Administrative Detainees

Administrative detention is a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold prisoners indefinitely on secret information without charging them or allowing them to stand trial.

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 one thousand 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 detaines has generally decreased every year.

As of 1 September 2012, there were at least 212 administrative detainees in Israeli prisons. This number included 7 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

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 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 1948 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)