"Overcrowding" Policy... Itamar Ben-Gvir's Personal War Against Palestinian Prisoners
Qadura Fares, President of the Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs Authority - August 7, 2024
This week, institutions dealing with prisoners' rights and Palestinians around the world stood in solidarity with Gaza and Palestinian prisoners. This day is dedicated to highlighting Israeli crimes and violations of Palestinian prisoners' rights and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The spotlight must be cast on the brutal mechanism that punishes and tortures in secrecy in Israeli prisons.
Overcrowding Policy Since October 7th, Palestinian prisoners have faced horrific crimes. Shortly after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced that Israel had cut off food, water, electricity, and fuel to Gaza, effectively declaring the start of genocide, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir waged his own war against Palestinian prisoners and political detainees held in Israeli prisons and camps by declaring the "overcrowding" policy.
Since then, the Israeli army and security services have launched mass arrest campaigns, raising the number of Palestinian citizens detained from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem to 9,800.
Israel has detained at least 335 women and 680 children. More than 3,400 individuals have been placed under administrative detention, meaning they are held indefinitely without charge, including 22 women and 40 children. The number of administrative detainees has never reached such a high since 1967.
Israel has also detained an unknown number of Palestinians in Gaza, possibly exceeding thousands, according to our modest estimates. They are held under the "Unlawful Combatants Law" of 2002, which allows the Israeli military to detain individuals without an arrest warrant.
Under Ben-Gvir's orders, the already dire conditions in Israeli prisons have worsened. Prison authorities have sharply reduced food and water rations and closed the small shops from which Palestinian detainees could buy food and other necessities.
Water and electricity have been cut off, and the time allotted for using the toilets has been reduced. Prisoners are also prohibited from showering, leading to the spread of diseases, especially skin diseases like scabies. There have been reports of Palestinian prisoners being denied medical care.
The systematic malnutrition and dehydration suffered by Palestinian prisoners have resulted in significant fatalities. Those few who are released leave the detention centers in horrifying physical condition. Even the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that such exploitation of food as a weapon is "unacceptable."
The use of torture, including rape and beatings, has become widespread. There have been shocking reports of prison guards urinating on detainees and torturing them with electric shocks, and using dogs to sexually assault them.
There are even testimonies of Israeli forces using detainees as human shields during combat in Gaza.
Collective Punishment The systematic use of torture and other forms of mistreatment has reached the extent of extrajudicial killing. According to a recent report published by the Israeli daily Haaretz, 48 Palestinians have died in detention centers. Among them is Tha'er Abu Asab, who was severely beaten by Israeli prison guards at Ketziot Prison and died from his injuries at the age of 38.
According to the newspaper, 36 detainees from Gaza have died in the "Sde Teiman" camp. Israeli medical workers at the detention center have revealed the horrific conditions in which the detained Palestinians live.
It is said that detainees are often subjected to surgery without anesthesia, and some have had limbs amputated due to being shackled even while sleeping or receiving treatment. Palestinians who have been released say that what they experienced was more horrific than what they heard happened in the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo detention camps, where American forces tortured and forcibly disappeared other Arab and Muslim men.
They testified that some detainees were killed under torture and severe beatings. A prisoner from Bethlehem, Mu'adh Obeidat, who was released in July, mentioned that Ben-Gvir personally participated in torturing him.
The Israeli authorities have deprived prisoners of visits from lawyers, families, and even doctors, including the International Committee of the Red Cross. They have also carried out collective punishment, destroying the homes of their families, detaining their relatives and holding them hostage, and illegally transferring some to secret detention camps and military bases without disclosing their fates, constituting the crime of enforced disappearance.
Despite condemnations from various human rights organizations, Ben-Gvir and the Israeli ruling coalition have doubled their support for these policies. Ben-Gvir said on July 1: "They should be killed with a bullet to the head, and the bill for executing Palestinian prisoners should be passed in the third reading in the Knesset... Until then, we will give them the minimum food necessary to survive."
Using mass detention, Israel, the occupying power, has systematically destroyed the Palestinian social, economic, and psychological fabric since 1967. More than one million Palestinians have been detained since then, thousands have been held as hostages for extended periods under administrative detention, and 255 detainees have died in Israeli prisons.
Israeli crimes against Palestinians did not start in October 2023 but are a continuation of a systematic process of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, and apartheid that began even before 1948.
But the Israeli colonial regime underestimates the resilience of the Palestinian people. Inspired by the experiences of free countries in Ireland, South Africa, and Vietnam, we draw strength from our determination to achieve our right to self-determination and freedom and independence.
For this reason, we urge the world to collectively protest against the crimes of the Israeli occupation and racist laws, and we call on governments to fulfill their legal obligations to prevent such crimes.
For this reason, we urge the world to collectively protest against the crimes of the Israeli occupation and racist laws, and we demand that governments fulfill their legal duties to prevent such crimes from occurring.
We call on unions, universities, parliaments, and political parties to actively participate in events, demonstrations, and extensive digital campaigns; in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners.
The international community must also hold the occupying power accountable by imposing a complete arms embargo on it, applying economic sanctions, and suspending its membership in the United Nations.
Bilateral agreements must be canceled, and Israel's participation in international forums and events must be stopped until it complies with international law and human rights. It must be forced to protect civilians according to its obligations as an occupying power.
Israel must also reveal the identities and circumstances of those who have disappeared forcibly, end arbitrary and administrative detention policies, and release the bodies of the deceased inside and outside prisons, ensuring that all prisoners receive legal protection.
Israel, the occupying power, is obligated to allow UN special rapporteurs and experts and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to visit Palestine to inspect prisons and seek justice for the victims, including material and moral compensation. Israel must not be allowed to evade accountability for these horrific crimes.