Ramallah -

For 106 days (until today, Saturday), hundreds of Palestinian administrative detainees have refused to appear before the Israeli military courts, in protest against the policy of “administrative detention” based on “secret files.”

Thousands of these detainees, and their families and children, have paid high prices for their lives and social life, due to the arrest, under military detention orders for up to 6 months, which can be extended without a time limit.

Administrative detention orders go back to the emergency defense systems established by the British Mandate in 1945, and Israel began implementing them in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with their occupation in 1967.

On April 17 of each year, the Palestinians celebrate the Palestinian Prisoner’s Day, where about 4450 prisoners, including about 530 administrative detainees, are languishing in 24 Israeli prisons and detention centers.

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Prisoners Information Office: For the 103rd consecutive day, the administrative prisoners in the occupation prisons continue to boycott the occupation courts to demand an end to the policy of administrative detention

— Safa Agency (@SafaPs) April 13, 2022

Administrative instead of the marital nest

The Palestinian prisoner, Montaser Shadeed, 51, has had more than 10 years of administrative detention, in addition to the 11 years he spent in prison.

A severe experience told by his wife, Rima Amr (Amr's mother), from the town of Dura, in the south of the West Bank, to Al Jazeera Net, and it reflects the extent of the pain and the human effects that hundreds of Palestinian families have experienced.

The first administrative detention order was issued against Shadeed in 1993, and it was for a period of 6 months, after which he was released, to be re-arrested the following year, and he was sentenced to 11 years in prison, and released in 2005.

After the end of his sentence and his liberation, Shadid sought stability and build a family, and indeed he married the daughter of his town, but he was soon re-arrested during the engagement period, and instead of entering the marital nest, he entered the cycle of administrative detention, until today.

10 years in administration

Rima, who is today a mother of 4 children, says that Shadid has spent nearly 10 years in administrative detention so far, and the longest period of his freedom between the arrests was about a year, and in the rest he was administratively detained for a period of up to two years, then released for several months, and then re-arrested. .

One of the sons of Montaser Shedid (Al-Jazeera)

Release day setback

With the absence of the sun on the last day of the first six months, Umm Amr began preparing to receive him by her husband, and hurried to dress her children, but she was surprised by a phone call informing her that the order to extend the detention had arrived on the same day of the release, which was a shock.

Shadeed was last arrested in July 2021, and an administrative detention order was issued against him for a period of 6 months, which was extended for another 6 months.

A sacrifice and an increasing burden on the family, and the families of the administrative prisoners cannot attend their court sessions, and most of them are prevented from family visits.

The prisoner's wife says that she visited her husband only 3 times during his administrative detention, and it was "like a nightmare because of the series of suffering, humiliation and searches."

Um Amr points out that her family has been affected socially and economically by the arrest of her husband and the lack of knowledge of the time of his release.

Shadid's wife holds a bachelor's degree in law, and worked in the legal field for 5 years, but she found herself unable to bear the burden of work and the burden of raising her children in the absence of their father's frequent absence, so she chose to take care of the children.

On the financial level, Reem says that the situation is difficult, and points to the irregularity of her husband's allowances that the Palestinian Authority spends.

On the Day of the Palestinian Prisoner... the "Freedom Flame" is lit from Jenin# Urgent https://t.co/6E055tmNaI

— Quds Press |

QudsPress (@QudsPress) April 12, 2022

Courts boycott opens the door to hope

With the decision to boycott the courts by administrative prisoners, Umm Amr hopes that her husband's detention will not be prolonged and he will return to his family.

But she says that the boycott needs strengthening factors such as external pressure, mobilizing the street and the Palestinian factions, and not letting the prisoners fight the battle alone.

Shadeed joined a local university to study English in 2010, and his repeated arrests hindered the completion of his studies, and the arrest in 1994 deprived him of a university degree, even though he completed most of its requirements at the time.

One of Shadid's sons lives with his father's picture (Al-Jazeera)

Administrative detention order issued

Many details surround the policy of administrative detention, and prompted the prisoners to declare a boycott of the courts designated to consider this type of detention.

Al Jazeera.net went to the prisoner, Raed Abu Zanouneh, 41, days after his release after an administrative detention that lasted 19 months, to convey closely the details of what is happening with the administrative detainees.

Abu Zanouneh, a father of 4, spent a total of 8 years in Israeli prisons, including 6 and a half years in administrative detention.

He says that the administrative prisoner is transferred immediately after his arrest from his home to one of the detention centers in the West Bank, and within 3 days an indictment is supposed to be issued against him, or his detention is extended after 72 hours, which means that he is transferred to administrative detention, during which the arrest order is issued by the military commander in the West Bank for a period of up to 6 months.

Raed Abu Zanouneh with his daughter (Al Jazeera)

arrest path

According to Abu Zanouneh, the administrative detainee is asked to sign his arrest warrant and return it to the soldier who brought it to him, and in the event he refuses to sign, he is transferred to a solitary cell from which he can only exit by signing, even if this requires the use of force with him.

He continues that after the issuance of the military order, the prisoner has the possibility to go to the court of its judges and military representatives, and there it considers fixing or reducing the period mentioned in the military order.

He adds: The lawyers or the prisoners themselves are not allowed to see the arrest file, and they are only allowed to remain silent because "the file is confidential."

Abu Zanouneh explains that after fixing the period of detention, prisoners can appeal the ruling, but usually to no avail.

He says that in exceptional cases, the Israeli Supreme Court considers the files of some administrative detainees, either to confirm the period, reduce it, or accept a new extension, and its decisions are not binding on the intelligence service, as it is the actual body that decides sentences.

The feasibility of the boycott and who decides

Abu Zanouneh explains that the administrative prisoners' decision on January 1st to boycott the military courts and the Supreme Court came to deliver more than one message: to the judges that they are tools in the hands of the intelligence service, and the occupation to end the policy of administrative detention.

It is mentioned that the decision to boycott the courts is taken by the bodies representing the administrative prisoners with their consent, and the lawyers are also bound by it not to attend the sessions, “and therefore the sessions are held and their decisions are issued in the absence of the lawyer, the prisoner and his family.”

Regarding the feasibility of the boycott, the released administrative prisoner says that any collective action, the result of which depends on the extent of patience and endurance, "and in the end victory is achieved."

Abu Zanouneh, a father of 4 children, two of whom were born while he is in prison, indicates that he was denied visits to his family during the last period of his detention, which made it difficult for his younger son to accept him because he was not accustomed to him at home.

Released administrative detainee Abu Zanouneh: In the end, victory will be achieved (Al Jazeera)

Moot Courts

In turn, the director of the Addameer Foundation for Prisoner Care and Human Rights, Sahar Francis, told Al Jazeera Net that the boycott's decision aims to end the "sham trial".

She adds that the prisoners "refuse to attend the sessions of confirming administrative detention orders according to military orders, and refuse to appeal against them or go to the Supreme Court."

"The military court holds sessions, and the judges review confidential files in the presence of the military prosecution and issue their decisions," she says.

Before the boycott, Francis explains that the lawyer was attending the military court sessions, so the judge and the prosecution reviewed the prisoner’s file without the lawyer, and the decision was issued, “the lawyer has no role and no room for pleading, hence the decision to boycott.”

brave boycott

In a report on April 11, Amnesty International described the boycott as "courageous" and said it "sheds light on Israel's inhumane treatment and punishment of Palestinians."

It called for "concrete action to be taken now and pressure on Israel to end its systematic use of arbitrary detention as a step towards dismantling the apartheid system."

Palestinian administrative detainees are boycotting Israeli courts for 100 days.

Israel deliberately uses administrative detention to detain individuals solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly to punish them for their opinions and activism.

It has continuously detained about 500 Palestinians, including children✊https://t.co/TS5gGa86SS

— Amnesty International (@AmnestyAR) April 11, 2022

Administrative detention in numbers

Palestinian Bashir al-Khairi, 80, from Ramallah governorate, who has been detained since October 29, 2021, is the oldest administrative detainee, and he joined the boycotts of the military courts.

Since late 2011, more than 400 prisoners have waged individual hunger strikes, most of them against the policy of administrative detention, the last of whom is Khalil Awawda, who is currently on strike for 41 days.

According to the Prisoner's Club, a non-governmental organization that monitors prisoners' affairs, the occupation has issued about 400 administrative detention orders since the beginning of this year, 195 of them during last March.

The club stated that more than 8,700 administrative detention orders have been issued against Palestinians since 2015, and the most arrest warrants were issued in 2016 amounting to 1,742 orders.

Currently, the largest number of administrative detainees are in the Negev prisons in southern Israel, and Ofer in the central West Bank.

Fares: The occupation expands the circle of administrative detention in response to the confrontation and the current resistance operations


The Prisoner’s Club: The occupation has issued about 400 administrative detention orders since the beginning of this year


Ramallah - The Prisoner’s Club: The Israeli occupation authorities have recently escalated administrative detention operations.# Prisoners pic.twitter .com/N1H75dYPvP

— Prisoner's society (@PpsmoMedia) April 7, 2022