- A recorded one million arrests have been made since the start of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands since 1948
- Today, approximately 6,500 prisoners are incarcerated in Israeli jails, including 56 female prisoners, which also includes 13 minor girls. Occupation authorities hold prisoners in 24 prisons and detention centers.
- There are around 300 children and minors in Israeli jails, distributed between the Megiddo, Ofer and Hasharon prisons.
- Veteran prisoners: This a term used for prisoners who have spent over 20 years in incarceration. There are 44 Palestinian veteran prisoners, including 29 who have been in jail prior to the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
- The oldest-serving prisoners are Karim and Maher Younis from the 1948 territories, who have been in jail since January, 1983. There is also Nael Barghouthi, who has spent the longest period in Israeli jails, over 36 years, including 34 consecutive years and over two years more after Israeli authorities re-arrested him in 2014. At the time, Barghouthi was released during the Shalit prisoner swap before being re-arrested.
- There are around 500 administrative detainees currently in Israeli jails.
- Israeli occupation authorities have arrested 13 PLC members, the longest serving member being Marwan Barghouthi, who was arrested in 2002 and is serving five life sentences. There is also Ahmad Saadat, who was arrested in 2006 and is serving a 30-year sentence. Since the beginning of 2017, Israeli authorities have arrested six PLC members.
- Sick and wounded prisoners: There are hundreds of sick prisoners inside Israeli jails including 20 prisoners in the Ramleh Prison Clinic. One prisoner is Mansour Muqada from the Salfeet district who is serving a 30-year sentence.
- Prisoner martyrs: These are prisoners who were killed while being arrested by the Israeli army and also prisoners who died while incarcerated as a result of intentional medical negligence, torture or mistreatment. These total 210 cases.
- Since the start of the Aqsa Intifada on September 28, 2000, official and human rights institutions recorded approximately 10,000 cases of arrest, including 15,000 children under the age of 18, 1,500 women and around 70 former PLC members and ministers. Israeli authorities also issued 27,000 administrative detention orders. Since October, 2015, Israeli authorities have arrested 10,000 Palestinians, one-third of whom are from Jerusalem.
- Most prominent violations and methods of abuse used against children: night arrests, severe beatings in front of their parents, being shot during their arrest, handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded, delays in informing them of their right to legal aid, etc. There has been an increase in the number of wounded children while, since October, 2015, Israeli occupation forces have escalated incidents of opening fire at children during their arrest therefore causing injuries and physical disabilities, some of them permanent.
- The Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Commission has documented over 120 Knesset bills against Palestinian prisoners and more than 30 laws that are in the various stages of legislation.
- A total of 13 bills have been submitted against prisoners in the Israeli Knesset since 2015, many of which were ratified, including the law to force feed prisoners on hunger strike, which is one of the most dangerous laws that threaten prisoners’ lives. Moreover, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Medical Association, this is considered a form of torture and an unethical procedure that contravenes with professional medical conventions.
- One of these laws stipulated handing down higher sentences to children who throw stones. The law stipulates that a prison sentence of up to 10 years may be handed down to rock throwers even without a clear intention to cause harm. This law has been described as criminal and is divided into two: the first is a sentence of up to 10 years for rock-throwers even without ill intent, while the second is the crime of throwing rocks with the intention to kill, the maximum sentence for which is 20 years.
- Another is the law to raise the minimum punishment for rock-throwers in Jerusalem. This law sets the minimum at a prison sentence of two-four years, a revocation of national insurance allocations from the Jerusalemite family and forcing them to pay compensation to Israelis harmed in the incident. A current bill would lead to the indictment of the individual in question with a conviction of incitement without any actual proof of this charge. This has been considered an impingement on the freedom of expression and protest, especially for social media activists.
- The law allowing body searches without suspicion gives Israeli police the green light to conduct body searches at a whim. There is also a law allowing the trial and imprisonment of children under 14 years of age. The law stipulates that the court can try children as young as 12 but that an actual prison sentence can only begin after they reach 14 years of age, thereby setting the age of criminal responsibility at 12. A child can be arrested and interrogated and then after he/she is convicted they are sent to a closed juvenile rehabilitation center until they turn 14.
- The ‘exemption law’ exempts Israeli intelligence and police from having to conduct any audio or visual documentation of the investigation process
- Israeli criminal law is applicable in the occupied territories for settlers, which stipulates the replacement of the status quo with the application of Israeli law in the West Bank. This is all to the benefit of settlers in the West Bank so there is no ‘discrimination’ between them and the rest of the Israeli population.
- Execution of prisoners: A bill for the execution of settlers stipulates that Palestinian prisoners should be put to death under the pretext of their conviction for killing Israelis. The bill was presented by a Yisrael Beiteinu Knesset member.
- Bill to convict Palestinians without suspicion. The law allows the court to convict an individual even if there are no witnesses or without Israeli security services bringing them in. The anti-terror law is aimed at meting out severe punishment for those involved in resisting the occupation, whereby a prison sentence of 25 years can be handed down to the head of any Palestinian organization and 15 years for any person with an administrative or leadership position in that organization. The law also stipulates that the parole committee cannot submit a recommendation to the President to reduce a life sentence until 15 years after their arrest.
- The Israeli civil courts law recognizes military court rulings in the West Bank as an acceptable tool in procedures in civil courts in order to facilitate for Israeli settles to demand compensation through these courts.
- The bill to deprive prisoners of education: this law stipulates that a Palestinian political [security] prisoner does not have the right to study in higher education institutions. The bill calls for an amendment of prison regulations so as not to grant prisoners the opportunity to receive an education.
- The bill to withhold a portion of the PA’s financial revenues; this stipulates the withholding of part of the revenues equal to the size of allocations paid to the families of prisoner and martyrs.
Factsheet - Fair Tax Monitor 2019-2024
Date posted: February 20, 2025
By MIFTAH
Introduction
The tax system is a financial and economic policy tool through which society's goals and objectives are realized based on its intellectual philosophy and ideology. Thus, the tax system is based on certain economic, social, and political pillars and foundations that differ from one society to another, from one country to another, and in the same country from one stage to another. Taxation has become not only a source of revenue for the state, but also a social and economic function, in addition to its traditional financial function, by becoming one of the economic tools through which economic development can be achieved, addressing inflation and stagnation, redistributing incomes, and raising the standard of living of citizens to advance the national economy in general .
The analytical review of the philosophy of tax systems shows that it is based on social, financial, and economic foundations. Its social function is to redistribute wealth to ensure social justice in the state, and to use tax revenues to achieve social stability and provide social services, and social protection for marginalized, vulnerable, and poor groups. Its financial function is to secure revenues for the state treasury to cover public expenditures, while its economic function is represented by the fact that it is a major tool of the state's fiscal policy, which it uses in order to stimulate economic growth, reduce inflation levels, protect the national economy, or stimulate some economic sectors, by imposing certain taxes, tax cuts, and others.
Based on these foundations and principles, the Palestinian tax system must achieve the philosophy of taxation by maximizing revenues, protecting the national economy, and, most importantly, achieving and enforcing social justice for all social groups . And responding to gender issues.
In 2024, the FairTax Monitor-FTM in the Palestinian Territories was updated, complementing the previous monitor’s data, which was published in 2018. The current update focuses on the years 2019-2024 and presents a set of conclusions and facts, the most important of which are:
To view the Full Factsheet as PDF
Factsheet on the status of Palestinian digital rights for CSOs and consequences of the genocide
Date posted: January 15, 2025
By MIFTAH
As part of its work in the field of public and digital diplomacy to expand global communication outreach in support of the Palestinian cause, MIFTAH conducted an assessment survey on the cognitive capabilities of civil society organizations (CSO) in the West Bank, including Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, on digital rights and its implementation.
This survey reflects the complex reality of digital rights in occupied Palestine and assesses how prepared CSOs are in dealing with growing digital challenges, especially after the 2023 genocide. The survey sheds light on the gaps in digital knowledge and the infrastructure for digital security, which is a particular challenge, hampering the ability of institutions to protect their data and effectively carry out their role.
The survey is based on the descriptive methodology, including questionnaires from 55 institutions in the West Bank (including Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, in addition to in-depth interviews with six digital rights, women’s and other institutions working in the Gaza Strip. The qualitative data was analyzed using advanced tools such as Nvivo and SPSS.
Overview
According to the outcomes of the survey, CSOs target various sectors, with women being the most targeted sector at 43.6%, followed by children, at 16.4%, the elderly at 12.7% and youth at 10.9%. Meanwhile, persons with disabilities were targeted at 9.1% and media persons at 7.3%. Furthermore, the results of the survey showed that 34.5% of CSOs target all sectors indiscriminately, thus reflecting the comprehensiveness of the sample.
The scope of the work of Palestinian institutions is distributed within the districts as follows: Ramallah, at 50.9% of institutions, Hebron, at 40%, Jerusalem at 34.5% and Nablus at 38.2%. It also extends to the Bethlehem, Jenin, Tulkarm and Salfeet governorates at 29.1% each and the northern Jordan Valley at 32.7%, Jericho and the Jordan Valley at 27.3% and Qalqilya at 25.5%.
In the Gaza Strip, the work of CSOs in northern Gaza stood at 40%, Khan Younis at 29.1% Gaza City at 40%, Rafah at 25.5% and Deir Al Balah at 27.3%.
The locations of Palestinian CSO included in the survey were distributed among cities, camps and villages, with the majority of CSOs concentrated in cities, at 74.5%. Villages were the headquarters of 16.4% of the institutions while only 9.1% were based on camps. This distribution reflects the urban concentration of CSOs and highlights the need for increased presence in rural areas and in camps, to promote inclusiveness and access to marginalized and vulnerable sectors.
The size of Palestinian CSOs participating in this survey varied in terms of the number of employees. The survey showed that 27.3% of institutions include from one to 10 employees, while 16.4% have 11 to 15 employees. The largest majority of CSOs, 41.8% had between 16 and 30 employees while only 14.5% of institutions had over 31 employees. This distribution reflects the variety in size of CSOs, with most institutions either small or medium size, which is compatible with the survey sample.
To view the full Factsheet as PDF
Sexual violence as a weapon of genocide
Date posted: October 09, 2024
By MIFTAH
Background
Since the beginning of its illegal occupation in 1967, Israel has detained over 1 million Palestinians, who are tried in Israeli military courts with a conviction rate close to 100%. Israel also detains Palestinians with no charge or trial for an indefinite period under so-called “administrative detention”. This policy of mass arbitrary arrest is one of the tools used to maintain Israel's illegal occupation, apartheid regime and settler-colonial project.
To date, over 10,400 Palestinians have been arbitrarily arrested since October, 2023. The conditions of Palestinian prisoners have significantly deteriorated since the beginning of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, and imprisoned Palestinians are being subjected to torture, starvation, violent cell raids, including with tear gas, deliberate medical negligence, denial of food, water, sanitary pads and sanitation, as well as denial of lawyers and family visits.
Despite the absolute prohibition of torture and ill-treatment under international law, Israeli occupation forces and prison authorities employ various torture and ill-treatment techniques against almost all Palestinian political prisoners and detainees, including women and children, leaving grave physical and psychological damage. Israeli prison authorities, occupation forces and interrogators feel emboldened to commit such acts of torture with full impunity, knowing that neither the complicit Israeli legal system nor the international community will hold them accountable.
While sexual violence against Palestinian women and men has long been a tactic of torture at Israeli military checkpoints, during raids on their own homes and inside prisons, it has rapidly increased since the start of the genocide in Gaza. Palestinian women are often hesitant to share such stories, in fear of the associated social stigma, something which Israel exploits, and also due to the belief that Israel’s crimes will go unpunished.
Access the full factsheet here.
