A rights group has documented the rape of prisoners caught on camera and the deaths of at least 94 of them in Israel already in horrifying conditions.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right Israeli prisons minister, proudly claimed that under his leadership, Palestinian prisoners’ conditions have become worse. And in late October, he urged the introduction of the death penalty for those who he described as Palestinian “terrorists” while he stood over Palestinian prisoners who were forced to lie face-down on the ground.
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Ben-Gvir might soon receive his wish.
The first reading of a bill that would impose the death penalty for those found guilty of killing Israelis who had “racist” intentions or were acting “with the intention of harming Israel” was passed in the Israeli parliament in early November. Even as Israelis launch deadly attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Israeli soldiers continue to kill Palestinians in Gaza, the bill clearly targets Palestinians.
Palestinians have had a vehement response. They are informed that Israel intends to establish a system of lethal punishment by what they hear.
The director of the occupied West Bank’s Independent Commission for Human Rights, Farid al-Atrash, claimed that “this law practically aims to execute prisoners just because their people fight for their people’s freedom and their right to self-determination.”
Lawyers and activists in Palestine are stoked by the alarm. They assert that the law fundamentally undermines judicial safeguards and claims that it seeks to end Palestinian detainees’ protection under international law.
Remove safeguards
Palestinians who are found guilty of killing Israelis would now be able to be executed in accordance with the draft legislation, which grants them more authority to impose mandatory death sentences on them. These actions were deemed to have been done for nationalistic, racist, or hate-based reasons, or to be intended to endanger Israel or its citizens.
Additionally, it would remove the power for a president or government to pardon someone who has been executed for those crimes and make it possible for a panel of judges to decide the sentence on their behalf.
The framework eliminates the safeguards that were once in place for Palestinian defendants, according to Palestinian advocates.
The proposed law, according to Al-Atrash, stands in stark contrast to how Israelis are treated when Palestinians are frequently found not guilty of murder.
International humanitarian law
As an occupied people with a right to resistance, critics claim that the decision to legalize the death penalty is a part of a larger effort to evict Palestinians from their protections under international humanitarian law.
Hassan Breijieh, the head of the Wall and Settlements Resistance Commission’s Bethlehem office, claimed that the far-right-dominated Knesset Parliament is working to pass official legislation. The proposed law aims to make the Palestinian fighter a criminal defendant by removing his international recognition.
The proposed law, according to Amjad al-Najjar of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, is intended to erode the rights of the Palestinian people.
“It’s a double crime,” he said. It is a clear violation of international law and a racist law specifically targeting Palestinians, according to al-Najjar.
The proposed law, according to former judge and former Palestinian attorney Saeed al-Awiwi, is the most recent clampdown on Palestinian legal rights.
Al-Awiwi noted that many prisoners now have no meaningful legal representation, especially inside military courts, despite even previously being permitted to enter Israeli prisons.
He claimed that before the bill, many Palestinians had never experienced trial, sentencing, or other fair trial. The actions that led to those deaths, such as torture, medical neglect, and arbitrary detention, will gain official standing if the death penalty is codified.
According to al-Awiwi, “the move toward legal execution legalizes] the [Israeli] occupation’s] already-performed actions without accountability.”
Prosecuting freedom
It is necessary for Israeli law-defenders.
According to the National Security Committee of Israel, “its goal is to eradicate terrorism from its roots and establish a strong deterrent.”
However, Palestinian human rights organizations like Amnesty International have condemned the bill as a form of institutionalized discrimination.
The execution of prisoners of war or other protected persons, including those who are under occupation, is prohibited in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law. That rule would be violated by the proposed law.
According to experts, it was a step in the right direction, moving from a system where death is a judicial byproduct of occupation to one where death is deemed to be a legal sentence.
Breijieh remarked, “When the occupation criminalizes the act of resistance, it is also prosecuting the prisoner as well as the idea of freedom itself.”
The bill serves as a benchmark for how occupied people are treated, and whether current international humanitarian laws survive or fall, for Palestinians.
Source: Aljazeera
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