Are Palestinians being arrested in large numbers?

Are Palestinians being arrested in large numbers?

Since October 7, the war between Hamas and Israel has raged.

Thousands of civilians lost their lives, tens of thousands were injured, and about 1.4 million people were displaced.

– very rare


Hamas kidnapped nearly 200 Israelis after it attacked Israel on October 7, and the organization repeatedly demanded the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, before releasing the hostages.

Before the outbreak of war, about 5,200 Palestinians were imprisoned in Israeli prisons and detention camps, according to the human rights organization. personal pronoun.

Within two weeks, this number has doubled, and more than ten thousand Palestinians are now behind bars. Reports Al Jazeera.

Double: The number of Palestinians arrested by Israel has doubled in just over two weeks.  An Israeli soldier is shown here next to a naked and bound Palestinian prisoner.  Photo taken near the border with Gaza, October 8, 2023. Photography: JACK GUEZ / AFP / NTB

Double: The number of Palestinians arrested by Israel has doubled in just over two weeks. An Israeli soldier is shown here next to a naked and bound Palestinian prisoner. Photo taken near the border with Gaza, October 8, 2023. Photography: JACK GUEZ / AFP / NTB
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– Awesome legal protection

The threshold for removing a safe has become very low in several parts of Israel, says Erling Lorentzen Sugg, a senior lecturer in Middle Eastern studies at the University of Oslo.

– I cannot say anything about the exact number, but there is no doubt that Palestinians are now being arrested in large numbers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

He explains that the arrest of large numbers of Palestinians is not new, but the number may be much higher as a result of the war.

The legal protection of Palestinians under Israeli occupation has been terrible from the beginning. People are detained without trial and are likely to remain in captivity for a very long time. This practice has been going on for a very long time, but the number of arrests is likely to rise now.

- Low threshold: said the experts the newspaper spoke to

– Low threshold: Experts spoken to by Dagbladet said that the threshold for arrest has become very low for Palestinians after the attack on October 7. Shown here is a Palestinian being arrested outside the Old City of Jerusalem on October 13, 2023. Photograph: AP Photo/Mahmoud Elian/NTB
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– Absolute authorization

Lorentzen Soje’s colleague, Dag Henrik Tostad, agrees that Palestinians are now imprisoned over low-top shoes.

– There is a degree of freedom in the West Bank now, and everything now is about security, and perhaps even revenge. Now the Israelis are moving on a large scale, and they fear another new front there. They imprison anyone they suspect of posing a danger, without following the necessary procedures.

Tostad, who is also a senior lecturer in Middle Eastern studies, says this issue has long been burning among Palestinians.

The treatment of Palestinian prisoners is an open wound in Palestinian society. It was one of the reasons for Islamic Jihad’s confrontation with Israel in 2022. It is a very inflammatory issue.

The oppressed: The number of Palestinians in Israeli prisons and their treatment has long been an oppressed issue for Palestinians, according to Dag Henrik Tostad.  A demonstration over the treatment of prisoner Walid Abu Daqqa is shown here in the West Bank city of Ramallah, August 26, 2023. Photo: APAImages / Shutterstock / NTB

The oppressed: The number of Palestinians in Israeli prisons and their treatment has long been an oppressed issue for Palestinians, according to Dag Henrik Tostad. A demonstration over the treatment of prisoner Walid Abu Daqqa is shown here in the West Bank city of Ramallah, August 26, 2023. Photo: APAImages / Shutterstock / NTB
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Complaints about prison conditions

Lorentzen Soje says many human rights groups have repeatedly objected to what they claim are extremely poor conditions for Palestinian prisoners.

What is being circulated by Palestinian human rights organizations is that the treatment of prisoners is very poor, and there is talk of torture and extremely humiliating treatment.

It is difficult to know what actually goes on behind the walls, but rumors of prisoner mistreatment have set people on fire, Tostad said.

– Rumors are spreading in the Arab media that Palestinian prisoners are being subjected to mistreatment and humiliation. Pictures are also circulating showing prisons reminiscent of Abu Ghraib prison, full of half-naked detainees with their eyes blindfolded. I have no idea if any of this is true or not. But the truth is that such rumors eventually take on a life of their own, regardless of whether they are true or not.

The notorious Abu Ghraib prison became famous in the early 2000s, after images of prisoners being mistreated and tortured by Saddam Hussein, and then the US military, spread in the international media.

– What is certain is that more Palestinians are now being arrested, and that the settlers are now behaving brutally. There is anger that can lead to retaliation or retaliation, Tostad says.

Complaints about prison conditions: Many Palestinian human rights organizations complain about Israeli prison conditions.  Shown here is Gilboa Prison in northern Israel.  Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad/NTB

Complaints about prison conditions: Many Palestinian human rights organizations complain about Israeli prison conditions. Shown here is Gilboa Prison in northern Israel. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad/NTB
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4,000 workers were arrested

According to Al Jazeera, about 4,000 of the Palestinians who have been arrested since October 7 are workers from Gaza who work daily in Israel.

Lorentzen Soje says many of them were arrested on the Israeli side of the border after the attack.

– Between 18,000 and 20,000 people from Gaza work in Israel every day. It is this type of person who is being arrested now after October 7. A large number of them may have been on the Israeli side of the border when Hamas attacked.

He says some of those lucky enough to be released are at risk of being separated from their families, without being able to return across the border.

The Palestinian Authority claims that more than 500 prisoners were subsequently deported from Gaza to the West Bank. Then they will be without passports or papers or anything, and they will not have the possibility of returning to Gaza and their families. As far as I know, there is no way to cross the border into Gaza now because it is completely closed.

Lorentzen Soje expects that the number of Palestinian prisoners will increase in the future.

– In the West Bank, I believe that the number of Palestinians who will be arrested will increase, because the situation there is very volatile now.

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