Media Review: The Washington Post: How does Israel detain hundreds of Palestinians in prisons without charge?
The American newspaper The Washington Post reported that administrative detention rates rose in the West Bank, even before October 7, that is, the day the Palestinian resistance launched its epic “Al-Aqsa Flood.”
Under international law, administrative detention is supposed to be practiced only “in exceptional circumstances,” according to the newspaper, but this has become the norm in the West Bank, as human rights groups document.
The newspaper referred to figures published by the Israeli human rights organization HaMoked, indicating that the total number of Palestinians in administrative detention increased from 1,319 on October 1 to 2,070 on November 1, meaning about a third of the total number of Palestinian prisoners.
Here, it is worth noting that the number of detainees in the West Bank has exceeded 3,000 since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip, according to what was reported by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.
The Israeli occupation authorities have claimed for years that their practice of administrative detention is consistent with policies followed in “other democracies,” as the newspaper put it, and constitutes a “necessary preventive measure,” given the security conditions in the West Bank, in reference to the operations carried out by resistance fighters against the occupation.
In contrast, the dynamics of Israel's prison system for Palestinians raise anger about the broader nature of Israel's military occupation of Palestinian territories, according to the Washington Post.
Israel's widespread practice of administrative detention has long been the subject of criticism by international observers, and a European parliamentary report, issued in 2012, described administrative detention as a tactic used "primarily with the aim of restricting Palestinian political activity."
Later, in 2020, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Michael Lynk, called on Israel to abolish this practice.
Likewise, Israel's critics assert that the Palestinians faced a "skewed and unfair judicial system," according to the Washington Post, which also noted that Palestinians in the West Bank are subject to Israeli military courts, unlike the half a million settlers among them.
The newspaper also pointed out that in some years, these courts issued 99% convictions, which raises questions about “the legal procedures granted to the Palestinians.”
It should be noted that the Washington Post report comes at a time when the pace of arrests is escalating in the West Bank, following the increase in operations carried out by resistance fighters against the occupation forces and their response to their attacks.
Since the beginning of the "Al-Aqsa Flood", the rate of arrests in the West Bank has increased significantly, to the point that hardly a day goes by without confrontations erupting between the Israeli occupation forces, which launch massive campaigns.
Even during the days of the temporary truce reached by the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, Israeli arrest campaigns continued against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.
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