Israel Moves to Set up Apartheid Justice System in Gaza

The Israeli parliament is currently considering a bill which, if enacted, will enable Israeli police and security forces to treat Palestinians living in Gaza differently before the law than Israelis. The bill, entitled the Criminal Law Procedures Bill (Powers of Implementation – Special Directives for Investigating Security Violations Perpetrated by Non-Citizens), was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs on October 9 and will soon be before members of the Israeli Knesset for debate. The bill proposes the creation of two separate procedures for investigation, interrogation and detention – one for Israelis and one for “non-Israelis” – that is Palestinians.

The bill was recommended by Israel’s General Security Services (GSS) following the disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Once the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) pulled out of Gaza, military rule, under which IDF soldiers were able to disregard all requirements of Israeli and international law, was automatically cancelled. The GSS moved quickly to fill this gap by recommending the new bill, under which “non-Israeli” nationals suspected of “security offences” could be held and investigated for 96 hours without being brought before a judge. Israeli criminal law currently requires any suspect being investigated to be brought before a judge within 48 hours. The legislation would not apply to Palestinians living in the West Bank because they are still under military rule.

The bill also proposes extending detention times for Palestinians to 20 days, up from the 15 days for which any Israeli can be held. Under the new bill a non-Israeli being detained by GSS could also have his or her detention extended by the country’s Attorney General without appearing before a court, something that could not happen to an Israeli.

The bill would also empower a single Justice of the Supreme Court to prevent a detained Palestinian from meeting with an attorney for 50 days, while Israelis can only be denied access to legal counsel for a maximum of 21 days and even then, any Israeli can appeal such a denial, a right denied to Palestinians under this bill.

Adalah, the Legal Centre for Israeli Arab Minority Rights, has already written to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other senior cabinet ministers, demanding the cancellation of the bill. In the letter, Adalah attorney Abeer Baker points out that the bill aims to re-legislate de facto military rule in the form of Israeli laws applicable only to Palestinians, something which gravely violates the rights of detained Palestinians to equality in legal procedures and to receive a fair trial. He also notes that the bill as a whole is unconstitutional and violates international human rights law, which stipulates that detainees be treated in accordance with the principle of equality and civilian laws regardless of their national belonging or nationality.

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