Following a
serious case, in which a Palestinian minor was incarcerated for more than two days without being entered into the system and without any information regarding his whereabouts being supplied to his family, HaMoked
petitioned the High Court of Justice on November 21, 2012. HaMoked demanded the Court order the army to take measures to significantly improve its monitoring of the location of detainees, and to allow real-time control over all phases of the arrest and detention, from beginning to end. The Court dismissed the petition based on the minor changes the army undertook to implement and held that the army did not have a responsibility to supply information in real time on each and every location to which the detainee is moved, but rather only on his or her current location.
HaMoked cautioned that the ruling effectively allowed the army to continue its negligence and carry on violating the law with respect to proper registration of Palestinian detainees, monitoring of their whereabouts and notification to their families. Given the judgment, the various authorities would be able to continue moving people from place to place, as if they were chattel, without registering them as prisoners. The worst case scenario for the authorities would be to have to deal with complaints lodged after the fact. A series of recent serious cases indicates that HaMoked’s concern was not misplaced.
On August 7, 2013, about two weeks before the Court delivered its judgment in HaMoked’s general petition, the army arrested a 16-year-old Palestinian from the Qalqiliya district at 3:00 AM. The youth was taken to an army base and held there, handcuffed, in the open air, while soldiers beat and humiliated him. At 10:00 AM, he was taken to an unknown facility and from there to the Ariel police station, where he was questioned on suspicion of stone-throwing. From the police station, the boy was taken to the Huwwara holding facility, where, at 10:00 PM, he was given food and drink for the first time since his arrest. He was held in a cell at Huwwara for the night and transferred to Megido prison the next morning. In the early afternoon, the boy was sent to the Salem military court for a hearing, and from there back to Megido, where he was held until his release on August 11, 2013. From the moment of his arrest, until he was brought back to Megido after the hearing, HaMoked was unable to find out where the boy was in order to inform his family. When 36 hours from his arrest passed with no news of his whereabouts,
HaMoked filed a habeas corpus petition with the High Court of Justice. As soon as notification came through that the 16-year-old was at Megido Prison, HaMoked informed the Court, but requested the petition remain pending due to the general remedies sought therein. The Court, however, dismissed the petition, stating that the general petition filed by HaMoked had been dismissed in the meantime.
In the early afternoon of October 30, 2010, the Israeli army arrested a 14-year-old Palestinian boy, while he was helping his family with the annual olive harvest. This was the beginning of a 24-hour ordeal for the boy, while his family had no idea where he was or what happened to him. They boy was suspected of having thrown stones at a settlement. He denied the allegations throughout. He was first taken to the Ariel police station, and from there, in the middle of the night, to another facility of an unknown nature. From there, he was taken in a jeep to the Huwwara facility in the morning. In Huwwara, he was allowed to use the washroom for the first time, though his hands remained cuffed until the late afternoon. He was then taken to the Qalqiliya DCO, where, in the evening, he was handed over to Palestinian police officers who had arrived to pick him up. During this entire time, the boy did not receive food or drink. We emphasize again that it was only shortly before his release and
only after HaMoked contacted the State Attorney’s Office in the matter that the authorities provided notification of the boy’s whereabouts, without any details or specifics regarding the various places where he had been held.
And so, in its function as the agency that arrests Palestinians in the West Bank, including minors, the army continues its serious negligence regarding registration, monitoring and reporting. Yet, given the rulings issued on this subject, there is no legal way to monitor arrest and registration in real time, and the only recourse available to Palestinians is to lodge a complaint if their rights are violated. This is a long and complicated process that may take years and it is an inappropriate response to the ongoing violation of the rights of Palestinian detainees who often continue to be held for lengthy periods of time without being registered as prisoners and without information regarding their whereabouts being given to their families.
