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 - September 2013

Detention figures – According to the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), as of 31 August, there were 4,762 Palestinians held in Israeli detention facilities including 180 children. In the case of children, this represents a monthly decrease of 7.7 percent. However, there has been an annual increase of 9.7 percent in the average number of children detained compared with 2012. According to the IPS, 46 percent of children, and 89 percent of adults were detained in facilities inside Israel, in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Read more

Testimony from a 16-year-old boy– On 25 August 2013, a 16-year-old boy was arrested at his school by Israeli soldiers and accused of throwing stones at a settler bus. He was released the following day without charge.“I live in the village of An Nabi Saleh but go to school in the neighbouring village of Deir Nidham. On 25 August, I went to school on the first day of term after the summer holidays. I was sitting in class listening to the teacher when I heard the sound of tear gas being fired. I saw a canister hit the wall of a nearby house. We were all distracted and looked out the window to see what was happening. Someone rushed into the classroom and said Israeli soldiers were in the area. A few minutes later soldiers entered the school.” Read more
 
New MCW report – Two boys, two laws: The discriminatory application of law in the West Bank – On 24 September, MCW submitted a report to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention highlighting the discriminatory application of law in the West Bank. The legal foundation for the report is based on the principle that no state is permitted to discriminate between those over whom it exercises penal jurisdiction based on race or national identity. In spite of this principle, Palestinians living in the West Bank are subject to Israeli military law, whereas civilian law is applied to Israelis living next door in settlements. The report notes that this issue of unlawful discrimination would never have arisen had successive Israeli governments complied with their legal obligation not to construct settlements. Read more
 
Media - +972 mag – Political solution or not, the bottom line is equal rights for all – “Last month, Israeli housing minister Uri Ariel announced the approval of 1,200 more houses for settlers in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, adding to the 520,000 already living there, including Mr. Ariel himself. Only time will tell, but this announcement, like the many that proceeded, may one day prove to contain a fatal sting in the tail for the idea of Israel as a democratic state with a Jewish majority. For there is one inescapable feature of Israel’s settlement activity that will have far reaching consequences based on a simple legal principle: no state is permitted to discriminate between those over whom it exercises penal jurisdiction based on race or national identity.” Read more
 
Media – The Guardian – Palestinian children’s rights –On 25 September, a letter was published in The Guardian signed by 150 artists, lawyers, politicians, unionists and others calling on the Israeli Government to fulfill its legal obligations regarding the detention of children. Read more
 
The UNICEF Report: six months on - In February 2013, UNICEF published a report on the treatment of children prosecuted in the Israeli military courts. The report – Children in Israeli Military Detention – concluded that: “The ill-treatment of children who come in contact with the military detention system appears to be widespread, systematic and institutionalized throughout the process, from the moment of arrest until the child’s prosecution and eventual conviction and sentencing.” Six months on, MCW reviews what progress has been made to implement the 38 recommendations made in the Report. Read more
 
Is the UK Government shirking its responsibilities regarding G4S? - On 17 July, a parliamentary question was tabled in the UK asking the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs “what reports he has received on the role of G4S in the Israeli prison system.” On 3 September 2013, the Secretary of State (Alistair Burt) responded as follows:“The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not receive reports on G4S’s role in the Israeli prison system.”However, the following chronology would suggest otherwise. Read more
 
Litigation updates – Available on MCW’s website. Read more