On August 7, 2017,
HaMoked submitted to the Israel Prison Service (IPS) an application under the Freedom of Information Law regarding Palestinian minors from the West Bank and East Jerusalem who were held in IPS incarceration facilities in 2017. In its application, HaMoked requested data on the number and holding place of minors in detention, administrative detention or serving a prison term, according to their age, sex and incarceration status.
On
December 17, 2017 and
December 26, 2017, the responses of the IPS arrived, according to which, from August to December, the IPS held at any given time between 344 and 411 Palestinian minors, of them between 287 and 301 boys from the West Bank and between 77 and 110 boys from East Jerusalem. Additionally, a total of 10 girls were held in that period – 8 from the West Bank and 2 from Jerusalem.
For more information on detention of minors in East Jerusalem, see the
joint report of HaMoked and B'Tselem.
The IPS refused HaMoked’s request to transfer the data on a monthly basis – despite it being important information of a public nature, which should be open and available to all. Therefore, HaMoked will have to write to the IPS periodically to receive updated figures.
