Israeli authorities have escalated the administrative detention process since the eruption of a Palestinian uprising in the beginning of last October. The number of administrative detainees increased to 500, the head of the Commission of Palestinian detainee affairs said.Issa Qaraqe explained, according to Al Ray, that Israeli authorities used administrative detention as an alternative to just trials. Using the procedure in a daily pattern is considered a collective punishment, which is a violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions, and a breach of civil and political rights, he added.
He accused the Israeli occupation of using the collective punishment policy against the Palestinian people.
Under administrative detention, Israel can arrest anyone under the pretext of security reasons.
Qaraqe expected that administrative detainees would not sit idly for long, and they will soon take steps against this policy.
The detentions included political and parliamentary figures, women and children, on charges as trivial as ‘incitement on social websites’.
Administrative detention is a jailing procedure dating back to the times of British Mandate in Palestine, which allows the Israeli military to hold prisoners indefinitely on secret information, without charging them or allowing them to stand trial.
The frequency of the use of administrative detention has fluctuated throughout Israel’s occupation, and has been steadily rising since the outbreak of the second intifada, in September of 2000.
On the eve of the second intifada, Israel held 12 Palestinians in administrative detention. Only two years later, in late 2002-early 2003, there were over one thousand Palestinians in administrative detention. Between 2005 and 2007, the average monthly number of Palestinian administrative detainees held by Israel remained stable at approximately 765. Since then, as the situation on the ground stabilized and violence tapered off, the number of administrative detainees has generally decreased every year.
As of 1 September 2012, there were at least 212 administrative detainees in Israeli prisons. This number included 7 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
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