ADMINISTRATIVE DETAINEES

December 2018

Administrative detention (AD) is a procedure that allows Israeli occupation forces to hold prisoners indefinitely on secret information without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. The secret information or evidence cannot be accessed by the detainee nor his lawyer, and can according to Israeli military orders, an administrative detention order can be renewed for an unlimited time. The court issues an administrative detention order for a maximum period of six months, subject to renewal. 

The practice of Administrative detention is linked to the political situation in occupied Palestine, and the Palestinian movement that protests against the continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967. Administrative detention is a punitive measure and is a political action that reflects the Israeli occupation’s official policy against Palestinians. Although the use of administrative detention in a widespread and systemic manner is prohibited under international law, the Israeli occupation uses administrative detention as a tool for collective punishment against Palestinians.  The occupation continues to issue administrative detention orders against various segments of the Palestinian society in the West Bank including human rights activists, university students, lawyers, mothers of detainees and business people. 

Palestinians have been subjected to administrative detention since the beginning of the Israeli Occupation in 1967 and before that time, under the British Mandate. The frequency of the use of administrative detention has fluctuated throughout Israel’s occupation and has been steadily rising since the outbreak of the second intifada in September 2000.

On the eve of the second intifada, Israel held 12 Palestinians in administrative detention. Only two years later, in late 2002 - early 2003, there were over 1000 Palestinians in administrative detention. Between 2005 and 2007, the average monthly number of Palestinian administrative detainees held by Israel remained stable at approximately 765. Since then, as the situation on the ground stabilized and violence tapered off, the number of administrative detainees has generally decreased every year.

As of December 2018, there were at least 482 administrative detainees in Israeli prisons, who are being held without charge or trial for an indefinite period of time, nine of whom are members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. During the year 2018, administrative detainees collectively started a boycott campaign of military courts. This boycott started in March 2018 and was paused in September 2018 in order to give time for negotiations between the prisoners and the prison administration. Though administrative detainees declared that if no changes were made by the beginning of 2019 they will resume to actions. 

ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION IN NUMBERS

DETENTION CONDITIONS

Palestinians in Israeli administrative detention are now held under the jurisdiction of the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) and not the Israeli army, as was the case up to 2005. Administrative detainees in Israeli prisons are not separated from the rest of the prison population, without arrangements for food appropriate to their culture and/or religion and to allow them to practice their faiths. Prison personnel in most of the cases do not receive specific training on how to deal with administrative detainees and on international law regarding administrative detainees. Administrative detainees in Israel must endure severe restrictions on their right to education, rights to communicate with families and receive visits, and the right to adequate medical treatment.

At present, administrative detainees are primarily held in three Israeli prison facilities, all but one of which is located in 1967 territory:

1. Ofer Prison (located inside Ofer Military Base, south of Ramallah)
2. Ketziot Prison (also known as Ansar or Negev Prison; located in the Negev Desert, five kilometers from the border with Egypt)
3. Megiddo Prison (located inside a military base on the main Jenin-Haifa road)