6:00 a.m. ET, November 30, 2023
The release of Palestinian prisoners sheds light on Israel’s controversial justice system in the occupied West Bank
By Ivana Kottasová, Barbara Arvanitidis, Nima Elbagir, Abeer Salman and Alex Platt from CNN. A bus carrying a group of 30 released Palestinian prisoners arrives in Ramallah, West Bank, November 30. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Fatima Shahin spent seven months in an Israeli prison. Authorities initially accused her of attempting to murder an Israeli in the occupied West Bank, but she was never charged with a crime.
On Friday, the 33-year-old was released from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, one of 39 Palestinians released that day in exchange for Israeli hostages as part of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Like Shahin, most of those released so far were in detention and were not charged, tried, or given the opportunity to defend themselves. Some say they were not even told why they were being arrested.
Some of the Palestinians were held under an unclear military justice system that theoretically allows Israel to detain people indefinitely without trial or charge.
Israel has operated two different justice systems in the West Bank since conquering the area in 1967. Palestinians living there are subject to the jurisdiction of Israel’s military court system, in which judges and prosecutors are uniformed Israeli soldiers. Jewish settlers there are now subject to civil courts.
A legal adviser from the Israel Defense Forces’ international law department told CNN on Wednesday that the different systems are in place because international law does not allow Israel to “export” its own legal system to the West Bank.
B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, a nongovernmental organization, says the courts “serve as one of the central systems that maintain Israel’s control over the Palestinian people.”
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