Administrative Detention

Among the many tools of oppression in the toolbox of the Israeli Occupation is Administrative Detention. As if the draconian military courts were not bad enough, this provision allows the military government to arrest and detain any person and hold them for a period of six months, renewable for additional periods, without limitation if the Commander “has reasonable grounds to believe” that the security of the area requires that that person be held in detention. This power is totally arbitrary, and the person arrested is actually not accused, charged, or tried for any offense!!!

To be sure, there is a provision for the detained person to object to this arrest, before an Objections Tribunal, which will ostensibly review the Detention order. The hearing is usually held in secret and the judge is authorized to set aside the rules of evidence during the hearing. The first time I represented a client before one of these tribunals showed me what a farce it was. I literally had nothing to say. The judge asked me to go first, as it was I who brought the “action” and my client was not a defendant nor was he accused of anything in particular. I said my client was innocent, but that I had no way of showing this since I did not know what the military government thought he said or did or was suspected of thinking or saying or doing or planning. The Shin Bet (secret service) Officer, who was representing the army then requested that the hearing continue so that he would present his “evidence” and arguments without my presence or the presence of my client. In our absence, the prosecutor and the “judge” discussed the matter. Five minutes later we were invited back to the courtroom, and the judge asked me “Now, what do you have to say!!” while the Shin Bet Officer smirked. The judge then confirmed the Detention order. I saw no evidence, and heard no arguments, and to this day have no idea why my client was jailed. It would have left Kafka himself bewildered.

Around 500 Palestinians are currently held in Administrative detention, and 9 of them are on prolonged hunger strikes demanding to be released, or at least tried, or informed of the reasons for their arrest.  Administrative detainees are usually nonviolent prominent members of society who are involved in public life in one way or another. More to the point, the entire population has been living for over half a century now with this threat of arbitrary arrest hanging over their heads. At one time, during the First Intifida, as many as 5000 people were administratively detained. This “Administrative Detention” is not a temporary measure to suspend the rule of law during periods of emergency, but a permanent feature of an apartheid system that enables a choking, crippling control over an entire population. The cry for justice by administrative detainees who go on a hunger strike should spur all of us to demand the elimination of this practice, and indeed the dismemberment of the entire oppressive structure it represents.

Blessings,

Jonathan Kuttab

Executive Director