Abstract
This paper seeks to review and analyze the situation of Palestinian prisoners after October 7 by posing a central question: How did the events of October 7 affect Israeli policies towards prisoners? The answer to this question is based upon legal sources and reports. The paper argues that the repressive policies of Ben-Gvir were already being put in place before the events of October 7, events which the current Israeli government employed as a pretext to treat these prisoners with brutality and repress them. The paper is divided into two parts. Part I deals with the circumstances attendant upon the mounting attacks against prisoners prior to October 7 and Part II deals with instituting these attacks as a regular policy after October 7.
Introduction
As of February 1, 2024, there are some 8926 prisoners. Of these 2084 have received sentences, 2752 are arrested, 3484 are administratively detained and 606 are “Illegal fighters.” This last category is one that is not found in international law but is defined by Israeli law as “a person who takes part, directly or indirectly, in hostile acts against the State of Israel, or else is part of groups that conduct hostile acts against the State of Israel which do not satisfy the conditions granted to a prisoner of war in international humanitarian law.” The above figures do not include the workers from the Gaza Strip who legally resided in the territories occupied in 1948 before the start of the current war and are now detained after withdrawing their work permits.[1]
Following October 7, Israeli prisons witnessed a sharp decline in the confinement conditions of prisoners, based upon a system of regulations and instructions aimed at further measures of repression, resulting in the martyrdom of 11 prisoners[2] up until the present time of writing and due to systematic torture or medical neglect.
I. Mounting attacks against prisoners before October 7
It could be argued that the assaults on prisoners did not begin on October 7, for these have been a common occurrence ever since the start of the occupation, and prisoners have been subjected to grave violations of their basic rights. However, and since the Prisoners’ Movement intensified its struggle, which included numerous hunger strikes aimed at improving the conditions inside prisons, living conditions became less vicious. But despite this fact, prisoners were adversely affected by being targeted by Israeli decision makers. Thus, the assaults against them would intensify as security conditions became more tense but declined when relative calm was restored.
Dating the history of the Palestinian Prisoners’ movement as of 1967 does not mean there were no prisoner struggles before that date. That movement began to form since the start of detentions carried out by the British occupation authorities (the British Mandate) in Palestine in 1917. It then lasted throughout the course of Zionist settlement and the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. In treating its prisoners, Israel adopted the Emergency Regulations of 1945 which it inherited form the British occupation, based upon the use of prisons as means of punishing Palestinian nationalists by detaining them in very harsh conditions that barely complied with their basic human needs. The object was to break the spirit of prisoners to obtain their total subjection and to erode thir nationalist and human identity by a policy of nervous exhaustion, moral and material starvation, absolute denial of all constituents of a reasonable life, repression of nationalist feelings as well as security targeting, educational illiteracy and so forth.[3] However, with the mounting struggle by the prisoner movement and its resort to repeated hunger strikes (the so called “Battle of empty stomachs”) living conditions grew less brutal (see Appendix which lists the most important hunger strikes by prisoners).
The Shalit decisions
One may date the mounting Israeli onslaught on the living conditions of prisoners from that moment when the resistance in the Gaza Strip succeeded in capturing an Israeli soldier called Gilead Shalit in 2006 and held him for several years. Since that date, calls began to mount in Israeli society to use Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails to exert pressure on the resistance movement, whereby the daily lives of prisoners would be further restricted in the hope that this might bring pressure on that movement to speed up the drawing of an exchange deal or at least mitigate its provisions.
Moves began on the legislative level soon after Shalit was captured. Claims were made in Israeli quarters that Shalit did not enjoy the same rights as the Palestinian prisoners such as allowing him visits by the Red Cross. Accordingly, two bills were submitted to the 17th Knesset. In 2007, a bill was submitted which stated that the fact that the organization holding Israelis does not allow them visits permits the Minister of National Security to prevent visits to prisoners belonging to that organization, whether by the Red Cross or by a lawyer. A second bill was submitted in 2008 which explicitly forbade visits to members of organizations holding Israeli prisoners. However, in certain circumstances the Minister of National Security may permit such visits. Neither of these two bills were passed into law as the government was afraid that they violated international law.[4]
The circumstances and conditions of imprisonment for Palestinian security prisoners are regulated by Israeli law which is expressed in the regulations and instructions of the Israeli Prisons Authority, the SHABAS, as well as in the instructions issued by the Minister of National (Home) Security. These instructions deal with visits, money transfers and some matters to do with easing living conditions. Regarding visits, a family visit is allowed each fortnight for sentenced prisoners and a weekly visit to the detainees while visits by first degree relatives (father/mother/ sons/daughters/siblings) were to last 45 minutes. Three adult visitors are allowed accompanied by one child. The director of SHABAS or his deputy can forbid visits if convinced that such a visit endangers Israeli security. As for visits to prisoners by the Red Cross, these require approval by the Foreign, Justice and Army ministries. Where visits by lawyers are concerned, a detained prisoner has the right to a visit by a lawyer during the first ten days of detention but that visit can be postponed for security reasons while a sentenced prisoner is allowed a visit by his/her lawyer.[5]
In addition, a certain sum of money is allowed to be transferred to prisoners to enable them to buy food from the prison shop (Cantina), and prisoners are permitted to have radios and televisions. These constitute in sum the facilities granted by the Prisons Authority, but they can all be withdrawn or suspended at any time.[6]
But the desire to put pressure on the resistance movement overcame the fear of violating international law. This became clear in the decisions of the Israeli government announced on March 17, 2009, aimed at constricting the lives of prisoners in order to get HAMAS to free Shalit. These decisions included: (1) Forbidding family visits, (2) Forbidding visits by the Red Cross unless it also visits Shalit, (3) Forbidding transfers of money or clothes to prisoners by their families, (4) Forbidding all entertainment and media, (5) Forbidding visits by lawyers to the sentenced prisoners.[7]
The Ardan/Katabi Committee
Despite the fact that a prisoner exchange deal was concluded between the resistance movement and Israel in 2011, whereby the Israeli soldier Shalit was released, the debate regarding the living conditions of prisoners in Israeli jails became a subject of political grandstanding among Israeli politicians with the object of appearing to be “tough” and strict where national security was concerned. This was apparent when, in mid 2018, the Minister for Home Security Gilead Ardan announced the formation of a committee headed by former SHABAS director Shlomo Katabi which was tasked with drawing up new recommendations to do with tightening security measures and the conditions of detention of security prisoners “to the utmost degree allowed by law.” In this regard, the Minister stated: “Any person who plans on carrying out a ‘terrorist’ attack for religious or nationalist motives must know that he will pay with his life for this or else spend many long years in prison.” He alleged that some Palestinian prisoners deliberately sought death or imprisonment through carrying out a self-sacrificing action in order to escape family or financial difficulty. The committee would accordingly work on constricting the facilities granted to prisoners so that prison life stops being easy.[8] Ardan instructed the Prisons Authority to redefine the aims of imprisoning security prisoners whereby the principal aim would be to instill in these prisoners a deterrent that deters them from returning to prison.[9]
The recommendations of the Ardan/Katabi Committee included an end to what it called “autonomy” in prisons, whereby prisoners were held in various areas of prison according to political affiliations. Thus, HAMAS prisoners should not be in a separate wing from that of FATH prisoners. All wings should be mixed so that prisoners cannot act collectively in the face of SHABAS and the treatment of prisoners should be on an individual basis as far as possible. This should be accompanied by cancelling the post of “Prisoners’ Spokesperson”, or dobir. As for the sums of money deposited for prisoners, there should be a severe reduction in sums allowed to be deposited, while no cooking should be allowed inside the wings. Basic food is to be supplied by the SHABAS alone and water consumption should be reduced by reducing the times in which it may be used.[10]
The recommendations of the Ardan/Katabi Committee remained stillborn and were not sanctioned by the government and the Home Security Department, the SHABAK. Ardan stated, soon after the formation of a committee of investigation in the wake of six prisoners escaping from Gilboa Prison in 2021, that SHABAK had foiled the recommendations of the Committee by presenting to Prime Minister Netanyahu horror scenarios that threaten security. SHABAK, he claimed, fears a violent breakdown in security, preferring that the government should accede to the political movements inside prisons and not in Gaza or the West Bank.[11]
II. The systematic attack on prisoners (the conditions of prisoners after October 7)
Once Itamar Ben Gvir became Minister of National Security, he set himself several objectives published as a pamphlet by his Ministry under the title The Policies of the Minister of National Security 2023-2024. As regards security prisoners, the fifth objective stated that “the degree of punishment, imprisonment and rehabilitation should be improved in order to forestall any incidents.” To achieve that objective several measures are to be put in place, the most salient being to strengthen the authority of the prison regime as regards security prisoners and to prevent “terrorism” through curtailing the facilities granted to prisoners and implementing the recommendations of the 2018 Ardan/Katabi Committee.[12] Once again, however, Netanyahu and the security apparatus opposed restricting the lives of prisoners, fearing a breakdown of security. Netanyahu then ordered a postponement of the Ben Gvir decisions[13] when the Prisoners’ Movement threatened an open hunger strike to counter the Ben Gvir measures.
Ben Gvir’s instructions to constrict the prisoners’ lives were postponed but not cancelled. From October 7, all objections to constricting their lives or practicing violence against them fell away. This was accompanied by a hysterical Israeli media campaign which went as far as comparing the lives of the prisoners to existence in a 5-star hotel.[14] These and other factors were instrumental in the incremental constriction of prisoners’ lives by passing a number of laws and regulations.
The laws amended
Several amendments to the laws dealing with prisoners were passed after October 7. As regards the Gaza detainees, the Knesset passed an amendment to the law of illegal fighters of 2002, while for security prisoners from the West Bank, Jerusalem and the territories occupied in 1948, amendments were passed to the law regulating the Prisons Authority (Detention in Emergencies) (Temporary Law/Iron Swords) (2023).[15]
Of note is the fact that the Gaza detainees after October 7, described as “illegal fighters,” are directly subject to the army and not to the Prisons Authority since Israel forbids any contact with them by the Red Cross or by lawyers, and does not publish their names or circumstances of detention. When brought before a judge, this is done with no lawyer present and through video link conference. Israel coined the expression “Illegal fighters” in order to circumvent defining them as prisoners of war and to rid itself of the responsibility to protect the rights of detainees, whether civilians or fighters, thereby violating the just legal procedures.[16]
As regards detainees from the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Palestinian hinterland, a policy of “minimum limit” has been adopted. Thus, on October 17, 2023, SHABAS declared a state of emergency inside prisons and the General Directorate of Prisons affirmed that “living conditions for those classified as security prisoners shall be constricted” and that “what prevailed earlier in security prisons will no longer obtain,” in allusion to these constrictions. The new regulations included: constricting living spaces; removing detainees beds when necessary and replacing them with mattresses on the floor, leading to overcrowding; a policy of “closures” whereby prison cells are locked and total isolation is imposed; closing prisons to all family visits or visits by the Red Cross or by lawyers, and rescinding the possibility of bringing detainees before judges so that all judicial sessions are conducted through video conference. These and other measures have made it impossible to know what is happening inside prisons.[17]
Furthermore, SHABAS has withdrawn all privileges acquired by prisoners across the years. The Cantinas were closed so making it impossible to purchase food. Prisoners’ personal belongings have been confiscated and electricity for them has been cut off. For example, at the Nafha Prison, rooms are lit for about one hour each day, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. All electrical equipment has been withdrawn and access to the prison yards has been denied. Bathing times have been limited plus other similar measures of repression.[18]
Systemic violations and a policy of revenge
Reports by certain legal organizations reveal the existence of systemic violations of prisoners’ rights through acts of violence and torture such as hand cuffs, bandages over eyes for many hours, body beatings, stubbing out cigarettes on prisoners’ necks and backs, soldiers urinating on them and using electric shocks on them, spitting inside their mouths, denying them sleep, denying them access to toilets and so forcing them to urinate in their clothes.[19] All this in addition to sexual insults, verbal abuse, stripping them naked, sexual harassment, genital beatings, uninterrupted slurs, forcing them to kiss the Israeli flag and to recite the Israeli national anthem (the Hatikva), vicious treatment, and denial of water and electricity. In addition, prisoners have been denied access to medical care and permission to leave prison to receive treatment in hospitals has been withdrawn, together with irregular administration of needed medicines, and lack of medical exams and of any follow-up by prison doctors.[20] To all this is added the shortage of food and its inferior quality, resulting in loss of weight among prisoners and loss of immunity against disease due to malnutrition.
Conclusion
Palestinian prisoners have long been the target of successive Israeli governments aimed at creating a climate of deterrence. However the sensitive security situation and the fear of a violent breakdown due to the central status that prisoners enjoy among the Palestinian people have thus far prevented the excessive repression and restriction of prisoners. But the events of October 7 offered Ben Gvir and the Prisons Authority the motive and concealment they needed to carry out a policy of torture and violence against prisoners in the hope of deterring them and to exercise revenge upon them.
Appendix
A list showing the major strikes of the Prisoners’ Movement inside Israeli jails since 1967[21]
|
Name |
Date |
Duration in Days |
Major Demands |
Result |
|
Ramla Prison strike |
18/02/1969 |
11 |
Improving the quality and quantity of food; allowing stationery; refusal to call prison guards “Ready, Sir!”; refusing the regulation preventing more than two prisoners to meet in the yard, and lengthening the time allowed to walk in the yard (fawra) |
The prisoners were repressed, placed in isolation, and subjected to humiliations.
|
|
Kfar Yonah Prison strike |
18/02/1969 |
8 |
Changing the “gummy”, a thin plastic sheet on which a prisoner sleeps; improving the quality and quantity of food; allowing stationery; refusal to call prison guards “Ready, Sir !” |
A small quantity of stationery is allowed to write letters to families, and cancelling the word “Sir” |
|
Strike by women prisoners in the Neve Tarasta jail |
28/04/1970 |
9 |
Improving prisoners’ lives |
Improvement in air quality; extending hours spent in the yard; allowing some needed female items through the Red Cross |
|
The `Asqalan prison strike |
05/07/1970 |
7 |
Allowing stationery and clothes from families |
Expanding time spent in the prison yard/ The Prisons Authority, having promised to meet all these demands, later reneged on their promise |
|
The `Asqalan prison strike |
13/09/1970 |
24 |
Improving quality of life |
- |
|
Open hunger strike in all prisons |
11/12/1976 |
45 |
Improving quality of life |
The authorities allowed stationery for correspondence with families; improvement in quantity and quality of food; replacing threadbare “gummys” |
|
Open strike |
24/02/1977 |
20 |
Continuation of previous strike when the prison authorities reneged on some earlier promises given to prisoners, so the prisoners decided to resume their hunger strike |
- |
|
The Nafha Prison strike (in coordination with the `Asqalan and Bi’r al-Sab` prisoners) |
14/07/1980 |
32 |
Improving quality of life |
The authorities resorted to force feeding and inserting plastic tubes to reach stomachs through the nose. The following prisoners were martyred as a result: Rasim Halawa, Ishaq Maragha and Anis Dawla. As a result, the Keet Committee was formed by the occupation regime which examined the conditions of detention, especially in the Nafha Prison, and recommended allowing in some beds, enlarging cell and yard spaces, and removing the iron sheets from the door casings and replacing them with nets. Matters continued to improve, the number of cells were reduced, photographic albums and stationery were permitted, and beds were gradually introduced in all prisons |
|
The Janid Prison strike |
Septembre 1984 |
13 |
Improving quality of life |
This strike has been considered a strategic turning point in the history of the Palestinian struggle movement. Several advancements were achieved, including the right to radio and television, as well as wearing civilian clothes, improvement in food quality and healthcare, admission of sheets and nightwear provided by families, obtaining headphones and cassette players, and finally an increase in the allowed canteen amount.
|
|
The Janid Prison strike |
25/03/1987 |
20 |
Recovering withdrawn accomplishments of earlier strikes such as preventing prisoners from receiving clothes supplied by their families; forbidding them from visiting other cells; curtailing periods of walks in the yard; reducing food quantities; vicious treatment of prisoners |
This strike ended without achieving any substantial aims and with mere promises by the Prisons Authority, never fulfilled |
|
Solidarity strike |
23/01/1988 |
1 |
This was a strike in solidarity and coordination with the strikes of the unified command of the Palestinian Intifada against Israeli occupation |
- |
|
Nafha Prison strike |
23/06/1991 |
17 |
A strike that was concurrent with the First Gulf War and the emergency conditions imposed on prisons and the refusal of the Prisons Authority to restore the pre-strike status quo |
The strike ended when a committee of Gazan lawyers mediated the dispute receiving mere promises from the Prisons Authority that the lawyers undertook would be fulfilled but none were in fact fulfilled |
|
Open and total strike in all prisons |
25/09/1992 |
18 |
Improving quality of life |
A major success for prisoners when many needed improvements were introduced such as closing the solitary wing in Ramla prison; stopping naked body searches; resumption of visits and lengthening visiting hours by families; permitting private visits; permitting cooking utensils in the cells of women prisoners; buying tinned food and soft drinks and increasing the items that can be bought in the Cantinas |
|
Open and total strike in all prisons |
June 1994 |
3 |
The strike followed the Cairo Agreement (The Gaza-Jericho First) in protest against the manner in which the clause in that Agreement, dealing with the release of 5,000 prisoners, was implemented |
- |
|
Open and total strike |
18/06/1995 |
18 |
Raising the political issue of prisoners and their release before the start of the Taba negotiations |
- |
|
The `Asqalan Prison strike |
1996 |
18 |
Improving living conditions |
The strike ended when the Prisons Authority promised to improve living conditions, chiefly giving each prisoner a sponge mattress. But the Prisons Authority reneged on their promise so the prisoners were forced to resume their strike until that Authority gave in, brought these mattresses and introduced some improvements in living conditions |
|
Open and total strike |
05/12/1998 |
- |
To protest the release by Israel of 150 imprisoned criminals within a deal that included the release of 750 prisoners in accordance with the Wye River Accords |
- |
|
Open and total strike |
01/05/2000 |
30 |
To protest against the policy of isolation and naked body searches as well as the humiliating conditions imposed on family visits. During this strike a slogan was raised: The release of prisoners as one outcome of the peace process |
The Prisons Authority declared that it would accommodate matters of a humanitarian nature but not matters related to security. Officials from SHABAK negotiated these matters with the prisoners and a condition was imposed prisoners that no actions of a military nature would be pursued on the outside from inside prison walls. Some success was achieved and agreed upon, such as the immediate release of prisoners in isolation, stopping naked body searches, a promise to solve the issue of public telephones, and studying at the Arab Open University in a few months. None of these promises were kept and the al-Aqsa Intifada began a few months later, so the Prisons Authority and the SHABAK reneged on their promises. |
|
Strike by women prisoners in the Neve Tarasta jail |
26/01/2001 |
8 |
Improving living conditions |
- |
|
Open and total strike |
June 2004 |
19 |
To stop attacks on prisoners and to protest the cancellation of prior gains |
The strike achieved some simple goals and the most recent measures which led to the strike were stopped |
|
Open and total strike |
15/08/2004 |
18 |
Improving living conditions |
The strike failed to achieve any real results |
|
The Shatta Prison strike |
10/07/2006 |
6 |
To protest the humiliating search of families during visits; improve living conditions and especially sudden searches at night |
- |
|
Open and total strike |
17/04/2012 |
28 |
To protest the Shalit Law and the punishments attached thereto |
Cancelling solitary confinement; reducing administrative detention; allowing visits to Gazan prisoners; rescinding the Shalit Law |
[1] "الأسرى الأمنيين في السجون الإسرائيلية"، مركز حقوق الفرد "هموكيد"، 1/2/2024.
[2] "الحادي عشر منذ بدء العدوان: استشهاد المعتقل المريض بالسرطان عاصف الرفاعي من كفر عين برام الله"، وكالة "وفا"، 29/2/2024.
[3] رأفت حمدونة، "الحركة الأسيرة النشأة والتطور"، هيئة شؤون الأسرى والمحررين، 29/5/2019.
[4] موقع الكنيست الإسرائيلي، "الأسرى الأمنيين في السجون في إسرائيل" (بالعبرية)، 18/5/2009، ص 7.
[5] المصدر نفسه، ص 4، 5.
[6] المصدر نفسه، ص 6، 7.
[7] المصدر نفسه، ص 8.
[8] وزارة الأمن القومي، "الوزير إردان أمر بتشكيل لجنة عامة لفحص ظروف اعتقال السجناء الأمنيين" (بالعبرية)، 13/6/2018.
[9] وزارة الأمن القومي، "إلغاء الحكم الذاتي للسجناء الأمنيين" (بالعبرية)، 2/1/2019.
[10] المصدر نفسه.
[11] "أردان ضد الشاباك: ʾقدم سيناريوهات الرعب، ومنع الإضرار بأوضاع الأسرى الأمنيينʿ" (بالعبرية)، موقع "واي نت"، 2/2/2022.
[12] وزارة الأمن القومي، "سياسات وزير الأمن القومي 2023-2024" (بالعبرية)، 21/5/2023.
[13] "نتنياهو يؤجل القرار بشأن التشديد في أوضاع الأسرى الأمنيين ʾإلى ما بعد الأعيادʿ" (بالعبرية)، "هآرتس"، 10/9/2023.
[14] "هكذا سمحنا للإرهابيين بتحويل سجوننا إلى فنادق خمس نجوم" (بالعبرية)، "معاريف"، 11/10/2023.
[15] جنان عبده، "يحدث الآن في سجون إسرائيل: اختفاء قسري وتنكيل وموت أسرى فلسطينيين!"، مركز مدار، 29/1/2024.
[16] المصدر نفسه.
[17] المصدر نفسه.
[18] المصدر نفسه.
[19] المصدر نفسه.
[20] "انتهاك ممنهج لحقوق الإنسان: وضع الفلسطينيين في السجون الإسرائيلية منذ 7/10/2024"، منظمة أطباء لحقوق الإنسان، شباط/ فبراير 2024.
[21] الجدول من إعداد الباحث. هيئة شؤون الأسرى والمحررين، "تاريخ الإضرابات الجماعية عن الطعام في سجون الاحتلال"، 28/5/2019.