Factsheets

	Israeli Settlements and Settler Roads in the West Bank Overview: (Click for more) (July 2010, PDF 1.47MB)
	Palestinian Citizens in Israel Overview: (Click for more) (July 2010, PDF 239kB)
	The WallOverview: (Click for more) (PDF 224kB)
	Administrative Detention Overview: Administrative detention is a procedure under which detainees are held without charge or trial. In the occupied Palestinian West Bank, the Israeli army carries out administrative detention on the basis of Military Order 1226 (1998). This order empowers military commanders to detain an individual for up to six months if they ‘have reasonable grounds to presume that the security of the area or public security require the detention.’ On or just before the expiry date, the detention order is frequently renewed. This process can be continued indefinitely. (Click for more) (PDF 203kB)
	Children Political PrisonersOverview: According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted on 20 November 1989 and entered into force on 2 September1990 (to which Israel is a signatory), and to relevant Israeli law, a child is defined as every human being under the age of 18 years. This is reiterated in the UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty, adopted by General Assembly Resolution 45/113 of 14 December 1990. However, Palestinian children from the age of 16 years are considered adults under Israeli military regulations governing the Occupied Palestinian Territories. (Click for more) (PDF 200kB)
	ChronologyOverview: (Click for more) (PDF 262kB)
	Palestinian Women Political PrisonersOverview: Israel’s obligations to the people of Gaza under the 4th Geneva Convention and the Agreement on Movement and Palestinian women have not escaped the mass arrest campaigns. Palestinian women in detention are subjected to mistreatment on a daily basis and are often held in cells and sections with Israeli criminal prisoners. Regular body searches are performed with brutality by prison guards; sexual harassment occurs frequently; the right to elect a representative for their collective demands is not recognised as in other prisons; solitary confinement is often used as a form of punishment; detainees are prohibited from going outside regularly or of using the canteen; cell searches and confiscation of personal belongings is a common practice; and attacks on women by beating or firing tear gas into cells occur regularly. (Click for more) (PDF 188kB)
	Torture and ill-treatment Overview: On 6th September 1999, the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled to ban the use of torture during interrogation. A seemingly considerable victory for human rights defenders proved later through practice not to be applicable to Palestinian “security prisoners”. Indeed, the ruling failed to explicitly forbid the use of torture but rather allowed that interrogation methods such as “moderate physical pressure” – widely deemed as torture – may be used in the “necessity of defence” and in situations where a detainee is considered a ‘ticking bomb’. In some instances, detainees have died while in custody as a result of torture. Confessions extracted through such practices are admissible in court and / or military tribunal. (Click for more) (PDF 203kB)