“My starting point is that every minor is a world unto himself,” Weinstein wrote. “A minor is a minor, no matter where he lives.”

 

Inside Israel, judges routinely request psychological evaluations of minors before deciding whether to keep them under arrest. But in the West Bank, the military prosecution has repeatedly opposed conducting evaluations of arrested minors.

 

Weinstein said arrests of minors must be scrutinized with extra care “from a perspective of the need to strike a balance between the danger to the public welfare and the presumption of innocence and the possibility of rehabilitating the minor.”

 

But Efroni refused to say whether he would adopt Weinstein’s position, saying only that he would study the issue. The Israel Defense Forces Spokesman’s Office said in a statement that the head of Central Command – who, as the military commander in the West Bank, would need to promulgate the amendment – would also study the issue.

 

Military court judges told Weinstein they favor amending the law, as an evaluation is sometimes necessary to decide whether a minor should remain under arrest.

 

In his letter to Efroni, Weinstein said he realized that implementing the proposed change would present “practical difficulties, and therefore, it is liable to help only a very small number of those whose cases are heard each year.” Still, he added, that fact doesn’t justify denying military courts the ability to request an evaluation when they deem it necessary.

 

The IDF Spokesman’s Office said the military advocate general’s office had initiated “many significant steps in recent years to improve the way minors are dealt with in criminal proceedings in the West Bank,” including setting up a juvenile court, raising the age of majority from 16 to 18 and shortening arrests.

 

Nevertheless, it continued, the main purpose of remand evaluations is to find an alternative to arrest that will aid the minor’s rehabilitation. It said “the unique situation in the West Bank poses significant challenges” in this regard, especially given “the prominent ideological component that forms the background to the committing of most crimes and the support these minors receive from home,” as well as the lack of suitable Palestinian Authority frameworks for juvenile suspects.