How Israel waged judicial war against Palestinian citizens after the May 2021 uprising
Palestinian citizens of Israel rally with Palestinian flags in the mixed city of Lod on 13 May 2022
Janan Abdu reports in Middle East Eye:
In 24 May 2021, Israel launched a mass arrest campaign to deter the uprising of Palestinians within the so-called Green Line under the banner of “Law and Order”.
The police announced that within 48 hours 500 people would be arrested. By 10 June, Israel had arrested more than 2,150 people, 91 percent of whom were Palestinian citizens of Israel. Police forces, special units, border guards and secret police stormed the predominantly Arab towns cracking down on Palestinian protesters.
They intentionally targeted minors in violent and arbitrary arrests, and subjected them to prolonged detention and interrogation by Shin Bet agents.
In the face of these mass arrests, hundreds of Palestinian lawyers residing within the 1948 occupied territories organised and volunteered alongside human rights groups and popular committees in a coordinated effort to defend detainees, provide them with legal assistance inside police stations, and monitor the flagrant human rights violations by Israeli security forces.
I was a part of one of these groups, “Women Human Rights Defenders of Detainees”. It wasn’t long before crowdfunding campaigns were organised to support the detainees and their families in covering their legal expenses.
Flagrant rights violations
Some of the Israeli violations we uncovered included: violent dispersal of protests and arbitrary arrests; confiscation of personal cellular phones; assaulting journalists and activists who were filming and documenting attacks; kidnapping of children by special forces of undercover teams; using excessive force during arrests and transfers to detention centres; inhumane prison conditions; and postponing urgent medical treatment for detainees until taking their statements.
Many rights violations of detainees – particularly children – have taken place in police stations: the use of horrific physical violence, threats and psychological violence; denying them basic rights such as legal advice before interrogation; refusing to conduct interrogations in Arabic; denying a parent or guardian the right to be present during the interrogation of their children; and interrogating many of them during very late hours, in violation of the law.
The police further attempt in various ways to thwart the work of defence teams. In many cases, the police block the detention centre’s entrance to prevent attorneys from learning the name and number of detainees.
Other tactics include denying lawyers pertinent information regarding their clients and preventing them from advising them.
In a Nazareth police station, Israeli officers notoriously ran a “torture room”, where arrested Palestinians, from protesters to bystanders and even attorneys, were subjected to physical, verbal, and psychological abuse. In Umm al-Fahm, the police station completely closed and stopped answering phone calls after lawyers insisted on invoking the rights of detainees, especially those needing medical treatment.