JERUSALEM (Washington Insider Magazine) – According to an Israeli rights organization, Israel is keeping 600 Palestinian inmates without accusation or trial, the largest number since 2016.
Israel claims to utilize “administrative detention” to detain dangerous radicals and prevent attacks without disclosing critical intelligence. Palestinians and human rights organizations claim that the system has been extensively misused and that it lacks fair trials, with some prisoners being kept for months or even years without reviewing the case against them.
According to HaMoked, an Israeli rights organization that collects data from prison administrators on a regular basis, there were 604 inmates under administrative detention as of May. Administrative detention is hardly used against Jews, thus nearly everyone is a Palestinian.
According to HaMoked, 2,441 Palestinians are spending time in military prisons after being sentenced in military courts. A total of 1,478 people are being held for interrogation, have been convicted and are facing trial, or are being tried presently.
In recent weeks, Israel has been struck by a series of assaults that have resulted in the deaths of 15 people. It has conducted arrest operations across the disputed West Bank in the interests of stopping more. According to ABC NEWS, these operations have sparked violent demonstrations and gunbattles.
According to the Associated Press, at least 29 Palestinians have been killed. The majority of those killed were as a result of attacks or confrontations with Israeli army, but 2 bystanders and an unarmed woman were also killed.
The last time Israel incarcerated this many administrative prisoners, in October 2016, it was in the aftermath of a wave of attacks by Palestinians, including car-ramming assaults, stabbings, and shootings.
All administrative detention rulings in Israel, according to Israel, are subject to court review. Detainees have the option of appealing to a military appeals court or the Israeli Supreme Court, but human rights groups claim that the courts disproportionately favor the security establishment.
The director of HaMoked, Jessica Montell, believes that violence does not legitimize keeping hundreds of individuals without charge for months or years.
There might be deadly extremists among those detained, as well as incidents of mistaken identity. For nearly a year, a kid with a rare neuromuscular disease has been confined in administrative detention.
In protest, a number of Palestinians in administrative detention have gone on protracted hunger strikes, with many incurring life-lasting health problems as a result. Since the beginning of this year, administrative detainees and their attorneys have boycotted Israeli military court sessions in protest. According to B’Tselem, another famous Israeli rights organization, the courts are holding sessions without them.
Since Israel’s 1967 Mideast conflict, when it conquered the region, the West Bank has been under Israeli military authority. It is important to the Palestinians that it be a major feature of their future state.
The almost 3 million Palestinian people of the region are subject to Israeli military justice, but the over 500,000 Jewish settlers who live alongside them are Israeli citizens and are entitled to civilian courts.