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End of June 2024:
Security Prisoners
Adults: 7.816
Children: 209
Total: 8,025
Percentage held in Israel:
Adults: 69%
Children: 50%
Administrative Detention
Adults: 3,302
Children: 75
Total: 3,377
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Newsletter - June 2014 Detention figures – The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) is yet to release data on the number of Palestinian children held in its facilities during the months of May or June. The last figures published by the IPS relate to April when there were 196 children held as “security” prisoners of which 51 per cent were held in facilities inside Israel in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. No explanation has been given by the IPS for the failure to provide more current information. More statistics
Testimony – Summons served on child at 2:00 a.m. - On 26 May 2014, a 15-year-old boy from Beit Awwa, in the West Bank, was served with a summons by Israeli soldiers at 2:00 a.m. "It was 2:00 a.m. when we woke up to the sound of Israeli soldiers banging at our front door. We were all asleep. My father opened the door and the soldiers gave him a written summons for me to show up at the Israeli police station in the settlement of Kiryat Arba the following morning for interrogation. The soldiers then left. Later that morning, I went with my uncle to the settlement of Kiryat Arba as requested. My father couldn’t accompany me because he was at work." Read more
Politics – [27 June 2014] – The Spanish and Italian Foreign Ministries have issued a warning to its citizens about the legal and financial risks of conducting business in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. This follows similar warnings issued by the governments of the UK, Germany and France. Read more
Politics – [25 June 2014] - Independent Senator for South Australia Nick Xenophon made a statement in Federal Parliament in response to the Australian Government’s contradictory pronouncements regarding the legal status of East Jerusalem - Video of Senate statement
Night raids and summonses – Update - [18 June 2014] - In October 2013, UNICEF announced that the Israeli military authorities had agreed to introduce a pilot scheme to issue written summonses in lieu of arresting children at night in the West Bank. Israel’s chief military prosecutor in the West Bank, Lt.-Col. Maurice Hirsch, repeated this announcement in February 2014. This development followed recommendations made by senior UK lawyers and UNICEF to end night-time arrests in recognition of the fact that they have a tendency to terrify the local civilian population. Since the military’s announcement to issue summonses in lieu of night arrests, MCW has collected 22 testimonies in which only two children (9 per cent) were issued with some form of summons. In seven out of the 22 cases (32 per cent) the children were arrested at night. Read more
United Methodist News: Reassessment prompts sale of pension stock – [17 June 2014] - After an investment in G4S, a London-based security corporation, prompted concerns about human rights and prison-related issues, the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits reassessed the purchase this spring and recently sold the stock. Dave Zellner, the board’s chief investment officer, told United Methodist News Service that G4S initially passed its screen for investments related to prisons because the company does not receive more than 10 percent of its revenue from managing and operating prisons. The G4S stock, worth $110,000, was purchased last December. Read more
G4S announcement to continue involvement with unlawful detention for three years may amount to aggravating circumstance – [9 June 2014] - On 2 June 2014, the UK/Danish security company G4S published a report on its website purporting to absolve itself of all moral and legal responsibility arising out of its commercial activities in Israel and Palestine. However, in an apparent about face the company’s CEO, Ashley Almanza, announced at the annual shareholders meeting in London three days later that G4S will not be renewing its contract to provide equipment and maintenance services to the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) when it expires in 2017. Read more
Two academics absolve G4S of moral and legal responsibility - [6 June 2014] – On 2 June 2014, the UK/Danish security company G4S published on its website a document under the heading: “Human Rights Report of G4S Israel – Human Rights Report and Legal Opinion – Summary of Independent Review”. G4S engaged two academics, Dr. Hugo Slim and Professor Guglielmo Verdirame, to prepare the report in advance of the company shareholders’ meeting on 5 June 2014. This is the second time G4S has published extracts from academic reports on its website seeking to absolve itself of all moral and legal responsibility arising out of its commercial activities in Israel and Palestine. On a previous occasion G4S engaged Professor Hjalte Rasmussen, who similarly provided the company with a report giving it a clean bill of health. Read more
Financial Times: G4S to end Israeli jail contracts within three years – [5 June 2014] - G4S has confirmed that it will end all its Israeli prison contracts within the next three years after an annual general meeting that was severely disrupted by human rights protesters. Asked by angry protesters whether G4S would withdraw from the Palestinian territories as reported by the Financial Times last year, Ashley Almanza, chief executive, confirmed “no change to that position. We expect them to expire and we don’t expect to renew them,” he said. These include contracts to provide security and screening equipment at military checkpoints, the controversial Ofer prison and a police station in the West Bank, all of which are expected to expire next year. But Mr Almanza said for the first time that the move would also include prison service contracts all over Israel. Read more
Sydney Morning Herald: Breaking the silence on Palestine – [5 June 2014] - In 1982, the year I was born, the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza finished its 15th year. When I was just five years old, the first intifada broke out. When I was 11, the Oslo Accords were signed shortly after the 26th anniversary of the occupation. When the occupation was 34 years old, I enlisted for military service. I served as a combat soldier, then a commander, stationed all around the West Bank. I, like many others before and after me, stood at checkpoints, conducted arrests, searched and even destroyed homes, and much more. Many of the operations we conducted were aimed at making our presence felt, in order to show the Palestinians they were never free from the Israeli army's watchful eye and disciplinary power. Read more
Haaretz: IDF court: Palestinian minors have the right to see social worker before remand – [5 June 2014] - The president of the military appellate court, Col. Netanel Beniso, has ruled against the army, stating that Palestinian minors under arrest have the right to be screened before the army decides whether to remand them until the end of the trial procedure. Two weeks ago, Haaretz reported that the military prosecution objects on principle to allowing Palestinian minors under arrest to meet with a social worker to find a rehabilitative solution. This opposition has led to a situation in which some 100 minors are currently in prison until the end of their trial procedure, while 66 are in prison following conviction. Read more
The Guardian: Australia drops 'occupied from references to Israeli settlements – [5 June 2014] - The Abbott government has ruled out using the term "occupied" when describing Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, prompting suggestions about a shift in Australia's foreign policy. The government on Thursday delivered a statement to clarify its stand on the controversial question of the legality of settlements after the issued flared up at a Senate hearing the night before. The attorney general, George Brandis, on behalf of the minister for foreign affairs, Julie Bishop, said it was "unhelpful" to refer to historic events when describing these areas, given the ongoing Middle East peace process. "The description of East Jerusalem as 'occupied' East Jerusalem is a term freighted with pejorative implications which is neither appropriate nor useful," Brandis told a Senate estimates hearing. Read more
Further examination of G4S under OECD guidelines – [4 June 2014] - On 22 May 2014, the UK National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (the Guidelines) announced that it has decided to accept for further examination some of the issues raised in a complaint lodged against the UK/Danish security company, G4S, arising out of the provision of goods and services to Israeli prisons and checkpoints in Palestine and Israel. The Guidelines provide, inter alia, that: “Enterprises should respect human rights, which means they should avoid infringing on the human rights of others and should address adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved.” Read more
ABC Four Corners – Stone Cold Justice – A joint investigation by Four Corners and The Australian newspaper aired on Australian national television. The investigation reveals evidence that shows the army is targeting Palestinian boys for arrest and detention. Reporter John Lyons travels to the West Bank to hear the story of children who claim they have been taken into custody, ruthlessly questioned and then allegedly forced to sign confessions before being taken to court for sentencing. See film
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