As the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic surpasses five million confirmed cases globally, there is a grave concern of the spread of the virus within Palestinian territory. As of 27 May 2020, there have been 614 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the occupied Palestinian territory, with 5 deaths in Gaza and the West Bank. These numbers, however, may reflect the lack of testing ability in the region. The occupied Palestinian territories which have faced decades of political deadlock, violence, restrictions to movement and thus adequate healthcare, are automatically at risk of becoming a breeding ground for the novel virus, threatening to make an already critical situation worse.
Human rights experts have appealed to Israel to comply with its legal responsibilities, to ensure that Palestinian prisoners, including children, held in Israeli prisons receive the necessary health protections and services in a non-discriminatory manner. There have also been international calls for the release of vulnerable Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, to help curb the threat of the coronavirus spreading between detainees.
PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS IN ISRAELI PRISONS
Following the annual Palestinian Prisoners Day on 17 April 2020, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been called upon by human rights organisations to aid the release of prisoners who are most vulnerable to the virus. At present, there are 5,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, 700 of whom are sick. So far, 4 Palestinian prisoners have tested positive for COVID-19, a number which is expected to increase rapidly. Prisoners are made to live in cramped cells, increasing the threat to their health.
There has been no implementation of the Supreme Court Ruling of 2017 to ensure a minimum spatial area of 4.5 square metres for per person in prisons. In this overcrowded environment prisoners physically cannot exercise the Health Ministry’s guidelines of practicing social distancing from one another. Prisoners also lack the required hygiene and cleaning equipment which results in creating a perfect environment for the coronavirus to thrive.
Previously, in early 2019, the Israeli Minister of Public Security, Gilad Erdan, vowed to ‘worsen’ the conditions for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons in order to fulfil a ‘moral duty’. This included stopping family visits for prisoners who were affiliated with Hamas, revoking cooking rights for prisoners, limiting television access, imposing ‘clear limits’ on the amount of water a prisoner could drink each day, as well as limiting how often they could shower.
Palestinians in Israeli prisons have little to nothing to protect themselves from the virus, along with also having to protect themselves from the brutalities of Israeli officials. Negligence continues toward Palestinians as prisoner demands are being ignored. Products for hygiene and cleaning equipment to sanitise cells and bathrooms are being banned, Israeli authorities have imposed new limits on buying vegetables and there are now total prohibitions on buying meat and fish - all important for health.
Prisoners also asked to be provided with adequate protective gear including masks, gloves and cleaning equipment. The Israeli Prison Service response was to “use your socks to make masks, and your soap to disinfect your cells” -both socks and soap were items that had been banned for Palestinian prisoners. This has not only made it impossible for Palestinian detainees to physically protect themselves against the virus, it is also an attempt to further provoke the psychological harm Palestinian prisoners already face. The sheer disregard for Palestinian prisoners’ safety is highlighted when prisoners in Megiddo Prison had requested that all prisoners be tested for the virus, which came after 4 prisoners were tested positive for COVID-19.
PALESTINIAN MINORS IN ISRAELI PRISONS
Israel is notorious for being the only country that systematically detains and prosecutes children in military courts, where they lack fundamental protections which are nonetheless afforded to Israeli children. In fact, since the inception of the Israeli occupation in 1967, Israel had introduced military law for its Palestinian civilians, which starkly contrasted with the rules for Israeli settlers who would live under civil and criminal law. International law states that minors should only be detained as a measure of last resort, however, figures showed that at the end of March 2020, 194 Palestinian children were detained in Israeli state prisons. This included children being held in pre-trial detention.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which Israel ratified in 1991, required the occupying state to implement all rights and protections which included maintaining the best interests of the child as primary consideration in all decisions where they are concerned Yet, UNICEF reports that physical and psychological violence remains ‘widespread, systematic and institutionalised throughout the process’.
Ayed Abu Eqtaish, Accountability Program Director at the Defence for Children International Palestine (DCIP), stated that ‘there is no way Israeli prison authorities can ensure the health and well-being of Palestinian child detainees as long as they continue to be in a custodial detention setting’. The DCIP has called for Israeli authorities to immediately release all child detainees held in Israeli prisons.
SARSOUR’S CASE
19 year-old Nourddine Sarsour tested positive for COVID-19 after his release from an Israeli prison on 31 March 2020. Sarsour had undergone blood tests and a throat swab during his two-week detention, where he was not informed of his test results. He stated he noticed something wrong when he saw the prison manager wearing an ‘anti-static uniform with a face mask’ and speaking to him ‘standing about three metres away’. He further highlighted that his main fear was having mixed with roughly ‘30 to 70 prisoners while staying in Ofer prison’ and that the authorities ignored requests for precautions such as placing new detainees in a 14-day quarantine before allowing them to associate with other prisoners.
Head of the media unit for the Commission of Detainees and Ex-detainees’ Affairs, Thaer Shretieh, sought to investigate Sarsour’s case and called upon prison authorities to implement stricter measures. He stated that Israeli officers ‘denied that the prisoner was infected inside their prisons’, but confirmed that ‘three guards at Ofer prison and al-Ramleh prison tested positive for coronavirus’.
AN ONGOING BATTLE?
The Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association reported that there is a pressing concern that due to the current pandemic, measures are being put in place which not only increase susceptibility of prisoners to the novel virus, but also have been enforced using the current climate to further isolate these Palestinian prisoners, including children, from the rest of the world.
The restrictive measures brought upon during the pandemic such as halting family and lawyer visits for Palestinian prisoners are feared to continue once the virus settles in the region. From 2 April 2020, child detainees were limited to a 15-minute phone call every fortnight with a family member. This would, no doubt, be monitored, under the surveillance of a member of the Israeli Prison Service. Close contact with Israeli prison guards not in protective gear also poses a heightened risk for Palestinian prisoners contracting and spreading the virus as 3 Israeli guards were officially tested positive for COVID-19.
The outright denial for face-to-face family or lawyer visits, with scarce to zero video conferences, limits the opportunity to provide detainees with adequate legal counsel and creates problems in accessing clients. This makes it increasingly difficult to report on the quality of the environment in which prisoners are held and greatly limits any exposure as to how many Palestinian prisoners may have symptoms or could be susceptible to the coronavirus. The restrictions in communication extends to Palestinian detainees who are currently held in interrogation, who are only allowed a phone or video call during court sessions. These court sessions however are conducted through virtual means as of 5 April 2020, which therefore do not pose a health risk to prisoners.
On 24 March 2020, the military commander had issued an order relating to ‘arrests of suspects despite having a barrier against conducting interrogations due to COVID-19’. This essentially allows the military judge to extend the detention period of any prisoner under interrogation despite there being a barrier against it, directly increasing the likelihood of coming into contact with the virus and posing a health risk to the detainee.
Furthermore, Israeli authorities have also postponed trial proceedings in military courts for Palestinian prisoners, causing further delay and disruption, violating fundamental rights to liberty for a person and the right to a fair and speedy trial.
The main concern is that these changes and restrictions which have been implemented, currently justified as measures required to contain the spread of the virus, will be prolonged and will continue after the virus has run its course, resulting in keeping Palestinian prisoners isolated from the rest of the world in environments where their health is at detrimental risk.
CALLS FOR RELEASE
UN experts have called for the release of prisoners around the world. On 25 March 2020, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet highlighted that ‘now, more than ever, governments should release every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners and other detained simply for expressing critical or dissenting views’. The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture has also encouraged governments to consider releasing low-risk offenders, to review all cases of pre-trial detention and to extend bail for less serious cases where possible.
The Head of the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, Qadri Abu Baker, called upon the United Nations to increase pressure on Israel to release Palestinian detainees to avoid an outbreak of COVID-19 in prisons and thus many deaths. He stated that the Israeli government planned to release over 500 Israeli criminal prisoners to lessen the crowded environment in prisons during this pandemic, however ignored the Palestinian detainees which includes 700 sick prisoners, 200 children and many women and elderly. Abu Baker calls on the UN to demand the release of the most vulnerable to avoid a ‘real humanitarian tragedy against them’.
Israel have since released 400 ‘non-violent’ Israeli prisoners who were serving lighter sentences and were selected by their age and condition of their health. These safety measures have simply not been afforded to Palestinian prisoners, which is a clear breach of international humanitarian law. Palestinians living under occupation, especially those detained in such critical conditions in Israeli prisons, should have equal access to treatment and protective measures in order to ensure that the population is safeguarded. The refusal to release prisoners in this climate undermines efforts to deal with the health crisis effectively.
Sayeeda graduated in LLB Law at SOAS University of London in 2018, and is currently studying the LPC at BPP University. Her interests lie in human rights and family law, as well as the fashion industry.