Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails
On 27 November 2006, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said his government "is willing to release many Palestinian prisoners, even those who have been sentenced to lengthy terms," in return for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Palestinian militants in June.
While it is not yet clear how many prisoners he is talking about, or who they are, Arab Media Watch provides a useful primer on this important issue.
There exists a vast body of work on the subject of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, be it in the form of anything from a dedicated government ministry to specialised NGOs to PhD theses.
To the casual observer, the sheer volume of work and resources can be startling given the infrequency with which the subject enters the common media domain, but yet more startling is that this body of work and effort continues to be necessary as their plight is ignored by the international community.
In a conciliatory document adopted by various factions in Palestine in May 2006, one thing clearly agreed on by all parties is that "liberation of the prisoners and detainees is a sacred national duty."
http://www.mideastweb.org/prisoners_letter.htm
Indeed, the situation of political prisoners and detainees is a fundamental and sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - often running as a subtext to any other activity - and a subject which commentators agree will feature in any resolution to the conflict.
Such is the enormity of the issue that an entire ministry of the Palestinian government is dedicated to prisoners' affairs, spending an estimated $3-$4 million per month in support of them, be it legal fees or maintenance for families whose breadwinner has been jailed.
Almost every Palestinian family is affected directly or indirectly. A report prepared by the Palestinian Ministry for Prisoner Affairs in July 2006 states that 700,000 Palestinians have been arrested since 1967, and almost 50,000 since the second uprising of 2000.
Today, some 9,850 are being held in some 30 prisons and detention centres in Israel and the occupied territories. Of these, 105 are women and 359 are children. A fuller analysis of the figures can be found at:
http://sumoud.tao.ca/?q=node/view/720
Undoubtedly some are imprisoned for crimes committed, but the real issue concerns the arbitrary detention in inhuman conditions and without trial of people who are denied basic human rights and due process.
All are held either by the military or in Israeli prisons, and many are in administrative detention - ie without trial and by administrative order, not judicial decree - which has been a constant feature in the occupied territories. The most recent figure (October 2006) for administrative detainees stands at 703 according to Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.
http://www.btselem.org/english/Administrative_Detention/Statistics.asp
Conditions are of particular concern given that the Israeli Prison Ordinance (revised in 1971) consists of 114 clauses, but contains no clause or sub-clause defining prisoners' rights. The Ordinance provides a legally binding set of rules for the Minister of Interior, but the Minister formulates these rules himself by administrative decree. There is no prisoner's minimum standards of life.
In Israel, it is for example legally permissible to intern 20 inmates in a cell no larger than 5 metres long, 4 metres wide and 3 metres high. This space includes an open lavatory, and prisoners may be confined indefinitely to such cells for 23 hours a day.
Furthermore, serious concerns exist surrounding:
healthcare: any medical checks are often conducted through fences by physicians who are also soldiers, and aspirin is routinely prescribed for all manner of medical complaints
food: food is in short supply, cold, and low in nutritional value; many necessities have to be brought in by families, which even then are difficult to get past the Israeli authorities
hygiene: prisoners often remain for several months in the clothing they were arrested in, no matter what its condition. In Ketziot Military Detention Camp, 120 detainees share one bar of soap per day.
family visits: since the second uprising of September 2000, family visits to detainees from the occupied territories have been prohibited.
treatment of women: confinement with Israeli criminal prisoners is common, as is sexual harassment, frequent body searches and physical intimidation
treatment of minors: the age of 16 is considered the starting point of adulthood in Israeli prisons, not 18 as stipulated by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1990, to which Israel is a signatory. Children, some as young as 12, face conditions much the same as any other Palestinian prisoner.
These issues are dealt with comprehensively at:
http://www.addameer.org/detention/background.html
Torture is another highly contentious issue, since for years it was commonly used in General Security Service interrogations but referred to as "moderate, physical pressure." The methods included violent shaking, binding the detainees in painful positions, sleep deprivation, physical threats, humiliation, and covering the head with a foul-smelling sack.
All governmental authorities, from the Israeli Defence Forces to the Supreme Court, took part in approving torture, developing new methods and supervising them.
But in September 1999, the High Court of Justice ruled that some of the interrogation methods used by the GSS against Palestinian detainees were illegal and unacceptable. Although the judgment caused a significant change in the scope of the use of torture, there have been indications that the GSS did not cease using torture, based on testimonies of former detainees and admissions from the authorities.
http://www.btselem.org/english/Torture/Index.asp
Following an in-depth study in 2003 entitled "Palestinian Detainees: Inhuman Conditions of Detention", the International Federation for Human Rights asserts that "the Supreme Court still authorises the use of torture" on the basis of "legitimate defence," pointing out that one who uses torture needs only to justify his reasons for doing so. In practice, the report continues, "it is legal therefore to torture, under certain conditions, in Israel." (p20)
Furthermore, in terms of redress, only a scant and adverse legal framework exists, making it very difficult for any member of the Israeli forces to be held accountable for their actions, and so the report concludes that Israeli armed forces have been given "virtually complete impunity." (p22)
The report highlights 11 conventions and international texts adopted by the UN General Assembly regarding the treatment of arrested individuals and prisoners that Israel has ratified, and of which it is also in flagrant violation. They are:
The Universal Human Rights Declaration, particularly those articles prohibiting any form of discrimination (articles 1,2 and 7), all forms of torture and other abuses (article 5) and which protect the rights of detainees and prisoners (articles 9,10 and 11)
The Fourth Geneva Convention
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, particularly those articles regarding discrimination (articles 2.1, 4.6, 26 and 27), the prohibition of torture and other forms of abuses (article 7) and the rights of detainees and prisoners (article 9, 10, 14)
The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly those articles concerning the prohibition of discrimination (article 2), torture and other forms of abuses (article 19), and the rights of detained or imprisoned minors (article 40)
The Body of principles for the protection of all Persons Under any Form of Detention or Imprisonment
The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners
The Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice
The Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners
The UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles deprived of their Liberty
The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers
Quite how all this can occur is dealt with comprehensively by the IFHR, despite the "refusal of any cooperation whatsoever" from the Israeli authorities.
In its thorough and damning report, much of the treatment of Palestinian prisoners is explained by the existence of "a deliberately obscure and unstable framework," meaning that in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the Israeli authorities are able to evade any application of the Geneva Conventions because they claim that these areas fall under no authority whatsoever, and that the existence of a state of war provides justification.
However, no prisoner-of-war status is accorded detainees either.
In terms of the legal rights of prisoners:
Access to a lawyer can be legally denied for 32 days.
A prisoner may wait six months and 12 days for a trial.
A prisoner may be held in administrative detention for six months, and this period is renewable indefinitely.
In reality, few prisoners could hope to obtain or afford the services of a lawyer, who are severely restricted in their work anyway.
http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/ps365a.pdf
Israel has repeatedly said it will not exchange prisoners for its soldiers, though in the past exchanges have occurred. Notably, in 2004, 400 Palestinians were released in exchange for an Israeli Major and the bodies of three soldiers held by Hezbollah.
However, these have all been politically motivated as opposed to being part of any sense of equanimity or justice, and negotiations have often been difficult to see through due to Israeli intransigence.
http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/images/informationbrief.php?ID=167
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-01/29/article06.shtml
The issue of prisoners and their method and manner of incarceration is still paramount in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
As recently as June 2006, the Israeli parliament voted on an amendment to a law which sought to increase the period of incommunicado detention for anyone suspected of "security" offences to 30 days from 48 hours. In the event, it was doubled to 96 hours. The intentions of the Israeli authorities regarding Palestinian prisoners remain clearly exposed.
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGMDE150502006?open&of=ENG-ISR
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGMDE150562006?open&of=ENG-ISR
The issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails is routinely glossed over by the international community - thousands of Palestinians are still held in flagrant breach of international law and their basic human rights.