Following ACRI’s submission of a freedom of information petition to the Jerusalem Administrative Court, the Court ordered the publication of procedures regulating the treatment of people residing illegally in Israel and searches of vehicles at checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank. Initially, the Police maintained that such procedures were privileged and that revealing them to the public would prevent the police from fulfilling its duties and would even threaten the security of the State and the public. However, prior to the hearing, the police decided to withdraw this claim insofar as it related to illegal residents and provided full information on all the relevant regulations. During a hearing at the Court on March 8, the Police insisted that the publication of the rest of the procedures requested (relating to vehicles searches) would compromise the security of the State. With respect to procedures for searching vehicles in the presence of one side only, Judge Musia Arad examined the regulations and decided to supply ACRI with a summary of procedures relevant within the framework of our petition.
ACRI had initially requested the procedures for the production of information sheets to assist East Jerusalem residents in realizing their rights as part of its East Jerusalem project.
In September 2008, ACRI submitted a freedom of information petition against the Israel Police, requesting that the police be instructed to supply the information below:
a. Police regulations with respect to procedures for dealing with persons illegally in Israel and with infractions of the Entry to Israel Law, including the “procedure for dealing with infringements of the law, relating to the General Security Services (GSS),” No. 03.300.236.
b. Police regulations with respect to procedures regulating the search of vehicles at crossing points between Israel and the West Bank, including those procedures relating to the authority to dismantle vehicles and to use dogs.
Prior to submitting the petition, ACRI requested information from the Police, including the above regulations, in order to examine in preparation for the publication of an information sheet for the Palestinian population of Jerusalem. The aim of this information sheet is to inform residents of the Police’s authority in Jerusalem and at adjacent checkpoints, as a means to improve relations between the residents of East Jerusalem and the Police. Regrettably, our request was rejected on the grounds that no obligation exists to publish such information, which is in the purview of the Intelligence and Explosives Forces of the Police, and some of them (regulations relating to the Entry to Israel Law) are at present in the process of formulation.
In the petition, ACRI claimed that the information requested was needed by the public in general and by the residents of East Jerusalem in particular, in order to deal with the security checks at various locations, with delays and arrests and confiscation of goods, and with other common procedures infringing on their basic rights. ACRI also claimed that the information was essential to human rights organizations, working to promote the rights of East Jerusalem residents, in assessing the regulations’ lawfulness. In addition we claimed that the classification of the information was arbitrary and unjustified and constituted an excessive constraint on the right to freedom of information. According to the law and to various relevant judgments, information on the powers and authority of bodies with legal standing can be withheld from the public only if such information is almost certain to cause severe harm to the security of the state or to threaten a breach of the public peace. Not all information classified as a matter of administrative convenience falls into this category.
The following are the Police procedures published within the framework of ACRI’s petition:
-Search procedures for vehicles at checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank
* Dismantling of sections of vehicles
* Use of dogs for searches
-Procedure for dealing with offenses relating to the GSS – Palestinians. This is a procedure of the Police’s Intelligence and Investigation branch to regulate the treatment of illegal residents, their deportation from Israel, and offenses relating to the transport, employment of such individuals, and provision of accommodation to them.
– Circular of the Department of Intelligence and Investigations, March 2007, relating
to illegal residency (prohibition of assistance) (temporary order) (amendment no. 10) 2007
– Circular of the Department of Intelligence and Investigations, March 2008, relating
to illegal residency (prohibition of assistance) (temporary order) (amendment no. 11) 2007
– Procedure for the integrated treatment of crimes relating to illegal residents
