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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 - May 2014
Detention figures – According to the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), as of 30 April 2014, there were 5,021 Palestinians held as "security prisoners" in Israeli detention facilities including 196 children. In the case of children this represents a decrease of 3 percent compared with the previous month, and an annual decrease of 0.5 percent compared with 2013. For the eighth month in a row no children below the age of 14 were recorded as being held in IPS detention facilities. However, it should be noted that there are no official statistics publicly available that show the number of children below the age of 14 who were arrested and detained for less than 30 days and released before the monthly head-count. According to the IPS, 51 percent of Palestinian children and 90 percent of adults continue to be detained in facilities inside Israel, in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. A further 2,016 Palestinians from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza were held in IPS detention as "criminal prisoners" including 33 children. Criminal offences include entering Israel without a permit, most frequently in pursuit of work. Sixty-six percent of Palestinians currently classified as “criminal prisoners” entered Israel without a permit. More statistics
Media – Haaretz – “In Israel, a different fate for detained Palestinian youths” – [23 May 2014] – “Israel’s military prosecution in the West Bank routinely asks that Palestinians charged with crimes be held until the end of their trials because they are a threat, but it vehemently opposes allowing teenagers to be psychologically evaluated by social workers to determine whether they are in fact dangerous. For example, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was brought to the Judea Military Court last month and charged with serving as a lookout for another boy who planted a fake bomb near a settlement. The Israel Defense Forces prosecutor wanted him detained until the end of proceedings, claiming he was dangerous. Before ruling on the request, the judge sought a psychological evaluation of the boy. But the prosecutor immediately appealed the judge’s order, arguing that a military court has no authority to order psychological evaluations by social workers.” Read more
Clarification sought concerning Australia’s position regarding the application of the Fourth Geneva Convention – [21 May 2014] -Military Court Watch (MCW) has written to Australia’s diplomatic representative in Ramallah, Mr. Tom Wilson, requesting clarification as to the Australian Government’s position regarding the application of the Fourth Geneva Convention (the Convention) to the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Although there is near universal acceptance and binding Security Council resolutions that the Convention applies in full, recent statements and actions by senior Australian officials have created some uncertainty regarding Australia’s position. Read more
MEP writes to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy – [16 May 2014] – MEP writes to Catherine Ashton regarding the lack of progress in implementing UNICEF's recommendations on the treatment of children held in Israeli military detention and the use of double interrogations to circumvent basic legal protections in the West Bank. “One year ago, UNICEF published the report 'Children in Israeli Military Detention’. After reviewing over 400 affidavits the UN agency concluded that the ill-treatment of children in the system appears to be "widespread, systematic and institutionalized". Read more
Dutch Foreign Minister expresses concern at lack of progress in implementing UNICEF’s recommendations – [13 May 2014] - The Dutch Foreign Minister, Frans Timmermans, issued a statement regarding the treatment of Palestinian child detainees: “Despite repeated assurances by the Israeli government to work on implementing the recommendations contained in the UNICEF report, it seems that there has been only very limited improvement in the situation of Palestinian child prisoners. Reports by UNICEF, Military Court Watch and other UN agencies contain concrete recommendations concerning changes to the law and implementation. The Cabinet will raise these recommendations in their discussions with the Israeli government.” Read more
Media – The Australian – “Hebron 'heartbreaking’ for Xenophon” – [10 May 2014] – Independent Australian Senator, Nick Xenophon, is the first Australian Federal politician to visit Israel/Palestine and request a briefing on the situation facing Palestinian child detainees. “A Palestinian woman in a caged balcony is explaining her plight while an Israeli settler carrying a handgun wants his say. Both want the ear of the South Australian senator on his first visit to the region. 'This is madness,’ he said later. In Hebron, 800 settlers live surrounded by 180,000 Palestinians. 'I would urge any Australian politician who comes here to go to Hebron, walk the streets, run the gauntlet of checkpoints and speak to both sides’.” Read more
Double interrogations continue - [6 May 2014] - Last year, MCW issued a statement regarding the practice of using double interrogations when investigating Palestinian children in the West Bank as a way of circumventing minimum legal safeguards. Under existing Israeli military law applied to Palestinians living in the West Bank, a suspect is supposed to be informed that he or she has the right to silence and can consult with a lawyer before being questioned. These minimum safeguards are designed to ensure that an accused person has some awareness of their basic legal rights whilst under investigation. Read more
Film screening of “Stone Cold Justice” in Illinois, USA – [3 May 2014] - The Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine, screened the Australian Broadcast Corporation’s groundbreaking investigative documentary about the Israeli government’s systematic strategy of threats, arrests, and detention of Palestinian youth. The event was co-sponsored by: Action for Justice Committee St. Giles Family Mass Community • American Friends Service Committee • Arab-Jewish Partnership for Peace and Justice in the Middle East • Chicago Faith Coalition on Middle East Policy • Jewish Voice for Peace – Chicago • End the Occupation Coalition • Friends of Sabeel North America • Middle East Task Force of Chicago Presbytery • National Organization for Women, West Suburban Chapter • Oak Park Coalition for Truth and Justice • Palestine Israel Network of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship • Peace and Justice Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago • United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)-Chicago • Working Group on the Middle East. Read more
Media – Haaretz – “What kind of country throws a teen out of a jeep?” - [1 May 2014] – “Mohammed Tamimi, 14 years old, was thrown out of an Israel Defense Forces jeep late one night about three weeks ago, some 15 kilometers from his home. He did not have a cell-phone or money or identifying papers. A few hours earlier he had been detained by soldiers on suspicion of throwing stones on the road near his village, Deir Nidham, hard by the settlement of Halamish, north of Ramallah. The soldiers took him to the police station in Sha’ar Binyamin, an industrial park outside Jerusalem. After being interrogated and released, the teenager was taken in an IDF jeep and thrown out of it in the middle of nowhere, in the dark of night, to meet his fate.” Read more
Testimony – On 23 April 2014, a 16-year-old boy from Beit Ummar, in the West Bank, is arrested at the conclusion of his interrogation. He is released on bail seven days later: “On 22 April 2014, an Israeli intelligence officer from Etzion called my father on his mobile phone and told him to bring me for interrogation. He told my father if I didn’t show up the following day he would send soldiers to arrest me in the middle of the night. My father decided to consult a lawyer. The lawyer advised us to go and said he would accompany us. The following day, at around 11:00 a.m., I went to Etzion with my mother and the lawyer to meet with the interrogator, Yona Mizrahi. We went to see him at the police station at Etzion.” Read more
The UNICEF Report – MCW reviews progress one year on – In March 2013, UNICEF published the report – Children in Israeli Military Detention – which concluded that the ill-treatment of children in the system “appears to be widespread, systematic and institutionalized”. UNICEF also made 38 recommendations which the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated said it would “work to implement through on-going cooperation with UNICEF”. After reviewing both legal and procedural changes, as well as analysing 60 testimonies, MCW concludes that one year on, 87 percent of UNICEF’s recommendations remain un-implemented and although there have been some noteworthy changes, it is not yet possible to reach an alternative conclusion to UNICEF that ill-treatment remains “widespread, systematic and institutionalized”. Read more
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