Detention figures – According to data issued quarterly by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), as of 30 June 2023, there were 4,839 Palestinians (West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza) held as “security prisoners” in detention facilities including 161 children (12-17 years). In the case of children there was a 1% increase in the number compared with the previous month and an annual increase of 15% compared with 2022. Eighteen children were held in administrative detentionwithout charge or trial - the highest number since January 2008. According to the IPS, 72% of child detainees were unlawfully transferred from the occupied West Bank to prisons inside Israel in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. * The IPS has not provided data for July, August or September. More statistics
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No rules, no order - It has been observed that for 75 years Palestinians and Israelis have been caught up in a fatal embrace of violence and injustice replaying over and over in a bitter loop. It is in just such situations, involving claim and counter-claim, that a generation scarred by war, set to work drafting agreed upon rules to guide future generations out of such darkness. No one suggested that these rules would become a cure-all panacea, but hard-won experience suggested that they maybe our best hope in an imperfect world. However, for such an ambitious idea to succeed, those in positions of responsibility have a duty to uphold and defend the rules, in all circumstances, without fear or favour. The situation in Israel/Palestine suggests we have failed to uphold this vision. Read more__________________________________________________________________________________
Bill to let Israel hold security prisoners in overcrowded conditions - The bill would give National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir the authority to waive living-space requirements and have inmates sleep on mattresses on the floor. The preamble to the bill states that the sharp rise in the number of Palestinians who have been detained since the war began, in prisons that were already nearly full, “has resulted in a significant increase in overcrowding of prisons, in a way that does not allow compliance with the provisions of the law.” Since the war started Israeli prisons have been operating according to a policy known as “locked down” that has toughened conditions for prisoners. As part of the policy, family visits have been suspended, public phones have been blocked, and all electrical devices have been cut off from power. Haaretz__________________________________________________________________________________
A child's testimony - A 17-year-old minor from Birqin, in the occupied West Bank, was arrested by Israeli soldiers from home at 2:30 a.m. He reports being held in solitary confinement for 22 days in Al Jalama interrogation centre, in Israel. He reports being denied his basic legal rights under Israeli military law. "I was transferred to a small cell where I spent 22 days in solitary confinement. The cell measured about 2x2 meters, with no windows and a light that was left on 24 hours a day. I could not tell day from night and I was in deep mental and psychological stress. There was a mattress on the floor, a sink and a toilet all in that small space. At times I felt I was going crazy and wished there was something for me to kill myself with; I did not want to live anymore. I pleaded with the guards to let me out but they refused." Read more__________________________________________________________________________________
