The Israeli Gulags

During the Soviet Bolshevik era Jews ran the gulags resulting in an estimated loss of 30 million Christian lives. Now they inflict all their expertise on the unfortunate Palestinians.

The Infinite Violation of Human Rights

Throughout the decades of Israeli military occupation, Palestinians from all walks of life have been illegally detained by Israel. Since the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, over 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. This forms approximately 20% of the total Palestinian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Considering the fact that the majority of those detained are male, the number of Palestinians detained forms approximately 40% of the total male Palestinian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

The arrest and detention of Palestinians living within the OPT is governed by a wide-ranging set of military regulations that govern every aspect of Palestinian civilian life. There are now over 1,500 military regulations governing the West Bank and over 1,400 governing the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military commander of the region issues military orders, and the issuance of new orders often remains unknown and become apparent when they are implemented, as the military commander may issue new military regulations at any moment.

Palestinians are tried within Israeli military courts located within Israeli military centers in the OPT. These military tribunals are presided over by a panel of three judges appointed by the military, two of who often do not have any legal training or background. These tribunals rarely fall within the required international standards of fair trial.

In addition to the over 5000 Palestinians who were being held in Israeli prisons by the end of 2002, a large number of Palestinians have been wallowing in Israeli prisons for a number of years prior to this. For example, Ahmed Ibrahim Djbara, Abu Sukker, is 65 years old and the father of six grown children. He has spent the last 26 years of his life in prison. His crime was to fight to bring an end to the occupation. Wives and children of these men, as thousands of others before them, live now in constant fear and agony.

For every Palestinian arrested, the story of a life is torn apart and an entire family broken. Yet the international community remains relatively silent in the face of Israel's illegal detention of Palestinians and the fact that these detainees are often subjected to torture. There is no doubt that peace in the region will never be attained as long as Palestinians are continuously denied their inalienable, fundamental rights. It is difficult to imagine that the sons and daughters of these thousands of Palestinians will one day forget what they suffered when their loved ones were thrown behind prison bars.

The Geneva Conventions, the International Convention for Political and Civil Rights and the Convention against Torture and Cruel and Inhuman Treatment, all prohibit the use of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, without exception. Israel has consistently violated international laws in this regard. Detention conditions enforced by Israel do not conform to the UN Minimum Standard Rules of the Treatment of Detainees, nor to the Principles of the Protection of all persons under all form of detention or imprisonment, or the Basic Principles of Treatment of Prisoners. These legal instruments bind Israel as they form regulations to treaties to which Israeli is a signatory. Instead of applying these laws formed by the community of nations, Israel blatantly continues in its systematic policy of torture of Palestinian detainees. Rather than hide this fact, it openly discusses it within its parliament, the Knesset. In addition, Palestinians are tried in military tribunals in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, according to military regulations governing the area, often by soldier judges who do not hold adequate legal experience.

In November 2001, UN Committee Against Torture reminded Israel that there is no justification for the use of torture in any circumstances. Use of torture is an grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention (articles 31-32, 146-147). Furthermore, the 4th Geneva Convention forbids the transfer of detainees outside the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Article 76 states that "all protected person accused of an offense must be detained within the occupied country and if they are sentenced, they have to serve the sentence within it." However, Israel has continued to detain Palestinians in prisons throughout Israel, far from their families, who almost never obtain the necessary permits to leave the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which have become a large prison for the entire Palestinian community.

Thousands of Palestinian men, women and children are in prison because of their refusal to accept foreign occupation. They must be released and allowed to rejoin their families in order to reintegrate their political and social life within the Palestinian State-to-be. Anyone who holds that 'reforms' or political negotiations can be effective without including all sectors of the Palestinian society fool themselves into missing a historical opportunity to allow for real, lasting reforms in Palestinian society. The time has come to open the prison gates, and allow Palestinians to decide their own future.
The Process of Arrest

The mass arrest campaigns conducted by the IDF beginning March 2002, within just a few months, resulted in the detention of approximately 15 000 Palestinians, mostly men, but also women and children. In a blink of an eye, entire villages were emptied of all men over the age of 15. Israeli imposed curfews also prevented those whom had been released from reaching their families for several days, leaving many families unsure as to whether their loved ones had been released, rearrested or killed.

Arrest can happen anywhere and everywhere: at home (often followed by the ransacking of family homes, threats against family members and sometimes the destruction of the house), on streets or roads, at Israeli checkpoints, and, as was witnessed during the most recent Israeli invasions, in any public or private place.

Upon arrest, detainees are usually handcuffed and blindfolded. They are not informed of the reason for their arrest, nor are they told where they will be taken. Physical abuse and humiliation of the detainee by Israeli forces is common. Based on numerous sworn affidavits, detainees have reported that they have been submitted to attempted murder, rape, thrown down stairs while blindfolded, amongst many other forms of physical abuse. During the arrest, detainees have often been forced to strip in public before being arrested. Family members have also been forced to remove their clothes in house to house arrest campaign raids.


Conditions of detention


Regulations Governing Detention and Arrest
The Israeli Prison Ordinance (revised 1971) consists of 114 clauses. However, there is 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 provision stipulating obligations incumbent upon the authorities, nor is there a clause guaranteeing prisoner's minimum standards of life.

In Israel, it is for example legally permissible to intern 20 inmates in a cell no larger than 5m long, 4m wide and 3m high. This space includes an open lavatory. The minimum standard in American and European prisons is 10.5 square meters per detainee. Prisoners may be confined indefinitely to such cells for 23 hours a day.

The Shabas - Israeli prison service - is in charge of investigating cases of abuse in prison but it is difficult to determine whether their intervention helps or worsens the situation.

Infrastructure
There are approximately 24 detention centers in which Palestinian political prisoners are held in Israeli custody, scattered throughout the 1948 borders of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. There are a total of 5 interrogation centers, 7 detention/holding centers, 3 military detention camps, and 9 prisons in which Palestinians from the OPT are held. The location of prisons within Israel and the transfer of detainees to locations within the occupying power's territory are illegal under international law and constitute a war crime. The Fourth Geneva Convention explicitly states that "Protected persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein." (Article 47) There are only two military detention centers and one military detention camp located within the OPT.

Some of these detention centers are buildings, while others are merely tents erected within military camps. Archaic prisons from the British mandate period have been reopened, such as the Ketziot Military Detention Camp in the Negev desert. Old, threadbare tents have been set up within this detention camp, exposing detainees to extreme weather conditions. Zinc huts house rudimentary hygiene facilities. At Ofer Military Detention Camp, located south of Ramallah, oil soiled hangars formerly used for military vehicles serve as holding areas for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Negev, Ofer and Megiddo are all infested with flies, parasites, rats and other vermin.

All of these detention centers are extremely overcrowded. Detainees sleep on wooden planks covered by thin mattresses. Covers are rare and often provided by the families of detainees and human rights associations when items are allowed to enter the detention facilities. Electricity is sparsely provided and all movement is prohibited after sundown.
Food
Article (20) of the regulation of prisoners' treatment, lower division, under the heading "food" states:

"the administration is to provide each prisoner, during the regular hours, with sufficient, good quality, well prepared nutritious meals that should maintain the health and strength of the prisoners."

The prison's administration is responsible for feeding all prisoners and all prisoners have the right to equal amounts of food. During the past few years, Israel has been encouraging detainees to obtain food from families or to purchase food from the prison canteen. However, the purchasing power of prisoners is radically divergent, and such encouragement by the Israeli authorities is immoral as they are ultimately responsible for providing sufficient food for prisoners. In most cases, it is the prisoners' responsibility to provide more than half of their necessary food, which is problematic as most prisoners come from poor families.

The food provided to Palestinian detainees is insufficient in both quantity and quality. Detainees are usually in charge of preparing their own meals with very little kitchen facilities and utensils. Only wooden and plastic spoons are allowed. The food is of poor quality and provided in small quantities. Between March and May 2002, for example, detainees in military detention camps were provided with frozen food that they were only able to defrost by sunlight. Hot drinks and meals are very rare. Basic food necessities such as olive oil, coffee, and sugar, are provided by detainees' families and human rights associations, when possible. Getting these supplies through Israeli checkpoints is extremely difficult, and it is often lawyers who are able to carry these items in with them to detainees.

Palestinian minors and women are served meals prepared by other detainees. This has resulted in numerous protests from Palestinian women who are being detained with Israeli criminal prisoners.

There are no special dietary considerations made for detainees who suffer chronic illnesses such as diabetes or high blood pressure. Other detainees often share their portions in order to provide them an adequate diet to meet their specific needs.

Hygiene
Detainees are not provided a change of clothing by the prison administration. Those injured during their arrest are forced to stay in blood-soiled clothing for several months, and those who were detained in their night clothes or underwear also do not receive a change of clothing. Soap is rationed by the prison administration, and other personal hygiene items are offered infrequently and are often unsanitary. Hot water is seldom available. For example, each section of 120 detainees at Ketziot Military Detention Camp receives one bar of soap each day, and none on Friday and Saturday.
Mattresses used to sleep on are extremely worn, often from second hand military equipment, with some infested with vermin. Supplies to clean prison sections are offered infrequently and are insufficient. Garbage is removed irregularly, and the sewage system is in extreme disrepair.


Health conditions
A large number of detainees currently imprisoned are either wounded or ill. Many detainees taken in the arrest campaigns starting in March 2002 were injured by bullets during their arrest, particularly those held in Ofer Military Detention Camp. Prison clinics have become renown for offering only aspirin for all health treatments and physicians within the clinics are all soldiers. Health examinations are conducted through a fence, and any necessary surgery or transfer to hospital for additional medical treatment is usually postponed for long periods of time. Demands made by Israeli organizations to provide health care to detainees have consistently been refused, in addition to petitions made by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
As a result of the sub-standard conditions of detention, detainees who are released are often faced with chronic health problems such as skin diseases, weakness, kidney pain and ulcers.


Family Visits
Since the beginning of the current Intifada in September 2000, all family visits to detainees from the Occupied Palestinian Territories have been prohibited by Israel. All Palestinian citizens of the West Bank and Gaza Strip require special permits to travel within the 1967 borders of Israel. No such permit has been issued to families of detainees in the past two years. Several petitions have been submitted to the Israeli High Court, but have been systematically rejected. The ICRC has organized group visits in the past, but with great difficulty. In some instances, for example with detainees in Ketziot prison, during the last months of 2002 the ICRC refused to comply with Israel's restrictions on visits and therefore was not been able to organize these visits.

Palestinian detainees are isolated from the outside world, with access to books, TV, and radios usually prohibited. Mail is strictly controlled.

Telephone Calls
The majority of prisons throughout the world ensure the basic right of prisoners to make phone calls to their families and lawyers. In Israel, a common criminal has the right to make such phone calls, but Palestinian or Arab security prisoners are deprived from such a right for security reasons. Even in humanitarian situations such as bereavement, prisoners are deprived of the right to pay their respects by phone. Prisoners have demanded this right many times but their requests have continuously been rejected.

The Use of Torture during Interrogation and Detention
The ruling of the Israeli High Court of Justice on 6 September 1999, following a petition by human rights organizations to ban the use of torture during interrogation, does not forbid the use of torture but rather allows that interrogation methods deemed as torture may be used in the "necessity of defense" and in situations where a detainee is deemed a 'ticking bomb'. At most, it offers the victim of torture a small opportunity to submit a complaint if an abuse can be clearly proved. As Israel can legally hold detainees incommunicado for several weeks, GSS interrogators are able to use methods of torture without impunity. Legalized torture includes, for example, sleep deprivation and shackling for extended periods of time, amongst others.
A Palestinian detainee can be interrogated for a total period of 180 days, during which he/she can also be denied lawyer visits for a period of 60 days. After the 180 day period, charges must be brought against the detainee, or he/she must be released. During the interrogation period, a detainee is often subjected to some form of torture ranging in extremity, whether physical or psychological. In some instances, detainees have died while in custody as a result of torture. Confessions extracted through torture are admissible in court.

In practice, Palestinian detainees are submitted to the following forms of torture:

Routine: sleep deprivation, shabeh (position abuse), in which detainees are shackled to a chair in painful positions, squeezing of handcuffs, beatings, slaps, kicks, physical and psychological threats and humiliation;

Special methods: the body tied in a contorted and extremely painful position, pressure on different parts of the body, strongly shaking the detainee after being shackled for a long period of time, head covered with a filthy, soiled sack, strangulation and other means of suffocation, pulling of hair, multiple humiliations;

Inside the cells: sleep deprivation, handcuffed to the bed, exposure to extreme temperatures, prolonged and continuous exposure to artificial light, solitary confinement, tear gas inside the cells, inhuman detention conditions.

GSS agents can act with full impunity. If a complaint is lodged, investigations are confidential and led by a GSS agent under the authority of the State Attorney. No agent has been charged since the responsibility for investigations was transferred to the Ministry of Justice in 1994.

Other bodies like the IDF, Border Police, Police and others also use torture and inflict ill treatment upon detainees during arrest, interrogation or detention.

Legal system governing detention

Under Israeli military regulations a Palestinian can be detained for up to 12 days without the Israeli military informing the detainee of the reason for his/her arrest and without being brought before a judge. Between April and June 2002, Military Order 1500, issued on 5 April 2002, increased this period of time to 18 days. The army is also not obliged to inform the detainee's family of their arrest or the location of their detention.

After or within this period, the person is sent to an interrogation center, placed in administrative detention, or held in custody awaiting a charge sheet and trial.

According to Israeli legislation, interrogation can last for up to 180 days. After the period of interrogation, military judges can extend the detention for the time needed for the public prosecutor to provide charges against the detainee. What can follow is either the judgment of the detainee, or more frequently, his/her transfer to administrative detention.

In the case of administrative detention, lawyers and detainees face charges based on secret evidence. These secret files are prepared by the GSS. This element violates International Law and Human Rights Charters but is congruent with the legislation in force in the State of Israel. In these conditions, it is impossible to exercise the right of defense. Theoretically, administrative detention can be extended indefinitely. Detainees do not know when they will be released and or why they are being detained. In many cases, arrest and detention are renewed at the prison's gate. Palestinian detainees have spent up to 8 years in prison without being tried under administrative detention orders. The current longest serving Palestinian detainee in administrative detention has been held for three years without charge or trial.

Deportation, abroad or to another region of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, following detention can be ordered as a result of either a military or High Court ruling or as a political compromise, as was the case with the 13 Palestinians who were deported to various European countries and 26 Palestinians deported to Gaza in a political negotiation to end the siege on the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Judicial Structures
Military orders are the main components of Israeli legislation in force in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that govern Palestinian detainees and prisoners, and are issued by the Israeli military commander of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Within the courts, military orders always take precedence over Israeli and International law. Israeli military courts refuse to apply international laws and conventions, and no legal claim whatsoever is possible in order to protect individuals under military occupation.

All Palestinians from the Occupied Palestinian Territories are submitted to Israeli military courts, even in the case of civil incidents, such as a car accident involving an Israeli. Military courts of appeal are the last instance. The case of Marwan Barghouti is unique in that it is taking place within a civil court.

Military courts apply legislation in force in an arbitrary manner, with no consistent application of regulations. The military legislation in itself is discriminatory. Confessions made under torture, for example, are enough to sentence a child to several years of imprisonment.

Discriminatory Laws
A Palestinian can be held in custody for 8 + 18 days before being brought before a judge. An Israeli citizen, however, can be held in custody for only a maximum of 48 hours before being brought before a judge. A Palestinian can be held without charge, by order of a jurist-judge, for an initial period of 30 days, which can be extended for 6 months by the legal advisor for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, via a military court of appeals (this does not include the possibility of administrative detention, in which case no charges are brought against the detainee who will never be tried). An Israeli citizen can be held without indictment for an initial period of 15 days, which can be extended for only another 15 days.
Lawyer visits can be prohibited for up to 90 days after the day of arrest for a Palestinian detainee . The meeting between an Israeli detainee and his attorney can be delayed for a total of 15 days.

The maximum allowable civilian sentences are considerably less severe than those allowable in the military tribunals, a major reason for the significant differential in sentences passed upon Israelis and Palestinians. For example, a Palestinian convicted of manslaughter by a military tribunal is subject to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, while an Israeli convicted of manslaughter in a civilian court faces a maximum of 20 years.

The difference in sentencing structures is reinforced by regulations in the two penal systems regarding the early release of prisoners. Under the Israeli penal code, prisoners may be released after serving two-thirds of their sentence. The military orders under which Palestinians are judged do not allow for early release for any reason.

Separated and unequal before the law, the different penal codes under which Palestinians and Israelis are governed takes place in different courts; application of the law is systematically discriminatory.

Comparative Case Studies
Sanaa, 14 years old, from Hebron was arrested after her older sister had attempted to stab a settler in the street. She was found guilty of planning to stab a settler, however the court agreed that Sanaa did not carry out her plan and, in fact, at the time of her arrest was standing alone and unaware of what was happening around her. Five months after her arrest, a three-judge court, after 3 hours of deliberation, sentenced her to 1 year in prison with an additional 4 years suspended sentence if she should commit any offence during the next 5 years. The court did not take into account her age or the fact that she did not carry out any violent act. During the whole day at the courtroom, she was not given food and her legs remained shackled. Her hands were handcuffed whenever the judges left the room. Her father was not allowed to speak to his daughter. (DCI-PS)
Nahum, 37 years old, from the illegal settlement of Bitar Ilit, was sentenced to 6 months of community service for the brutal slaying of an 11-year-old Palestinian boy. According to the eyewitnesses, Nahum brutally assassinated the boy by kicking him in the head and beating him with the butt of his rifle. Originally acquitted by the District Court of Jerusalem, the Israeli Supreme Court found him responsible for the vicious murder after an appeal by the prosecutors. However, Nahum received a sentence of only community service and a fine of $17,000 US.

Between December 1987 (the beginning of the first Intifada) and March 2001, Israeli settlers killed 119 Palestinians, including 23 children under the age of 17, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. From the serious deficiencies evidenced in investigations, or merely the lack of investigation itself, to the low sentences passed by courts, the complicity of the Israeli legal system in the cases of murder of Palestinians becomes evident. Of 89 cases monitored by B'Tselem over this period, only 22 were convicted: 6 of murder, 7 of manslaughter, 7 of negligent homicide, and 2 charged with firing in a residential area and possession of a weapon without permit. Only 3 convictions resulted in life sentences, from which 2 were reduced to 13 and 11 years respectively of imprisonment. Although the expected sentence for manslaughter is 20 years, the 7 settlers convicted received sentences ranging from 6 months to 7 and half years of imprisonment. While the normal sentence for negligent homicide is 3 years, of the 7 cases mentioned above, 5 received community service sentences and 2 received 5 and 18 months prison sentences. 39 files were closed without legal actions.

Between December 1987 and March 2001, 115 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In each case, an investigation has been opened. Only 10 cases have been closed. 33 Palestinians were convicted of murder and all received life sentences, without the possibility of clemency or reduction of their sentence. One Palestinian was convicted for complicity of murder. No Palestinian was convicted for manslaughter or negligent homicide, rather than murder. No Palestinian was acquitted because he had acted in self-defense. Israeli security forces killed 15 suspects before they were brought to trial. In 22 cases, in addition to the prison sentence, suspect's family house has been demolished or sealed.

Description of offenses
In addition to administrative detention allowing in practice the detention of every Palestinian, to the free interpretation of " security reasons " and the application of the law ruled by arbitrariness, acts defined as crimes in Israeli legislation also provide wide possibilities for sentencing and imprisonment. For example, participating in an exhibition to benefit a charity organization linked to Hamas is a crime of " terrorist association ". Carrying or placing a Palestinian flag is a crime in itself. Removing the rubbish put in the middle of a road by Israeli soldiers after they have left is another crime. Fire in the air during a wedding, as is the tradition, constitutes a danger for Israel's national security, although it happens in the autonomous territories (area A). A student of a Hamas Koranic school can be sentenced to 14 months of prison for his participation at the lesson. Participation in a demonstration is a case of disrupting public order. Pouring coffee for a member of a declared illegal association is support to a terrorist organization. Palestinian national security forces are an illegal association.

Main difficulties faced by lawyers and human rights associations:

Human rights activists, in the current situation, faces the risk of arrest by Israeli occupation forces;

The obstacles to freedom of movement within the West Bank, Gaza Strip and outside it, curfews and other forms of collective punishment inflicted upon the Palestinian society by the Israeli military occupation considerably hinders everyone's work, among others, to collect information concerning human rights violations and verify them.

Organizations are not allowed to enter the prisons, nor are they allowed to visit prisoners;

The number of lawyers is limited to defend an increasing number of detainees;

Palestinian lawyers can only defend their clients before military courts located in the Occupied Palestinian Territories; for the High Court they must be members of the Israeli Bar association;

The difficulties faced by lawyers in the exercise of their work are mainly related to the arbitrary nature of occupation and impunity.

Very often, lawyers are not informed of the date of a hearing.

Their access to the prisons is limited and they are searched there.

The use of confessions made under torture (under legal as well as other forms of torture) and of submission of secret files allows only a purely superficial defense.

The refusal to implement and abide by international laws diminishes all possibilities of ensuring the respect of basic rights.