On January 4th, the health and human rights delegation that I’m on was scheduled to meet with Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Legislative Council member, former Palestinian Authority Minister of Information, and founder of Palestinian Medical Relief Society. We arrive at the modern PMRS offices in Ramallah, only to be informed that he is attending a rally at the Ofer Prison to call attention to the case of Jamal Juma’, Coordinator of the Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign. Jamal Juma’ is a human rights activist from East Jerusalem who was arrested approximately three weeks ago and has yet to be charged. In East Jerusalem Palestinians have Israeli residency cards, but not Israeli citizenship. This was to be his first hearing in the process.
We are told that Israeli authorities have moved Jamal’s hearing outside of Jerusalem where a more accountable legal system exists, to a military court in the Ofer prison which we can see through the wire fencing and yellow sliding barrier as a long, ominous, concrete building in the distance. We have heard that conditions at Ofer have been compared to Guantanamo. Approximately 50 people mill about, chanting in Arabic, waving Palestinian flags and holding a large sign demanding Jamal’s release, as well as other anti-wall prisoners. They urge Abbas and Hamas to work for the release of prisoners and ask the prisoners to have patience. Dr. Barghouti adds his voice to the chants and talks with reporters. Two well-dressed men in suits urgently plead with the soldiers to allow their cars entry through the checkpoint that leads to the prison. They are both lawyers. A woman in a hijab and long dress anxiously waits to pass through the gate as well. I wonder if she is a prisoner’s mother or wife. We learn that at this point, no charges have been brought against Jamal although documents have been collected in a secret file, and ultimately the hearing is postponed until January 7, (and on January 7 postponed again), a common tactic in these situations.
In the U.S., this demonstration would have been an example of free speech, the right to assembly, the right for peaceful groups to join together to make their voices heard. But this is Israel, "the only democracy in the Middle East," and for Palestinians, much of what is happening this morning is not only immensely frustrating and dangerous but also illegal.
Ala Joradat, the program manager of Adameer, a Palestinian human rights organization that focuses primarily on prisoners, legal aid, and monitoring, meets with our delegation and tries to unravel the complex civil and human rights issues that face Palestinians, particularly those who choose to protest the conditions of the Israeli occupation. He explains that the prisoners are both a product of the conflict and a cause for the conflict. Since 1967, 800,000 Palestinians have experienced detention, representing more than 53% of the population over 18. Because mostly Palestinian males are targeted for arrest, 60-70% of adult males have been to prison. To me this feels somewhat parallel to the disproportionately large number of African-American males currently incarcerated in the US.
I wonder if this reflects a huge number of militants and fighters in the OPT, or are there more subtle political forces at work. Ala explains that arrest and detention are based on military orders that have been in effect since 1967. The military commander issues and cancels orders, heads the civil administration, and assigns the prosecutors, judges, translators, etc, so the entire "justice system" is collegial and the military court is a division of the Israeli Defense Force.
Ala emphasizes that military orders are designed to control the population, ranging from what road a Palestinian can use to whether he can dig a well for water. I am stunned at the list of mind boggling potential security offenses which include:
1. reading the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, the Palestinian national poet who gave voice to the anguish of dispossession and exile
2. reading "The Collection of UN Resolutions on the Question of Palestine 1948-1982"
3. associations of parties, factions, charitable societies, NGOs, unions, and student associations. (After Oslo, defacto the PLO and Fatah were legitimized, but in Israeli law they are still listed as "illegal terrorist organizations.")
4. wearing political symbols, including the cartoon character "Handala"
5. carrying a Palestinian flag (which is the flag of the PLO which is technically still an illegal organization)
6. protesting the seizing of your land
7. throwing stones at the separation wall (destruction of state property)
8. throwing stones at a soldier (attempted murder)
9. assisting an injured person at a demonstration, including medical workers, (assisting a terrorist)
and the list goes on.
Functionally what this means is that the IDF can control the lives of people and organizations and use the thousands of potential security offenses in an unpredictable and arbitrary manner. According to Ala, an Israeli soldier, policeman, or even civilian can detain a Palestinian for 8 days without a specific reason, no legal review, and and at the end of this initial period, Palestinians appear before a military judge where they can be released, prosecuted and charged, placed in administrative detention, or most likely sent for interrogation for up to 180 days, with no access to a lawyer for up to 90 days.
Ala notes that the interrogation centers are located in police stations or prisons, are controlled by the Shin Bet, and report to the prime minister without external monitoring. Most of the torture that has been well documented by a variety of Israeli and Palestinian organizations occurs in these settings. The methods have changed over the years, but any statements obtained under torture are admissible in court, even if torture is proven. The prisons are also rife with collaborators; if a prisoner denies he has committed any crimes, then other prisoners suspect he is a collaborator. If the prisoner boasts of criminal activities true or false, to prove himself to the other prisoners, this is all reported back to the Israeli authorities and held as evidence without any external investigation.
These are the kinds of cases Adameer has represented for years. Ala further explains that charges are also often so vague, without clear times and places, they are difficult to disprove.
He sites an example of a case where three men were accused of shooting an Israeli vehicle north of Ramallah. Two confessed and one did not and Adameer took the case. During the trial, it was revealed that the event occurred in July, 2004. The prisoner stated he was in Jordan for the month of July. This information was brought to the attention of the military judge. Because the Israelis control all the borders, the judge could have easily accessed the security computer systems and determined if this man had left the country in July. Instead, the judge asked the Adameer lawyer to prove that the prisoner was in Jordan. The lawyers then brought evidence of stamps and papers that revealed that the prisoner was telling the truth. The military judge then demanded that the lawyers prove that the stamps were not fake. The man was subsequently found guilty in what sounds to me to be a kangaroo court.
Another dark side to this military justice system is the well documented use of collective punishment, demolition of the homes of prisoners, prohibition of family visitation, isolation of prisoners, and neglecting to provide adequate health care to prisoners.
Ala also urgently wants us to understand administrative detention, an unlimited detention that can be renewed for months at the judgement of the military commander. If a military judge deems that a prisoner is a potential threat, his source of information is a secret file that neither the prisoner or the prisoner’s lawyer has access to, and there is no limit to how often the administrative detention can be renewed. Ala describes cases where the detention was renewed just as the prisoner was leaving the prison, or even once he got home. What this means is that all people "of suspicion" can be imprisoned without evidence indefinitely. In the past 21 years, one Palestinian man has spent 17 years on and of, in administrative detention, effectively destroying him as well as his family.
The most significant point for me in this legally and ethically disturbing discussion is that the vast majority of people in administrative detention are nonviolent civil society activists. Additionally the IDF has a history of assassinating or imprisoning the more moderate Palestinian leadership.
So what are the implications of this system? Clearly the Israeli authorities are very threatened by nonviolent resistance and a powerfully organized civil society movement. This concept challenges the very idea of the unrelenting Arab threat that is the foundation of the Israeli security industry and foreign policy. Judging from the legal system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, a tortured and unjust legal system is strangling the leadership as well as the foot soldiers in the nonviolent movements that continue to persevere and sometimes flourish under the most difficult of circumstances. I can only wonder how many Gandhis and Martin Luther Kings, and Mandelas are rotting in Israeli jails today.
Alice Rothchild is a Boston-based physician and author of Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: The Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience
A Palestinian would be deemed in breech of security protocols for doing just any of these 9 things:
1. reading the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, the Palestinian national poet who gave voice to the anguish of dispossession and exile
2. reading “The Collection of UN Resolutions on the Question of Palestine 1948-1982″
3. associations of parties, factions, charitable societies, NGOs, unions, and student associations. (After Oslo, defacto the PLO and Fatah were legitimized, but in Israeli law they are still listed as “illegal terrorist organizations.”)
4. wearing political symbols, including the cartoon character “Handala”
5. carrying a Palestinian flag (which is the flag of the PLO which is technically still an illegal organization)
6. protesting the seizing of your land
7. throwing stones at the separation wall (destruction of state property)
8. throwing stones at a soldier (attempted murder)
9. assisting an injured person at a demonstration, including medical workers, (assisting a terrorist)
Reading poetry is a threat to Israeli national security, huh. No wonder the place is so humorless and full of cheap dives and kitschy night clubs.
10. being born a Palestinian.
11. informing an American who Rachael Corrie was, or about the handling of the USS Liberty–oh, wait wrong jurisdiction. So where’s Chas Freeman again? I watched 45 minutes of a one on one between Charlie Rose and Mitchell, who bragged about constantly shuttling to and from Israel in behalf his boss, Rahm–er, I eman Obama; the only subject on that Charlie Rose show was the I-P peace process. The expanding settlements was never a subject discussed at all. The word “freeze” never uttered. How is that possible? Just how dumb are the Americans?
Well, my memory was wrong. Rose and Mitchell did talk about the settlements and the ten month “freeze.” It’s how they talked about it that leaves me still numb. You can read the transcript of the show yourself. Note how Mitchell answers each question, and note his total unwillingless to offer even a shred of awareness of historical context to the negotiating stances he says he plays as the negotiator for American interests. And note near the end of the show how both Mitchel and Rose
skirt the issue of the USA using sticks (not just carrots) to get a serious peace process in motion. Mitchell does bring up Bush Sr’s single threat to cancel loan guarantees, but there’s no follow-up at all as to why or why not this was ineffective at the time, nor what impact it had on a Bush Sr second term. And neither Mitchell nor Rose bring up our annual free dole to Israel as a possible stick. What’s accepted by both men is that the superpower USA can do nothing but beg and offer bribes when it comes to Israel–he speaks as if his own government has never put any direct or indirect pressure on the Palestinians, and basically admits the US cannot pressure Israel at all–both he and Rose lapse into laughter and unintelligible and un-transcribed comments at the thought of using even a slight stick on Israel; when you get done reading the transcript, post a comment
on Mitchell’s approach–you think it has any chance of being effective? This is the best we an do? It’s disgusting. Mitchell’s stance on Israel reminds me of Chamberlain’s stance on Germany. And the result will be no better.
Oops, here’s the transcript:
link to thepage.time.com
Also, note Mitchell’s sly reference to using support of Israel’s wish to knock off Iran
as a carrot to getting the Israeli’s to the negotiating table to settle the I-P situation.
I watched the interview as well. Thanks for providing the link. Was as taken aback as you were – it’s unbelievable how Mitchell was blindly mouthing tired hasbara points. Looked like even charlie – MSM’er that he is – was exasperated – kept pushing on the issue of jerusalem – to basically get israel’s answer – time and again.
What i found sad is the way Mitchell kept going back to ireland – his one success story – repeating the “keep talking” mantra, as if the differences between the two situations were not as glaring as they are. Much has been written here – and elsewhere – about the divergence between the two situations. my favorite is; neither the protestant nor the catholics denied the other group’s right to live where they are. So the dispute was “only” about what system to live under. But when it comes to I/P, Israel’s fondest wish is, in fact, to transfer or exile as many palestinians as they can, ie, there’s no agreement even on the right of palestinians to stay where they are (eg east jerusalem), much less a political/civic system to live under.
All we do is threaten Iran and use every economic sanction possible against it; Obama makes a few remarks about actually talking to Iran and he’s hissed for being a dangerous bleeding heart–Iran, who helped us out upon our initial
foray into Afghanistan; Iran, who has been subject to our instigated regime change in 1953; Iran, who’s borders rest surrounded by US troops; Iran, who was subjected to an 8 year war by Iraq, a US proxy we gave WMD to; Iran, who has signed the Nuclear inspection pact, and who actually has no military nukes according to combined world IT assessment and the right to peaceful nukes;
Iran–talk about demonization–and, what’s it been 250 years since Iran attacked another country? And Israel, with its war track record and direct occupation, with its every-spreading “borders”? Why Israel is an angel sent from heaven, a comparatively recent graft by western “doctors.” The internal tension in Iran over the regime that benefited from American direct interference in Iran’s chosen government back in 1953–that’s a reason to
attack less-than-perfect domestic Iran? Should we attack and pressure all the Arab despot countries because they oppress their own people? The strategic truth is we should treat Iran with kid gloves, not hammer blows, rather than give such unbalanced total support to Israel–of course that
normal geopolitical POV deserved kicking all the state department “Arabists”
out of government and replacing them with people with Zionist love,
Nothing changes–remember this, from a decade ago?
MITCHELL REPORT Fact-Finding Committee to investigate the events of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, how to prevent their recurrence, how to rebuild confidence and resume negotiations. The Committee, headed by former US senator George J. Mitchell, was formed following the summit at Sharm Ash-Sheikh (17 Oct. 2000), attended by Israel, the PA, Egypt, Jordan, the US, UN, and EU, that took place in the wake of the Intifada. Members of the committee were: ex-senator Warren Rudman, former Turkish Pres. Suleiman Demirel, the EU’s Javier Solana and Norwegian FM Thorbjorn Jagland. Recommendations of the report, completed on 30 April 2001 and published on 20 May 2001, included a “freeze of all settlement activity, including the ‘natural growth’ of existing settlements”, a call on both sides to reaffirm their commitment to existing agreements, immediate unconditional cessation of violence and resumption of security cooperation
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The Palestinian’s inside occupied territory is controlled by military regulations, about 1,500 of them. It can change rapidly by the whim of the military commander in the region, and it does happen this way. So the situation is fluid to say the least.
Palestinians are tried in Israeli military courts within the Israeli control centers in the occupied territories. The judges are a panel of three, two with no judicial or legal background. They rarely if ever are run by recognized standards of civilized or international law.
These military courts and detention camps are located within the 1948 borders of Israel. One can be held at one of 5 detention centers, 7 detention/holding centers, 3 military detention camps, or one of 9 prisons.
If you are Palestinian you can be detained without anyone revealing the reason for 12 days, and not be brought before a judge. After that a detainee is either sent to an “interrogation center,” charged with the offense, or released.
Palestinians can be interrogated for up to 180 days. During this time they can be denied visits from an attorney for 90 days. It is here that torture commences with physical extremity, psychological, or with both – it is codified into law in this “democracy.”
Torture is allowed if the detainee is considered “a threat to the state.” This has resulted in some dying while in custody because of the torture (and you can partially see what is interpreted as a threat to the state by the list given here) .
Administrative detention without charge is used as a form of collective punishment against the Palestinians, and once again this does not conform to international law. This type of detention can go on from 1 to 6 months, and after that the order can be renewed. This can happen with secret evidence in military tribunals, and the detainee nor his lawyer have access to the information. The longest period of time this went on was eight years.
A child over the age of 16 is considered an adult, but you can be charged and tried and sentenced at the age of 12, this has been done. Sometimes it is for throwing a stone, and after age 14 for some offenses children can be tried as adults. There are no Juvenile courts or prisons, the children are thrown in with the adults (although there has been a minor provision now made to try children in as supposed juvenile court).
The prison conditions are horrendous, they are overcrowded with tents, and adequate food and shelter are not given. The detainees are not afforded medical attention, even after severe beatings during arrest, and if they have a chronic illness – well, that’s just to bad.
Lawyers are not given any special travel privileges to see their clients and are many times detained at the checkpoints where they miss the arraignment (the arraignment which is frequently made into a joke), and so with the restrictions and the heavy case loads they do not get adequate representation. On top of this the lawyers are subject to strip searches, and are treated rather harshly when they come to see their clients.
I’m always grateful for your wealth of information VR.
The use of law is specifically designed as a form of punishment, it bears little to no resemblance to justice for Palestinians. This was ascertained by careful study from Yesh Din, and just a cursory view of their findings proves the opening sentence of this post –
“These courts, which try thousands of Palestinian annually, have an astonishing 99.7% conviction rate, and trials routinely last for only a few minutes. Defendants, and even their lawyers, often do not understand the charges against them. Plea bargaining may account for some of the short duration of the trials, but even here, Yesh Din points out that pleas are usually lodged only after lengthy remands in prison before trial, during which defendants often have no access to their lawyers…
Yesh Din’s newer military courts project points out that the IDF military courts, which have existed since the beginning of the 1967 occupation, operate in near-total secrecy — yet they are a cornerstone of the Israeli occupation…
Yesh Din has found other abuses: for instance, defendants at the Samaria military court routinely have been held in metal shipping containers during trial appearances, rather than in existing jail cells…
Since 1990, more than 150,000 Palestinians have been tried by these military courts, and more than half of the current population of Palestinian prisoners is comprised of those who were tried by these courts. The Yesh Din report said, however, that military court proceedings can be startlingly brief, citing a study of 38 hearings where prosecutors sought to extend suspects’ detention in custody until the end of case, which generally means remand for a year or more.
Of those 38 hearings, Yesh Din says, seven lasted between two and four minutes, 19 lasted between one and two minutes and 12 were over in less than a minute…
Hearings were held in Hebrew and simultaneous translation into Arabic was mainly carried out by conscript soldiers rather than professional interpreters, with the result that suspects, and their attorneys, often did not understand the charges.
SFARD SAID THE 0.29 PERCENT ACQUITTAL RATING in 2006, or 23 cases out of 9,123, was most jarring. [capitalized emphasis mine]…”We think that this is an outrageous number which clouds the presumption of innocence,” he said. ”It is unreasonable that a justice system will have such a low figure of victory of the defense.”
ISRAEL’S MOCKERY OF JUSTICE
I know a very right-wing lawyer (an admirer of Meir Kahane, actually) in Jerusalem, who used to serve in military court, as part of his army reserve duty. He was absolutely appalled at the farce of justice. This man is a racist, who believes that Palestinians should not have the same rights as Jews, anywhere in Eretz Yisrael, yet even he felt that the treatment of Palestinians in Israeli military courts is a disgrace.
I visited Ofer in its old format, in 1990. From the descriptions, not much has changed, despite the construction of the new facility. What sticks in my mind to this day is the image of a large number of men (maybe 40) standing around in a tiny cell with little light, on a very hot day – much hotter of course, in the cell itself.
The occupation skews the judicial system Shmuel, both in the occupied territories and inside of Israel. In fact, every institution becomes skewed, you name it and it in some way serves the occupation. It is a crisis of legitimacy from the foundation upward.
A crisis in the justice system as you describe, is skewed and a crisis of legitimacy, even in times of stress and conflict.
The only time a justice is really tested is in time of stress and conflict. A simple
subset of this justice is free speech–it really doesn’t mean much, and doesn’t even have to be protected until it touches upon issues in a way that many in power do not like. You, Witty, belittle the concept of justice and the rule of law with your use of the word “even.”
See here for the blood-curdling testimony of a Palestinian who was tortured in an Israeli prison.
Yet hasbara peddlers will tell you that torture was outlawed by the High Court in 1999.
Yet hasbara peddlers will tell you that torture was outlawed by the High Court in 1999.
Liberal decisions by Israel’s (generally cowardly) High Court are touted as definitve proof of Israeli enlightenment and democracy – even when they are not implemented. There was an article in yesterday’s Ha’aretz about growing concern over government and army/shin-bet contempt for High Court decisions.
Like not using human shields, like taking down the wall at Bil’in.
Ah, but the High Court said not to use “human” shields. They didn’t say anything about “johnnies” (otherwise known as “boy” when they sass their masters – see Margalit’s “interview” with MK Zahalka).
Like the seapoys of India who rebelled and were killed, cut up, and wrapped in cow hide and shot from canons. All occupying murderous colonials use the indigenous population as fodder.
What’s really scary is that Shrub Inc instigated a similar process here in the USA, so far mainly affecting Muslims–all in the name of Homeland Security. Rule Of Law as charade
of our Constitutional rights–Terror can be endlessly milked. First they came for….
This seems to be breaking news. The wall riots have spread to Ramallah: link to news.xinhuanet.com
How long before there is backpedaling on THIS?
I was going to suggest harnessing all this for- and backpedaling, but then I realised that the bastards have figured out a way of neutralising the energy output by pedaling forward and backward at the same time!
The Hebrew version of the article adds the following forbackpedaling gem:
Is that having your cake and eating it too? Or is it code for “The USA takes the allegations seriously because they are fundamentally flawed.” Oth, how would the USA know that? A dangerous peace bike going nowhere, sustained by USA blood, sweat, and tears.
RE: “Arbitrary occupier’s law used to clamp down on Palestinian life”
ME: But…but…but…Marty “Macho Man” Peretz says……..
Another activity forbidden in Occupied Territories, unless you obtain unobtainable permit, is planting of trees. Another is sinking wells. Another is building fences for your livestock. Another is collecting wild herbs and grasses. There is no end to it.