Unlawful detention of Palestinians further exposed
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Western media outlets like CNN and The Washington Post have been forced to face the facts regarding "Israel's" unlawful practice of detaining Palestinians without charge.
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Released Palestinian prisoner Muhammad Abu Humus, 17, hugs his mother in Al-Quds neighborhood of Issawiya on November 28, 2023. (AP)
According to reports by CNN and the Washington Post, the majority of Palestinians "freed" by "Israel" were held without charge and worse, arrested as children, some for the mere reason of throwing stones.
According to human rights organizations, more than 1,200 Palestinians were being detained in administrative detention at the start of October, the highest number in more than three decades.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, around 7,000 Palestinians are still held in Israeli jails.
The Intercept's Jeremy Scahill reported on Monday that the Israeli government's story regarding Palestinian prisoners released during the temporary truce is both deceptive and dishonest.
He wrote that not only were a majority of them arrested as children, but they were also unconvicted of any real crimes.
Scahill emphasized that a majority of the anticipated 300 prisoners to be released are teenage males and 124 are under the age of 18, including a 15-year-old girl. Additionally, many of those 18 and older reached adulthood while imprisoned, meaning that they were minors as per the definitions provided in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
A four-day humanitarian truce that has now been extended went into effect in Gaza at 7 am (GMT+2) Friday after a deal was reached between the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian Resistance on the matter following an Israeli aggression that persisted for 47 days, leaving tens of thousands injured, killed, and displaced.
Israeli officials have labeled all of the prisoners as "terrorists." Some were convicted of attempted murder, while others were jailed for "throwing stones" or possessing knives. And some, like 59-year-old Hanan Barghouti, the oldest female prisoner freed, were held in Israeli captivity indefinitely without prosecution.
Palestinians given 'sham' trials
Scahill notes that the Netanyahu administration and its allies foster an "Alice in Wonderland" myth that these Palestinians are all "hardened terrorists" who committed terrible crimes, condemning them in the public realm before any "sham" trial.
This is not to mention the raids the Israeli occupation forces regularly conduct in the West Bank, cracking down and detaining even more Palestinians unlawfully, in frequent mass arrest campaigns. The vast majority appears to be detained in administrative detention, a type of confinement without accusation or trial that authorities can extend indefinitely, which is, of course, against international law.
According to HaMoked, an Israeli organization, Palestinians in administrative detention increased from 1,319 on October 1 to 2,070 by November 1.
Vox’s Abdallah Fayyad Abdallah said, “Palestinians are routinely denied counsel, for example, and faced with language barriers and mistranslations that taint testimonies and confessions used in court,” detailing that most of these cases are "based on specious and far-reaching charges.”
B'Tselem, another human rights group, expressed that "Israel" exercises an amount of great power by incarcerating people without charge for lengthy times based on "evidence" they cannot challenge, citing that it "continuously and extensively" does so.
Amnesty International’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Heba Morayef, detailed that the administrative detentions against Palestinians are one of the "key tools" that the Israelis use to enforce the apartheid against the Palestinians.
This is not to mention the "severe beatings and deliberate humiliation" of Palestinians already in horrible conditions.
As expected, Israeli government officials recently have called criticism from United Nations officials and groups like Amnesty International "antisemitic" and "biased".
