeli military that controls the conditions of detention and the administrative detention system allows for the imprisonment of an individual for up to 6 months, and this detention can be extended without the approval of a judge. The FIDH report also notes 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."
. It has been charged that holding prisoners arrested in the Palestinian Territories
inside the Green Line
is a violation of provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention
which hold that detained persons have the right to remain in occupied territory in all stages of detention, including the serving of sentences if convicted. On March 28, 2010, the Supreme Court of Israel
rejected a petition by the human rights group Yesh Din
to order the government of Israel to refrain from holding Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli territory behind the Green Line.
report of 1987. B'Tselem
reports that the methods of interrogation included several techniques, such as "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 found 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, a ruling by Israel's High Court repudiated the Landau Commission's position, stating that the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) does not have legal authority to use physical means of interrogation that are not "reasonable and fair" and that 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
writes that the Israeli Supreme Court (Bagatz) 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
reports that "torture has, in most cases, ceased."
In 2000, an official Israeli report has acknowledged that the Israeli security service tortured 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 say some detainees died or were left paralysed.
Later, Netanyahu announced that Israel would restrict prisoners' ability to communicate with family members and friends while in prison. Haaretz
reported that the Israeli Prison Service would be purchasing devices that would disrupt cell-phone communication in the prisons.
In Confronting the Occupation, Maya Rosenfeld, notes that in the 1980s, "Under the conditions that prevailed in the West Bank, the option of armed resistance was completely blocked, while organized political activity was completely obstructed by clashes with the military rule and took place under the permanent shadow of threat of arrests. The prisons, where so many were to undergo their punishment, were a 'sanctuary', if only because it was no longer possible to threaten their inmates with incarceration." Rosenfeld's research among Palestinian refugees in the Dheisheh
camp in Bethlehem
found that the politicization process of young men from the camp underwent a qualitative transformation during their period of imprisonment, which she attributes largely to the internal organization practices of Palestinian prisoners and the central role of studies and education. An Israeli investigation among Palestinian prisoners in the early stages of the First Intifada
found that their political mobilization was not so much ideologically-based, as it was a function of repeated humiliations at the hands of Israeli forces.
in 1967, Israeli authorities had initially banned Palestinian prisoners from using pencils and paper while serving their terms. After a number of hunger strikes, the Israeli authorities gradually allowed Palestinian prisoners access to pens, pencils, paper, books, newspapers and a certain amount of carefully monitored radio broadcasting. Palestinian prisoners soon established a library in every prison, and "organised literacy classes, language courses, awareness-raising sessions, political discourse and orientation workshops, as well as classes for young prisoners to prepare them for the General Secondary Examination." In Language and Communication in Israel, it is noted that, "Thousands of Palestinian prisoners learned Hebrew
in Israeli prisons."
s conducted by Palestinian prisoners in different prisons in Israel.
On 1 May 2001, almost 1,000 of the 1,650 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli prisons at the time participated in a month-long hunger strike, in protest against "arbitrary treatment by prison officials, substandard prison conditions, prohibitions on family visits, use of solitary confinement, poor medical care, and Israel's refusal to release all the categories of prisoners specified in its agreements with the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO)." Mass demonstrations in solidarity with the prisoners erupted throughout the areas of Palestinian self-rule in the days following, culminating in a mass protest on May 15 (the anniversary of the Nakba
) and ending on May 18 with 7 Palestinians fatalities, 1,000 injuries and 60 Israeli wounded. The hunger strike was ended on May 31 after Israeli prison authorities promised to review the complaints and ease restrictions on visitations. A report by the Israeli government released in June 2001 on conditions in the Shatta prison noted that the living conditions were "particularly harsh" in the wing where prisoners from the Occupied Palestinian Territories were held, and concluded that the exposed tents and filthy bathrooms in which prisoners were housed and bathed were unfit for human use.
, Hamas
, Islamic Jihad
, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP), and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(DFLP), authored the Palestinian Prisoners' Document in 2006. The document outlined 18 points on the basis of which negotiations with Israel should proceed. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
attempted to use it as a basis for his negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
, but Olmert refused.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
following apprehension resulting from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
. The future of Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel has long been considered central to progress in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations
Peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The peace process in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has taken shape over the years, despite the ongoing violence in the Middle East and an "all or nothing" attitude about a lasting peace, "which prevailed for most of the twentieth century"...
.
The majority of prisoners are held after conviction by the Israel Prison Service
Israel Prison Service
The Israel Prison Service , commonly known in Israel by its acronym Shabas , is the prison service of Israel. It is responsible for maintaining civilian prisons in Israel, as well as detention centers for security prisoners. It is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Security...
, which is under the jurisdiction of the Internal Security ministry, but there are also those who are administrative detainees
Administrative detention
Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial, usually for security reasons. A large number of countries, both democratic and undemocratic, resort to administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism, control illegal immigration, or to protect the...
. According to B'Tselem
B'Tselem
B'Tselem is an Israeli non-governmental organization . It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories"...
, as of 31 August 2011, there were 5,204 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, of them 272 in administrative detention.
On October 18th, 2011, 477 of an agreed 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released as part of an exchange
Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange
The Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange followed an agreement between Israel and Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,027 prisoners – mainly Palestinians and Arab-Israelis, though among the prisoners released there was also a Ukrainian prisoner, a Jordanian prisoner, and a...
for a captive Israeli soldier
Gilad Shalit
Gilad Shalit is an Israeli – French citizen and Israel Defense Forces soldier. On 25 June 2006, he was captured inside Israel by Hamas militants in a cross-border raid via underground tunnels near the border with Gaza. The Hamas militants held him for over five years, until he was released on...
.
Number of prisoners
According to the Palestinian Centre for Human RightsPalestinian Centre for Human Rights
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights is an independent Palestinian human rights organization based in Gaza City, founded and directed by Raji Sourani...
, between the years after the Six Day War (1967) and the First Intifada
First Intifada
The First Intifada was a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. The uprising began in the Jabalia refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem....
(1988), more than 600,000 Palestinians were held in Israeli jails for a week or more. Rory McCarthy, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
's Jerusalem correspondent, estimated that one-fifth of the population has at one time been imprisoned since 1967.
According to B'Tselem, there was a decline, starting in 1998, in the number of Palestinians held in administrative detention
Administrative detention
Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial, usually for security reasons. A large number of countries, both democratic and undemocratic, resort to administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism, control illegal immigration, or to protect the...
where, on average, less than 20 were held from 1999 to October 2001. However, with the start of the Second Intifada (2000), and particularly after Operation Defensive Shield
Operation Defensive Shield
Operation Defensive Shield was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces in 2002, during the course of the Second Intifada. It was the largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War. The operation was an attempt by the Israeli army to stop the...
(2002), the trend was reversed, and the numbers began to steadily climb.
According to the Fédération Internationale des ligues des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH), from the beginning of the Second Intifada in 2000 through to April 2003, more than 28,000 Palestinians were incarcerated in prisons or prisoner camps. In April 2003 alone, there were more than 5,500 arrests.
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. The main prisons in which Palestinian prisoners apprehended by Israel are held are in the Ofer Prison
Ofer Prison
Ofer Prison , formerly officially known as Incarceration Facility 385 , is an Israeli incarceration facility located in the West Bank, between Ramallah/Beituniya and Giv'at Ze'ev...
in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
and the Megiddo and Ketziot
Ktzi'ot Prison
Ktzi'ot Prison is an Israeli detention facility located in the Haluza sand dunes region. It is Israel's largest detention facility in terms of land area, encompassing ....
prisons in Israel.
On 17 April 2008, the annual day of commemoration for Palestinian Prisoners, Adalah
Adalah
Adalah means justice and denotes The Justice of God. It is among the five Shia Principles of the Religion.The Shias believe that there is intrinsic good or evil in things, and that God commands them to do the good things and shun the evil...
: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, published a summary report of statistics noting that there were 11,000 Palestinian prisoners being held in prison and detention in Israel, including 98 women, 345 children, 50 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council
Palestinian Legislative Council
The Palestinian Legislative Council, the legislature of the Palestinian Authority, is a unicameral body with 132 members, elected from 16 electoral districts in the West Bank and Gaza...
, and 3 ministers of the Palestinian National Authority
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
. Of these 11,000 Palestinian prisoners, 8,456 were from the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, 762 from the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
, and 694 from within Israel itself (including 552 from Jerusalem). In October 2008, Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
reported that there are 600 Palestinians being held in administrative detention in Israel, including "about 15 minors who do not know even know why they are being detained."
Child prisoners
Between October 2000 and April 2009, approximately 6,700 Palestinian children between the ages of 12 and 18 were arrested by the Israeli authorities, according to Defence for Children InternationalDefence for Children International
Defence for Children International is an independent non-governmental organisation set up during the International Year of the Child to ensure on-going, practical, systematic and concerted international and national action specially directed towards promoting and protecting the rights of the...
's Palestine Section (DCI/PS). The number of Palestinian children held in detention and interrogation centers, as well as prisons, both in Occupied Palestinian Territory and inside of Israel, was 423 in 2009. In April 2010 the number was 280. DCI/PS reports that these detentions stand in contravention of international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
.
Public figures
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
members of the Palestinian Legislative Council
Palestinian Legislative Council
The Palestinian Legislative Council, the legislature of the Palestinian Authority, is a unicameral body with 132 members, elected from 16 electoral districts in the West Bank and Gaza...
, in addition to some ministers and the mayors and municipal council members of various towns and cities in the West Bank.
Marwan Barghouti
Marwan Barghouti
Marwan Hasib Ibrahim Barghouti is a Palestinian political figure. He is regarded as a leader of the First and Second Intifadas. Barghouti at one time supported the peace process, but later became disillusioned, and after 2000 went on to become the main figure behind the Al-Aqsa Intifada in the...
a leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militia and al-Mustaqbal
Al-Mustaqbal
Al-Mustaqbal , The Future, was a Palestinian electoral list headed by Marwan Barghouti and registered in December 2005 for January 2006 elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council.- Formation :...
political party, was arrested and tried by an Israeli civilian court for attacks carried out by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades is a coalition of Palestinian nationalist militias in the West Bank. The group's name refers to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem...
. He was convicted on May 20, 2004 on five counts of murder and sentenced to five life sentences and forty years.
Ahmad Sa'adat
Ahmad Sa'adat
Ahmad Sa'adat is a Palestinian militant and Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine , a militant Palestinian group....
, the secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organisation founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization , the largest being Fatah...
(PFLP) is currently held by Israel. In 2002, he was tried, convicted and imprisoned in Jericho
Jericho
Jericho ; is a city located near the Jordan River in the West Bank of the Palestinian territories. It is the capital of the Jericho Governorate and has a population of more than 20,000. Situated well below sea level on an east-west route north of the Dead Sea, Jericho is the lowest permanently...
by the Palestinian National Authority
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
, for his role in the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi
Rehavam Zeevi
' 20 June 1926 - 17 October 2001) was an Israeli general, politician, and historian who founded the right-wing nationalist Moledet party, mainly advocating population transfer....
on October 17, 2001 by the PFLP. The Palestinian Supreme Court later declared his imprisonment unconstitutional. His imprisonment by the PNA, rather than extradition to Israel as required by the Oslo Accords, was negotiated between the PNA, Israel the US and the UK. Under the terms of that agreement, the imprisonment was to be monitored by US and UK observers. On March 14, 2006, after both the American and British monitors, as well as the Palestinian guards of the Jericho jail abandoned their posts, Israeli forces surrounded the prison in Jericho and took Sa'adat. He has been held under administrative detention by Israel since then.
Several Palestinian mayors and members of municipal councils have been detained. In 2005, three members of Nablus
Nablus
Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
's municipal council including the mayor Adly Yaish
Adly Yaish
Adly Yaish is the mayor of the Nablus Municipality in the central highlands of the West Bank under the Palestinian National Authority.On 24 May 2007 he was arrested by Israeli forces. He spent 15 months in prison without being charged....
, Qalqilya mayor Wajih Qawas, Beita
Beita
Beita is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate in the northern West Bank located southeast of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 9,709 in 2007. It consists of five clans which branch out to thirty families. There are many houses...
mayor Arab Shurafa, and two members of the Bani Zeid
Bani Zeid
Bani Zeid is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located northwest of Ramallah in the north-central West Bank and about south-west of Salfit. A town of 5,515 inhabitants, Bani Zeid was created as a merger between the villages of Deir Ghassaneh and Beit Rima...
municipal council — all members of Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
were arrested.
Prisoner exchanges and releases
Israel has released Palestinian prisoners in prisoner exchange agreements concluded with various Palestinian militia factions. For example, in 1985, Israel released 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in exchange for three Israeli POWs being held by Ahmed JibrilAhmed Jibril
Ahmed Jibril is the founder and leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command , part of the left-wing, Palestinian national liberation movement....
.
The 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
The Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, also known as the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, the Interim Agreement, Oslo 2, Oslo II, and Taba, was a key and complex agreement governing several aspects of the Palestinian territories of Gaza Strip and the West Bank.-History:It...
(also known as 'Oslo 2') calls for the release of Palestinian detainees, in stages, as part of a series of "confidence-building measures." Because the accords fail to call for the immediate release of all Palestinian prisoners, they have been criticized by for being out of step with the Geneva Conventions
Geneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...
, which note that when an occupier withdraws from a given territory: "Protected persons who have been accused of offences or convicted by the courts in occupied territory, shall be handed over at the close of occupation, with the relevant records, to the authorities of the liberated territories." Upon the Israeli withdrawal from populated Palestinian centers in 1995, many of the Palestinian prisoners in military jails were transferred to jails inside Israel, which some Palestinian activists contend is a breach of articles 49 and 76 of the Geneva Conventions prohibiting deportations. From the signing of Oslo through to 2001, an additional 13,000 Palestinians were arrested, tried and/or convicted, and because there is no clause in Oslo prohibiting or pertaining to arrests made after the signing of the accords, those arrested after the signing of Oslo II in 1995 are excluded from the conditions outlined in the agreements to follow.
The 1998 Wye River Memorandum
Wye River Memorandum
The Wye River Memorandum was an agreement negotiated between Israel and the Palestine Authority to implement the earlier Interim Agreement of 28 September, 1995...
specified that Israel was to release 750 Palestinian prisoners, some 250 of which were released by the time of the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum in 1999. Wye 2 reduced the number of those who were to be released from 500 to 350, and these were freed by mid-October 1999. Israeli pledges to release an undetermined number of prisoners at the beginning of Ramadan
Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...
were met, albeit belatedly, when 26 'security' prisoners, half of whom had a few months left to serve were released on 29 December. An additional seven prisoners from East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War...
were released the day following after protests from the Palestinian Authority, who had expected more. Further releases of Palestinian prisoners by Israel in 2000 included 15 in March 2000 and 3 in June 2000, as a "goodwill gesture".
In a meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh
Sharm el-Sheikh
Sharm el-Sheikh is a city situated on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, Egypt, on the coastal strip along the Red Sea. Its population is approximately 35,000...
in February 2005, Israel pledged to release another 900 Palestinian prisoners of the 7,500 being held at the time. By the spring of 2005, 500 of these had been released, but after Qassam
Qassam
Qassam may refer to:*Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, an influential Islamist preacher*Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas*Qassam rocket, a type of rocket used by the military wing of Hamas against Israel...
rocket attacks on Sderot
Sderot
Sderot is a western Negev city in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 20,700. The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip...
on May 5, Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
withheld the release of the remaining 400, citing the need for the Palestinian Authority to rein in militants.
On August 25, 2008, Israel released 198 Palestinian prisoners in a "goodwill gesture" to encourage diplomatic relations and support Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
leader Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...
. The Israeli government has also offered to release 450 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit
Gilad Shalit
Gilad Shalit is an Israeli – French citizen and Israel Defense Forces soldier. On 25 June 2006, he was captured inside Israel by Hamas militants in a cross-border raid via underground tunnels near the border with Gaza. The Hamas militants held him for over five years, until he was released on...
, an Israeli soldier held by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
since June 2006.
On December 15, 2008, Israel released an additional 224 Palestinian prisoners from Ofer Prison
Ofer Prison
Ofer Prison , formerly officially known as Incarceration Facility 385 , is an Israeli incarceration facility located in the West Bank, between Ramallah/Beituniya and Giv'at Ze'ev...
in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
in an effort to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...
. 18 Prisoners were released to the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
.
Accusations of human rights abuses
The IDF has been accused by several organisations of abusing Palestinian prisoners.In a July 2003 report by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) that was presented to the UN Human Rights Committee, it was noted that "Israel does not recognize Palestinian prisoners as having the status of prisoners of war." In practice, it is the Israeli military that controls the conditions of detention and the administrative detention system allows for the imprisonment of an individual for up to 6 months, and this detention can be extended without the approval of a judge. The FIDH report also notes 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
Although up until the early 1990s, the vast majority of Palestinian detainees were held in detention facilities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, now most of the prisoners are held in Israeli territory within the Green LineGreen Line
- Geographic demarcations :* Green Line, a name for the Gothic Line or "Linea Gotica", a German defensive line in Italy during World War II, renamed the "Green Line" in June 1944...
. It has been charged that holding prisoners arrested in the Palestinian Territories
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
inside the Green Line
Green Line
- Geographic demarcations :* Green Line, a name for the Gothic Line or "Linea Gotica", a German defensive line in Italy during World War II, renamed the "Green Line" in June 1944...
is a violation of provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention
Fourth Geneva Convention
The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention and abbreviated as GCIV, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was adopted in August 1949, and defines humanitarian protections for civilians...
which hold that detained persons have the right to remain in occupied territory in all stages of detention, including the serving of sentences if convicted. On March 28, 2010, the Supreme Court of Israel
Supreme Court of Israel
The Supreme Court is at the head of the court system and highest judicial instance in Israel. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem.The area of its jurisdiction is all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme...
rejected a petition by the human rights group Yesh Din
Yesh Din
Yesh Din is an Israeli human rights group providing legal assistance to citizens of the Palestinian territories. Its name comes from a Hebrew phrase meaning “there is law”...
to order the government of Israel to refrain from holding Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli territory behind the Green Line.
Physical torture
Until 1999, "moderate physical pressure" was permitted in the interrogation of suspects by the Israeli Shin Bet, as outlined in the Landau CommissionLandau Commission
The Landau Commission was a three-man Commission set up by the Israeli Government in 1987 following a long-running scandal over the deaths of two Palestinian prisoners in custody and the wrongful conviction of a Circassian IDF officer...
report of 1987. B'Tselem
B'Tselem
B'Tselem is an Israeli non-governmental organization . It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories"...
reports that the methods of interrogation included several techniques, such as "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 found 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, a ruling by Israel's High Court repudiated the Landau Commission's position, stating that the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) does not have legal authority to use physical means of interrogation that are not "reasonable and fair" and that 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
Uri Davis
Uriel "Uri" Davis is an academic and activist who works on civil rights in Israel, Palestinian National Authority and the Middle East. Davis has served as Vice-Chairman of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights and as lecturer in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford...
writes that the Israeli Supreme Court (Bagatz) 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
Public Committee Against Torture in Israel
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel is an Israeli human rights organisation specifically dedicated to combating torture, and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment and punishment...
reports that "torture has, in most cases, ceased."
In 2000, an official Israeli report has acknowledged that the Israeli security service tortured detainees during the First Intifada
First Intifada
The First Intifada was a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. The uprising began in the Jabalia refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem....
. The report said that the leadership of Shin Bet knew about the torture but did nothing to stop it. Human rights organisations say some detainees died or were left paralysed.
Treatment
In the middle of June 2011, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced, in response to the stalling of Peace talks in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a number of areas in which Palestinian prisoners would lose privileges. Among those included their right to earn degrees in prison, a program which provided hundreds of Palestinians with educations of various levels.Later, Netanyahu announced that Israel would restrict prisoners' ability to communicate with family members and friends while in prison. Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
reported that the Israeli Prison Service would be purchasing devices that would disrupt cell-phone communication in the prisons.
Political & social mobilization
Yezid Sayigh writes of how the "inadvertent consequence" of Israel's internal security measures was to contribute to the social mobilization of Palestinian society. The high number of students and youth to enter the prison system from the mid-1970s to early 1980s, meant that the prison population "tended to be young, educated, and familiar with the tactics of civil disobediance and unarmed protest." In prison, they were exposed to political indoctrination and instruction in security and organization from veteran guerillas. Prisoners organized themselves according to political affiliation and ran education programmes for one another, making the prisons "unsurpassed 'cadre schools'". Many youth upon finishing their prison terms would go on to become leaders of students movements in Palestinian universities and colleges.In Confronting the Occupation, Maya Rosenfeld, notes that in the 1980s, "Under the conditions that prevailed in the West Bank, the option of armed resistance was completely blocked, while organized political activity was completely obstructed by clashes with the military rule and took place under the permanent shadow of threat of arrests. The prisons, where so many were to undergo their punishment, were a 'sanctuary', if only because it was no longer possible to threaten their inmates with incarceration." Rosenfeld's research among Palestinian refugees in the Dheisheh
Dheisheh
Dheisheh Refugee Camp is a Palestinian refugee camp located just south of Bethlehem in the West Bank. Dheisheh was established in 1949 on 0.31 square kilometers of land leased from the Jordanian government...
camp in Bethlehem
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
found that the politicization process of young men from the camp underwent a qualitative transformation during their period of imprisonment, which she attributes largely to the internal organization practices of Palestinian prisoners and the central role of studies and education. An Israeli investigation among Palestinian prisoners in the early stages of the First Intifada
First Intifada
The First Intifada was a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. The uprising began in the Jabalia refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem....
found that their political mobilization was not so much ideologically-based, as it was a function of repeated humiliations at the hands of Israeli forces.
'Prison education' programmes
In the years following the occupation of the Palestinian territoriesPalestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
in 1967, Israeli authorities had initially banned Palestinian prisoners from using pencils and paper while serving their terms. After a number of hunger strikes, the Israeli authorities gradually allowed Palestinian prisoners access to pens, pencils, paper, books, newspapers and a certain amount of carefully monitored radio broadcasting. Palestinian prisoners soon established a library in every prison, and "organised literacy classes, language courses, awareness-raising sessions, political discourse and orientation workshops, as well as classes for young prisoners to prepare them for the General Secondary Examination." In Language and Communication in Israel, it is noted that, "Thousands of Palestinian prisoners learned Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
in Israeli prisons."
Hunger strikes
In 1998, there were nine hunger strikeHunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
s conducted by Palestinian prisoners in different prisons in Israel.
On 1 May 2001, almost 1,000 of the 1,650 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli prisons at the time participated in a month-long hunger strike, in protest against "arbitrary treatment by prison officials, substandard prison conditions, prohibitions on family visits, use of solitary confinement, poor medical care, and Israel's refusal to release all the categories of prisoners specified in its agreements with the Palestine Liberation Organization
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization which was created in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed...
(PLO)." Mass demonstrations in solidarity with the prisoners erupted throughout the areas of Palestinian self-rule in the days following, culminating in a mass protest on May 15 (the anniversary of the Nakba
Nakba Day
Nakba Day is generally commemorated on May 15, the day after the Gregorian calendar date for Israeli independence day...
) and ending on May 18 with 7 Palestinians fatalities, 1,000 injuries and 60 Israeli wounded. The hunger strike was ended on May 31 after Israeli prison authorities promised to review the complaints and ease restrictions on visitations. A report by the Israeli government released in June 2001 on conditions in the Shatta prison noted that the living conditions were "particularly harsh" in the wing where prisoners from the Occupied Palestinian Territories were held, and concluded that the exposed tents and filthy bathrooms in which prisoners were housed and bathed were unfit for human use.
Palestinian Prisoners' Document
Five Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails, affiliated with FatahFatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
, Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
, Islamic Jihad
Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine
The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine known in the West as simply Palestinian Islamic Jihad , is a small Palestinian militant organization. The group has been labelled as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia and Israel...
, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organisation founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization , the largest being Fatah...
(PFLP), and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist, secular political and military organization. It is also frequently referred to as the Democratic Front, or al-Jabha al-Dimuqratiyah...
(DFLP), authored the Palestinian Prisoners' Document in 2006. The document outlined 18 points on the basis of which negotiations with Israel should proceed. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...
attempted to use it as a basis for his negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, as a Cabinet Minister from 1988 to 1992 and from 2003 to 2006, and as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003....
, but Olmert refused.
See also
- Camp 1391Camp 1391Camp 1391 is an Israel Defense Force prison camp for "high-risk" prisoners in northern Israel, run by Unit 504 and less than an hour's drive from Tel Aviv...
- Ktzi'ot PrisonKtzi'ot PrisonKtzi'ot Prison is an Israeli detention facility located in the Haluza sand dunes region. It is Israel's largest detention facility in terms of land area, encompassing ....
- Lebanese prisoners in IsraelLebanese prisoners in IsraelLebanese prisoners in Israel have been a source of contention between Lebanon and Israel and were an issue in the 2006 Lebanon War. The number of such detainees is disputed. According to the Lebanese militant organization Hezbollah, there are two Lebanese citizens in Israeli prisons, but Israel...
- Revolving door policy (Palestinian Authority)