The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has been working for a long time to enhance the protection of the rights of Palestinians facing criminal proceedings in the military court system in the Occupied Territories. ACRI places a particular emphasis on the protection of the rights of Palestinian minors in criminal proceedings – and specifically in proceedings of detainment, arrest and interrogation by Israeli military and police forces – and is concerned by the numerous violations that take place in this context.
Palestinian minors who are arrested in the Occupied Territories are forced to confront a military system that is characterized by many harmful practices, including: nighttime arrests, detainment of minors under the age of criminal responsibility, interrogations conducted without visual documentation, interrogations without parental presence and more. The source of these harmful practices is sometimes in military legislation, or in internal directives and regulations that are established by the police and military. At other times, these practices are the result of a lack of clear directives and regulations.
This document compiles the key findings arising from police and military responses to Freedom of Information requests sent by ACRI concerning the arrests of Palestinian minors. This forms part of ACRI’s monitoring of the activities of the military rule in the Occupied Territories. The figures appearing herein relate only to the year 2014 and only to the West Bank Area.
