Ref: 19/2023

Date: 21 February 2023

Time: 01:00 GMT

In a worst and unlawful precedent, the Israeli occupation authorities seized sums of money and gold jewelry from the homes of former and current Palestinian detainees from occupied East Jerusalem and froze their bank accounts. PCHR asserts that such action has never been taken by any Israeli government before, indicating the fascism and extremism adopted by the current Israeli government.

This precedent came after the Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant issued a decision on 10 February 2022 imposing penalties against current and former Palestinian detainees and their families. The decision included imposition of financial fines on dozens of Palestinian detainees, including detainees from occupied Jerusalem, and seizure of their private property under the pretext of receiving money from the Palestinian Authority (PA).

According to information gathered by PCHR’s fieldworker in Jerusalem, on Thursday, 16 February 2023, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) raided dozens of homes belonging to several former and current Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons in several neighborhoods and villages in occupied East Jerusalem, searched, and ransacked their contents and seized large sums of cash, gold jewelry and belongings, after handing their owners decisions of financial fines and freezing their bank accounts.

Over the course of several days in ‘Issawiya village, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, IOF raided 34 houses of former and current Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons and imposed high fines on them of around 2,772,000 shekels. IOF fined each of Moussa and Hakeem Derbas, Zeyad and Tareq Darweish, and Omran and Saed Dari with 78,000 shekels while they fined Fadi and Wafaa ‘Ateyya with 25,000 shekels and Mohammad Nasser and Lubna ‘Elyan 97,000 shekels.  Moreover, they fined Waleed and Nesreen  Elyan with 105,000 shekels. In addition, IOF fined Luay and ‘Ali Mohammad with 91,000 shekels, Ibrahim and ‘Abeer Derbas with 107,000, ‘Issa and ‘Ali Derbas with 34,000 shekels, and Tamer and Majda Malihat with 58,000. Meanwhile, Mohammad and Najma ‘Obaid were also fined with 114,000 shekels, and Mufeed and Yusufia ‘Obaid with 55,000 shekels. As for Sultan and Jinan Abu Al-Hummus, the Israeli authorities fined them with 131,000 shekels while they fined Mohammad Derbas with 87,000 shekels, Saleh Mohammad and Mohammad Mahmoud with 95,000 shekels, Ahmad and Nawal ‘Obaid with 139,000 shekels, and Nada Derbas with 83,000 shekels, as well as imposing a fine of 16,000 shekels on Mohammad and Majd Darwish.

Also, IOF raided dozens of houses in several neighborhoods and villages in occupied East Jerusalem, where they imposed fines on their owners and confiscated money and belongings. Among those was detainee Mohammed ‘Obidat, who was sentenced to 19 years in prison, as the Israeli authorities froze his back account and fined him with 300,00 shekels. Also, the Israeli authorities closed the bank account of the father of Palestinian detainee Bashar al-‘Obeidi, noting that he is serving a sentence of 9 years in prison. Additionally, the Israeli authorities confiscated money from the houses of two former detainees: Eman al-A’awar and Mohammed al-Ferawi and froze their bank accounts.

Moreover, IOF raided the houses of detainees Ahmed Manasrah, Mohammed ‘Arafat ‘Obeidat, ‘Obaid al-Taweel, and Jehad al-Zaghal, and seized money, gold jewelry and other belongings from their houses.

This measure directly and seriously affected the Palestinians, as former detainee Yaser Ahmed al-Baraghiti said to PCHR’s fieldwork that he was preparing himself to get married when IOF seized 190,000 shekels belonging to him and his father, forcing him to cancel his marriage plans as well due to his family’s poor living conditions.

Regarding the family of detainee Mohammed al-Ferawi, they said to PCHR’s fieldworker that they lost everything they owned after IOF seized 100,000 shekels from their house, which are their father’s retirement savings, leaving them in a very difficult economic situation.

PCHR affirms that what happened is a form of arbitrary and unlawful collective punishment, revealing decisions of a racist nature that extend to affect hundreds of families targeted within this campaign, including women and children.  This would hereby worsen the families’ living conditions and punish the detainee and his family twice: once by arrest, and the other by seizing their money.  These actions are part of the Israeli measures aiming to create a difficult environment that forces Palestinians to leave their homes and places of residence within under the forced displacement plans.

PCHR condemns the Israeli-imposed arbitrary and collective punishment measures and reminds of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention for the protection of civilian persons in time of war, which prohibits collective punishment and stipulates that “No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited.”

PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to fulfill their obligation under Common Article 1 of the Geneva Conventions to ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances. PCHR believes that the international community’s conspiracy of silence encourages Israel to commit further violations of international human rights and international humanitarian laws.