Israel holding more than 470 Palestinians in administrative detention – highest number in 5 years

[Jefferson23]

Published:
7 Oct 2014

Almost six months ago, in May 2014, B’Tselem cautioned that the number of Palestinians held by Israel in administrative detention was rising. In June and July 2014, over the course of Operation Brother’s Keeper, the military issued some 250 new administrative detention orders; at the end of August 2014, Israel was holding some 473 detainees in administrative detention – the highest number since April 2009. Within one year, the number of detainees had more than tripled.

According to Israel Prison Service (IPS) data, more than 60 percent of administrative detainees held at the end of August 2014 had been held for three months or less. Some 10 percent had been held for three to six months, some 13 percent from six months to one year, and some 13 percent from one to two years. Four detainees had been in administrative detention continuously for over two years.



Administrative detention is detention without trial, ostensibly intended to prevent people from committing acts that are liable to endanger public safety, rather than punishing them for offenses already committed, as is the case in criminal proceedings. As detention on the basis of potential conduct rather than past actions is problematic, international law permits its use only in the most exigent circumstances.

However, the Israeli security establishment uses administrative detention on a mass scale, in defiance of these restrictions. At no stage are the detainees told the reason for their detention or the specific allegations against them, nor do they know when they will be released: although each administrative detention order may not exceed six months, it can be renewed indefinitely.

Administrative detainees by duration (click to see the full chart)

in full: http://www.btselem.org/administrative_detention/20141007_spike_in_number_of_administrative_detainees

[Carlos Rodrigez]

1. Administrative detention is

legal under international law. Considering that Israel does some things that are debatably illegal, I should think the critics would do better to focus on that.