Detention figures
End of December 2023:

Security Prisoners

Adults: 8,171
Children: 137
Total: 8,308

Percentage held in Israel:

Adults: 74%
Children: 49%

Administrative Detention

Adults: 3,239
Children: 49
Total: 3,288

 
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Newsletter - July 2014

Detention figures – According to the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), as of 30 June 2014, there were 5,318 Palestinians held as "security prisoners" in Israeli detention facilities including 202 children. In the case of children this represents a decrease of 6 per cent compared with the previous month but an annual increase of 1 per cent compared with 2013. According to the IPS, 49 percent of Palestinian children and 89 percent of adults continue to be detained in facilities inside Israel, in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. A further 1,960 Palestinians were held in IPS detention as "criminal prisoners" including 24 children. Criminal offences include entering Israel without a permit, most frequently in pursuit of work. More statistics

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UN Secretary General confirms ill treatment still appears to be widespread, systematic and institutionalised - On 1 July 2014, the UN Secretary-General’s Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict was presented to the Security Council in New York. The report highlights global trends regarding the impact of armed conflict on children in 23 locations, including Israel and Palestine. The annual report provides information on grave violations committed against children during armed conflict and progress made by parties on dialogue, action plans and other measures to halt and prevent violations against children. For the second year in a row, the UN has included in the report a section on the treatment of children in Israel’s military detention system in the West Bank, focusing on the arrest, transfer, interrogation and detention stages. Read more
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Gaza: Resolve the root causes says UN Secretary General - On 22 July, during a press conference in Tel-Aviv, the UN Secretary General stated that: "My message is the same for Israelis and Palestinians: Stop fighting, start talking and take on the root causes of the conflict so that we are not at the same situation in the next six months or a year.” One can debate what the “root causes” might be, but a few candidates stand out:
  • Approximately 50 per cent of the population residing between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea do not have self-determination. The other 50 per cent do;
  • The majority of those who do not have self-determination are subject to military law, and have been so for 47 years; and
  • The 50 per cent who do have self-determination, either directly or indirectly controls 100 per cent of the land.
Faced with these circumstances it is perhaps surprising that there is not more violence. But the question remains how does one “take on the root causes of the conflict”? Read more
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News – Political – In July, the following exchange occurred in the UK Parliament relating to the involvement of the UK/Danish security company, G4S, in the unlawful detention of Palestinians inside Israel in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: Lord Judd: “'What representations has the Government made to G4S about the legal implications of it remaining involved with the Israeli Prison Service until 2017 in the light of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and its application to the detention of Palestinians" The question was answered on behalf of the Government by Baroness Warsi as follows: “The UK considers that Israel’s detention of Palestinian prisoners within Israel is contrary to Article 76.” Read more
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Testimony - On 5 June 2014, a 14-year-old boy from Ya’bad, in the West Bank, is arrested with his friend off the street by Israeli soldiers at 9:30 p.m. “I was walking with my friend in our town at around 9:30 p.m. Suddenly two Israeli military jeeps appeared. We saw the jeeps but did not run away because we had no reason to run. One of the jeeps pulled up and suddenly stopped. Three soldiers got out and immediately arrested me and my friend. One of the soldiers tied my hands to the front with three plastic ties: one around each wrist and one connecting them. The ties caused me a lot of pain. They also blindfolded me and pushed me into the back of the jeep and made me sit on a seat. They didn’t tell me why I was being arrested. Read more
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Legal – The decision of the Israeli Military Appeals Court in K.T. v Military Prosecutor is now available in English having been translated from Hebrew. The Military Appeals Court rejected the prosecution’s argument that the court has no authority to order the pre-trial assessment of minors by a social worker. Nery Ramati from the law firm of Gaby Lasky and Partners represented the accused. Although the defendants in the military courts are Palestinian as well as the overwhelming majority of the lawyers, the decision has not been translated into Arabic by the military authorities even through it is an official language. Read more
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News – Political – On 3 July,12 EU Foreign Ministries issued warnings 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, France, Spain and Italy. It should be noted that a number of European jurisdictions provide for heavy penalties including imprisonment for up to 30 years for individuals who aid and abet (i.e. providing material contribution) grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention and/or war crimes, such as the unlawful transfer  and detention of protected persons outside of occupied territory. Read more
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The Independent – As an ex-soldier in the Israeli Defense Force, I’ve seen how shockingly we treat Palestinians – “I only knew Gaza from the stories. It was the military zone for which the Givate Brigade was responsible, but we all knew the stories about how they managed to kill several militants in one ambush. Honestly, we were a bit jealous. I was drafted into the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) at the end of the Second Intifada into a special operations unit of the paratrooper brigade. From the start of my service I knew that Nablus and Jenin would be the areas for which we were responsible. Child’s play, seemingly, compared to the stories that came out of Gaza – but my child’s play.” Read more
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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.The program focuses on the stories of three boys. In two cases the army came for the children in the middle of the night, before taking them to unknown locations where they are questioned. A mother of one of the boys described the scene. See film