Since October 7, the war between Hamas and Israel has raged.
Thousands of civilians have lost their lives, tens of thousands have been injured, and around 1.4 million people have been displaced.
– Terribly rare
Nearly 200 Israelis have been kidnapped by Hamas after they attacked Israel on October 7, and the organization has repeatedly demanded that thousands of Palestinian prisoners be released, before the hostages will be set free.
Before the war broke out, around 5,200 Palestinians were imprisoned in Israeli prisons and prison camps, according to the human rights group Addameer.
In two weeks, this number has doubled, and over ten thousand Palestinians are now behind bars. It reports Al Jazeera.
DOUBLE: The number of Palestinians arrested by Israel has doubled in just over two weeks. Here an Israeli soldier is shown next to a naked and bound Palestinian prisoner. The picture was taken near the border with Gaza, October 8, 2023. Photo: JACK GUEZ / AFP / NTB Show more
– Terrible legal protection
The threshold for being raised in the safe has become very low in several parts of Israel, says senior lecturer in Middle Eastern studies at the University of Oslo, Erling Lorentzen Sogge.
– I can’t say anything about the exact number, but there is no doubt that Palestinians are now being arrested in large numbers in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem.
He explains that the arrest of large numbers of Palestinians is nothing new, but that the number could be much higher as a result of the war.
– The legal protection of Palestinians under Israeli occupation is terrible from the start. People are detained without trial, and can potentially remain in captivity for a very long time. This practice has been going on for a very long time, but the number of arrests may possibly increase now.
– LOW THRESHOLD: The experts Dagbladet has spoken to say that the threshold for being arrested has become very low for the Palestinians after the attack on 7 October. The arrest of a Palestinian outside the Old City in Jerusalem is shown here on October 13, 2023. Photo: AP Photo / Mahmoud Illean / NTB Show more
– Go ahead
Lorentzen Sogge’s colleague, Dag Henrik Tuastad, agrees that Palestinians are now imprisoned over a low shoe.
– There is a bit of freedom on the West Bank right now, everything is now about security, and maybe even revenge. So now the Israelis are moving in massively, they fear another new front there. They imprison anyone they suspect of being a risk, without following necessary procedures.
Tuastad, who is also senior lecturer in Middle Eastern studies, says that the issue has long been inflamed among the Palestinians.
– The treatment of Palestinian prisoners is an open wound in Palestinian society. It was one of the reasons why Islamic Jihad had a confrontation with Israel in 2022. It is a very inflamed issue.
BENT: The number of Palestinians sitting in Israeli prisons, and their treatment, has long been a burning issue for the Palestinians, according to Dag Henrik Tuastad. A demonstration of the treatment of the prisoner Walid Abu Daqqa is shown here in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, 26 August 2023. Photo: APAImages / Shutterstock / NTB Show more
Complaints about prison conditions
Several human rights groups have repeatedly railed against what they claim are very poor conditions for the Palestinian prisoners, says Lorentzen Sogge.
– What is being reported from Palestinian human rights organizations is that the treatment of the prisoners is very bad, and there is talk of torture and very degrading treatment.
It is difficult to know what actually goes on behind the walls, but the rumors about mistreatment of prisoners set people on fire, according to Tuastad.
– Rumors are being spread in the Arab media that the Palestinian prisoners are mistreated and humiliated. Images are also circulating showing prisons reminiscent of Abu Ghraib prison, filled with half-naked blindfolded prisoners. I have no idea if any of this is true or not. But the fact is that such rumors eventually take on a life of their own, regardless of whether they are true or not.
The infamous Abu Ghraib prison became famous in the early 2000s, after images of prisoners who were mistreated and tortured by Saddam Hussein, and later the US army, circulated in the international media.
– What is certain is that more Palestinians are now being arrested, and that the settlers are now proceeding brutally. There is a rage here, which can lead to revenge or retaliation, says Tuastad.
COMPLAINTS ABOUT PRISON CONDITIONS: Several Palestinian human rights organizations complain about the conditions in Israeli prisons. The Gilboa prison in northern Israel is shown here. Photo: REUTERS / Ammar Awad / NTB Show more
4,000 workers arrested
Around 4,000 of the Palestinians who have been arrested since October 7 are workers from Gaza who work daily in Israel, according to Al Jazeera.
Many of them were caught on the Israeli side of the border after the attack, says Lorentzen Sogge.
– Somewhere between 18,000 and 20,000 people from Gaza work in Israel daily. It is this type of people who are now being arrested after 7 October. A great many of them were probably on the Israeli side of the border when Hamas attacked.
He says some of those lucky enough to be released are at risk of being separated from their families, with no way back across the border.
– The Palestinian Authority claims that over 500 prisoners from Gaza must have been deported to the West Bank afterwards. Then they will be without passports, papers, or anything, and will have no possibility to get back to Gaza and their families. As far as I know there is no way to cross the border into Gaza now as it is completely closed.
Lorentzen Sogge expects that the number of Palestinian prisoners will rise in the future.
– In the West Bank, I think the number of Palestinians who are arrested will only increase, because the situation there is so inflamed now.
2023-10-24 00:42:32
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