ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION
Administrative detention is a significant instrument in Israel’s broader policy of imprisonment of Palestinians. It is a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold prisoners indefinitely on ‘secret information’ without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. ‘Secret evidence’ is used as the basis for administrative detention, justified by Israeli officials and military spokespeople “as necessary in light of the security situation in the occupied territories,” where they claim “fighting crime and maintaining order are tantamount to counterinsurgency.” In the vast majority of administrative detention cases, neither the detainee nor their lawyer are ever informed of the reasons for the detention or given access to this information. As former UN Special Rapporteur for the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, Michael Lynk, has observed: “Administrative detention is an anathema in any democratic society that follows the rule of law [...] It is a penal system that is ripe for abuse and maltreatment.” Israel has historically used administrative detention on a routine basis, claiming it has been under a continuous state of emergency since
of emergency since its inception in 1948. This reflects the colonial relation between the Israeli state and the Palestinian people, the latter a subject population seen as a perpetual threat to the colonial order. The widespread use of detention, administrative or otherwise, as well as the normalisation of the broader use of captivity, are a
means by which Israel can institutionalise control of the
Palestinian population and contain it in a state of constant physical as well as psychological precariousness.
BREAKING DOWN ISRAEL’S ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION PROCESS Step 1: Arrest and Detention Order Palestinians are arrested based on secret information. A military commander issues an administrative detention order without charging the individual. Step 2: Court Hearing A closed military court reviews the detention, where the detainee's lawyer and family are excluded. The detainee is not informed of the evidence against them. Step 3: Detention Detainees are held in various prisons without trial, with orders reviewed indefinitely in six month increments, prolonging detention without trial
its inception in 1948. Israel has historically used administrative
detention on a routine basis, claiming it has been under a continuous state
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