On Tuesday, November 14, Representative Betty McCollum (D-MN) introduced the “Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act.” The eight original co-sponsors included Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. This piece of legislation has attracted international attention—human rights groups such as the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker charity, and Amnesty International, have come out in support.
on November 16, 2017As a Palestinian human rights defender, I have been arrested by Israel more times that I can count. I have been beaten, stripped and left outside in the cold, and my family has been threatened with violence. During one of my arrests in 2015, I spent five hours handcuffed to a toilet in a filthy bathroom. The soldiers would enter, cock their guns at me and yell, “I will kill you the way ISIS kills.”
on November 15, 2017Israel has extended the detention without trial of Palestinian circus performer Mohammad Abu Sakha for another six months, his circus school said Monday. Abu Sakha, 24, was arrested on December 14 in the occupied West Bank, and held since January in administrative detention, the controversial measure under which Israel can hold suspects without trial for periods of six months, renewable indefinitely.
on June 13, 2016Israeli forces Thursday briefly held 100 Palestinian high school students for military security searches as they tried to leave the town of Yatta in the occupied West Bank to attend final exams, as the town remained sealed by Israeli forces following a deadly shooting in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
on June 9, 2016Israel has arrested 19 Palestinian journalists since the latest wave of violence began last October, and 10 are still behind bars. The Palestinian Authority accuses Israel of persecuting journalists in order to intimidate them. It noted that six of those detained are being held in administrative detention, without charges, and said it’s not even clear what they are suspected of.
on May 3, 2016Israel’s military has ordered a Palestinian journalist to be held for four months without charges or trial. The military said Omar Nazzal is being held in administrative detention on suspicion of “unlawful activity” for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a PLO faction that has been labelled a terrorist organisation by Israel.
on May 2, 2016As a former interrogator in Iraq working as a military contractor for the private security firm CACI, Eric Fair was stationed at the Abu Ghraib prison and in Fallujah in 2004. While in Fallujah, he witnessed a torture device known as the Palestinian chair. He writes in his new book, "Consequence: A Memoir," that the chair was a way to immobilize prisoners in order to break them down both physically and mentally.
on April 7, 2016Abed Abu Sharefa's hand was on the front door of his home in Jalazone refugee camp as Israeli soldiers worked to break through from the other side and arrest him. The scar under his left eyebrow, where the metal door blew inwards, is still visible seven years on. Abu Sharefa, 25, told Al Jazeera that his right ear still hurts from the beatings he received at the hands of Israeli interrogators early in the 14-month detention that followed his violent arrest.
on April 5, 2016Over 6,000 Palestinian “security prisoners” were being held in Israeli prisons as of the beginning of February, according to statistics published by the Israel Prison Services (IPS). This is the highest number of Palestinian prisoners since July 2010. Among the prisoners are 398 minors — two of which are in administrative detention, 108 are between 14 and 16 years old, and two are under 14.
on March 12, 2016