Palestinian
children near Jenin at a wall covered in posters of Palestinians held
in Israeli jails on 16 April 2012 (Photo: AFP - Saif Dahlah)
The three, all under the age of 18, were identified as Ahmad Nimr, Luay Nairoukh, and Hamzeh al-SilwadiLuay
Akkeh, a lawyer from the committee, highlighted in the statement that
Israel is applying administrative detention -- a policy of detention
without charge or trial -- in violation of all international laws, and
using the policy to impose collective punishment on Palestinian
communities. Israeli human rights group B’Tselem released a report last month
revealing that Israeli authorities have steadily increased their use of
administrative detention on Palestinian minors since October.
The
group stated in the report that the controversial policy which allows
for the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial based on
undisclosed evidence had not been used by Israeli authorities on
Palestinian minors since December 2011.However, the group
found that Israeli authorities had begun to use the policy again on
Palestinian minors as of October, when a wave of violence first erupted
across the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel.
According
to figures sent to the group by Israel Prison Service (IPS), the number
of Palestinian minors held without charge or trial in Israeli prisons
rose steadily from October, with four minors held in administrative
detention in October 2015, while 13 minors were reportedly held at the
end of April this year.
The report added that the
increasing use of administrative detention on Palestinians, particularly
relating to Palestinian minors, has constituted a much "harsher abuse"
of the policy than what has been seen in recent years.Israel’s
policy of administrative detention, which is almost exclusively used
against Palestinians, has been widely condemned by the international
community as rights groups have charged Israel with using the policy to
arbitrarily detain Palestinians for undisclosed reasons as a way of
disrupting political and social life for Palestinian communities.
According
to B’Tselem, under international law administrative detention is
permitted “only in the most exceptional cases, as a last resort for
averting danger that cannot be prevented by less harmful means.”B’Tselem
has underscored that Israel’s use of administrative detention on the
Palestinian population “blatantly violates the restrictions of
international law.”Israel is also the only country in the
world that prosecutes children in military courts, according to Defense
for Children International - Palestine (DCIP), with 60 percent of
Palestinian child detainees being transferred from Palestinian territory
to Israeli prisons in direct of violation of international law.
According
to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, some 700 Palestinians under the
age of 18 from the occupied West Bank are prosecuted every year in
Israeli military courts, with more than 12,000 Palestinian children
being detained by Israeli authorities since 2000.The large
majority of Palestinian children have been detained by Israeli forces
for throwing stones at Israeli settlers and soldiers.As of
May, some 750 Palestinians were held in administrative detention, while
414 Palestinian minors remained in Israeli prisons, 104 of whom were
under the age of 16.
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