Day 65: Palestinian detainees continue boycott of Israeli military courts

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails continue their boycott of the Israeli military courts for the 65th consecutive day.

Nearly 450 detainees have been refusing to show up for their military court hearings since the beginning of the year, Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported on Sunday. 

The boycott includes the initial hearings to uphold the so-called administrative detention order, as well as appeal hearings and later sessions at Israel’s ‘supreme court.’

Under the banner, “Our decision is freedom… no to administrative detention,” hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have so far registered their protest against the controversial policy by refusing to show up for their military court hearings since January. Palestinian detainees say their move is a continuation of longstanding efforts "to put an end to the unjust administrative detention practiced against our people by the occupying forces."

In recent days, Palestinian detainees with chronic diseases in the Israeli prison of Ofer have been boycotting the prison clinics in protest against their unfair detention.

The detainees have already described the courts as a “barbaric, racist tool that has consumed hundreds of years from the lives of our people under the banner of administrative detention, through nominal and fictitious courts – the results of which are predetermined by the military commander of the region.”

Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in protest at Israel’s medical negligence

Palestinians at an Israeli detention center have gone on an open-ended hunger strike in protest at Israel

There are reportedly more than 7,000 Palestinians held at Israeli jails. Hundreds of the inmates have been apparently incarcerated under the administrative detention.

Critics say Israel uses the policy of administrative detention to silence the voice of Palestinians but lacks any concrete evidence that could be presented in an open, military court. Palestinians say administrative detention is a whole other level of injustice.

Rights groups say Israel’s use of administrative detention is a “bankrupt tactic.”

Palestinian inmates regularly stage hunger strikes in protest at both the administrative detention policy and harsh prison conditions.

Administrative inmates in Israeli jails say going on hunger strike is one of their few options to make their voice heard and force Tel Aviv to end the policy.

The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) keeps Palestinian prisoners under deplorable conditions lacking proper hygienic standards in Israeli jails. Palestinian inmates have also been subjected to systematic torture, harassment and repression all through the years of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

According to the Palestine Detainees Studies Center, around 60% of the Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails suffer from chronic diseases, a number of whom died in detention or after being released due to the severity of their cases.

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