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| PCHR Palestinian Centre for Human Rights PRESS RELEASE |
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Ref: 104/2005
Date: 11 September 2005
Time: 10:30 GMT
IOF Continue Trials of Palestinian Civilians in Ber al Saba Instead of Beit Hanoun
Last week, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) started to file bills of indictments against a number of Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip, who were arrested in the past two months, before Ber al-Saba (Beer Sheva) Court, inside Israel after they had closed the military court at the Beit Hanoun Checkpoint (Erez). This new measure coincides with the implementation of the unilateral Israeli “Disengagement Plan,” and strongly indicates that IOF will continue to arrest Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and bring them to Israeli courts.
According to information available to PCHR, IOF intend to file 200 bills of indictment against Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. They are also working to from a special team from the prosecution to pursue the cases of these Gazan detainees, which strongly indicates that they will keep the file of Gaza detainees open.
IOF established the military court in Erez in 1994 upon the implementation of the Oslo Accords and their redeployment in the Gaza Strip. In the past years, the court filed bills of indictment against thousands of Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip. Palestinian lawyers were not allowed to represent or defend these detainees. Detainees’ families were not also allowed to attend the court sessions. These measures came in the context of Israeli policies aimed at depriving Palestinian detainees of their basic rights.
The transfer of duties of Erez military court to Ber al-Saba court inside Israel means continuous deprivations of Gaza detainees of their legal and humanitarian rights, especially the rights of access to legal counsel and family attendance at courts.
Detention of Palestinians in Israeli jails has always been a violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. Israel’s intention to continued it official policy to arrest Palestinians and detain them in Israeli jails contradicts its claims that will end its legal responsibility for the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s humiliating arrest policy has escalated since the beginning of the current Intifada as IOF have waged campaigns of arbitrary arrests that have targeted thousands of Palestinians, including some who have been detained without any charge, under what is known as “administrative detention”. According to available statistics, at least 8000 Palestinians, including 650 Gazans, are currently detained in Israeli jails under severe conditions.
PCHR is deeply concerned at filing bills of indictments by Israel against Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip at Ber al-Saba court. PCHR asserts that this step is an indicator of Israeli intentions against the population of the Gaza Strip and the possibility of continuing to arrest Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and filing bills of indictments against them, which means that the file of Gazan detainees will remain open.
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