"Israel" Realizes It΄s Easy to Jail Palestinian without Trial

Source: Al-Manar TV, 03-12-2008

The supposedly legal procedure known as "administrative detention" is meant to save the "Israeli" security forces from having to reveal to the accused the evidence against them, and from having to face their attorneys in court.

For years it was customary for the commander of the "Israeli" occupation army in the occupied West Bank to peruse confidential material and sign an order for six months of administrative detention. In many cases, orders were extended over a number of years.

Even though the procedure is supposed to be used only in emergency cases, and even though the High Court of Justice repeatedly mentions the need to be meticulous about every point in this procedure that severely limits the right to freedom, there are nearly 600 Palestinians being held under administrative detention. So it is no surprise that the regional commander could not cope with the plethora of cases.

A brochure on the edicts, orders and appointments in West Bank from September reveals that GOC Central Command Gadi Shamni authorized six officers to issue administrative detention orders - the military adjutancy officer, the logistics officer, the intelligence officer, the munitions officer, the engineering corps officer and the medical officer.

Between signing a prescription and a medical certificate, the medical officer can also sign a detention order.
Dan Yakir, the legal adviser to the Association of Civil Rights in the Zionist entity, wrote to the legal adviser of the West Bank region, Col. Sharon Afek, that any order issued by these officials is invalid for two reasons.

First, even though the commander of the occupation army forces in the West Bank is the GOC Central Command, there is no institutional and legal link between these two positions.
This means the "Israeli" army commander in West Bank is not authorized to appoint officers who are not part of the army in West Bank.

Second - and most importantly - it is highly unreasonable to appoint someone to a position if he does not have operational responsibility for security in the area. This constitutes yet another low point regarding the intolerable ease with which detention orders are issued in the West Bank.
Dr. Yaakov Arad, who heads the emergency ward at Josephtal Hospital in Eilat, responded to an appeal from Doctors for Human Rights and sent a letter to the "Israeli" war minister.

The letter requested Ehud Barak to permit five sick people to leave the Gaza Strip to get emergency medical treatment, some of it lifesaving. They have been prevented for months from entering "Israel" by the authorities at the Erez crossing and the Shin Bet security service.
Arad wrote to the war minister that after thoroughly reviewing the cases he agreed with the conclusions of the "Israeli" medical experts, most of whom have excellent reputations. Arad added that in most cases the medical terminology played down the seriousness of the patients' condition.

In two cases, there is a clear and immediate threat to the patients' lives, he said. "I cannot imagine how any of them, as evil and base as they may be, can constitute a security threat of any kind in their present medical condition," Arad wrote. "The very act of refusal arouses in me feelings of anger and shame as a son of the Jewish people and a doctor," he added.