Israel: alarming increase in number of Palestinians held without charge

Israeli human rights group Hamoked has revealed that the apartheid state is currently holding over 1,200 detainees with neither charge nor trial, the highest number in more than three decades. The detainees, of whom 99 per cent are Palestinians, are subjected to Israel's controversial policy of "administrative detention," a process which allows the state to keep people in detention on the basis of "secret evidence" for terms which are renewable indefinitely.

These terms can be from a few months to years, with the authorities frequently extending them without disclosing the reasons. This practice severely hampers detainees' ability to mount a proper defence, according to Jessica Montell, the executive director of Hamoked.

While the Israeli authorities argue that administrative detention is necessary to deal with dangerous militants and safeguard sensitive security information, Palestinians and rights groups accuse the state of denying detainees the right of due process, leading to widespread abuse of the system. The number of administrative detainees has more than doubled since last year, following a series of Palestinian resistance attacks and near-nightly raids on Palestinian cities and towns by Israeli forces.

"The overall figure is outrageous," Montell is reported as saying by Associated Press. "This is a patently illegal practice. These people should be given a fair trial or released."

READ: Israel issued 12,000 administrative detention orders in 9 years

The statistics show that while administrative detention is rarely applied to Jews or Israelis, there has been a rise in such cases, including Palestinian citizens of Israel and a few Jews suspected of violence against Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank.

The rising tension in the area has seen a significant death toll, with more than 160 Palestinians killed this year alone, said AP. Israel claims that most of those killed are "militants", but the casualties also include stone-throwing youths protesting against the incursions, as well as innocent civilians.

The recent decision by Israel's extreme far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, to eliminate the early release policy for Palestinian prisoners held on national security charges has added to the mounting concerns about prisoners' rights. Previously, detainees sentenced to less than four years were eligible for early release to ease overcrowding in Israeli prisons.

Israel: alarming increase in number of Palestinians held without charge

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