Rights Organizations Slam Israel's Administrative Detentions, Use of spyware Against Palestinians

Mother of Miqdad Qawasmeh, who has been on a hunger strike for more than 100 days, speaks with him over the phone (Reuters)
Mother of Miqdad Qawasmeh, who has been on a hunger strike for more than 100 days, speaks with him over the phone (Reuters)
TT

Rights Organizations Slam Israel's Administrative Detentions, Use of spyware Against Palestinians

Mother of Miqdad Qawasmeh, who has been on a hunger strike for more than 100 days, speaks with him over the phone (Reuters)
Mother of Miqdad Qawasmeh, who has been on a hunger strike for more than 100 days, speaks with him over the phone (Reuters)

Several human rights groups in Israel demanded an end to administrative detentions orders and condemned the hacking of Palestinians with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) requested the government’s judicial advisor to instantly halt the use of Pegasus spyware against the Palestinians defending human rights.

A number of other Israeli human rights groups made the same request.

“Israel has created a legal reality for Palestinians, imprisoning hundreds without trial for an indefinite period of time on the grounds that they intend to commit a future offense,” Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said.

The group said that “Israeli judges, who are supposed to review the administrative detention orders, approve the vast majority of them, merely lending the proceedings a veneer of respectability and a semblance of judicial oversight.”

B'Tselem revealed that “the government, senior military commanders, the Israel Security Agency, the Military Advocate General’s Corps, the State Attorney’s Office, the military judges and the Supreme Court justices – are all complicit in maintaining this policy and are the ones responsible for its implementation.”

It demanded the release of all administrative detainees, more than 700 Palestinians. It, particularly, called for the release of the six Palestinians who are currently on hunger strike to protest their administrative detention.

Kayed Fasfous, 32, a father of a seven-year-old from Dura, has been on a hunger strike for 118 days. He is in hospital following a lengthy hunger strike that affected his health.

Miqdad Qawasmeh, 24, from Hebron, has been on a hunger strike for 111 days. He is in hospital after his health deteriorated.

Alaa al-A’araj, 34, a father of a five-year-old from Tulkarm, has been on hunger strike for 93 days. Hisham Abu Hawash, 39, a father of five from Dura, has been on a hunger strike for 84 days. They are both treated alternately in the infirmary at Ramla Prison and in hospital.

Ayad al-Harimi, 28, from Bethlehem, has been on hunger strike for 48 days. He has been transferred from Ofer Prison to the infirmary at Ramla Prison, as the lengthy hunger strike has caused his health to deteriorate.

Luai al-Ashqar, 45, a father of eight from Saida, has been on a hunger strike for 30 days. He is detained in Megiddo Prison.



US Sanctions Group That Builds Illegal West Bank Settlements, with Close Ties to Israeli Govt

A general view of the West Bank Jewish settlement of Efrat ,Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
A general view of the West Bank Jewish settlement of Efrat ,Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
TT

US Sanctions Group That Builds Illegal West Bank Settlements, with Close Ties to Israeli Govt

A general view of the West Bank Jewish settlement of Efrat ,Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
A general view of the West Bank Jewish settlement of Efrat ,Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)

The US has imposed sanctions on organizations and firms involved in illegal settlement development in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including a decades-old group that has close ties with Israeli leadership.

US Treasury Department sanctioned Amana, the largest organization involved in illegal settlement development in the West Bank, and its subsidiary on Monday.

Already sanctioned by Britain and Canada, Amana is one of the major funders and supporters of unauthorized settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Peace Now, a settlement tracking group, says its assets are valued at around 600 million Israeli shekels, or about $160 million, and that it has a yearly budget stretching into tens of millions of shekels.

Among other things, the sanctions deny the people and firms access to any property or financial assets held in the US and prevent US companies and citizens from doing business with them.

The Associated Press previously reported that the sanctions measures have had minimal impact, instead emboldening settlers as attacks and land-grabs escalate, according to Palestinians in the West Bank, local rights groups and sanctioned Israelis who spoke to AP.

Israel captured the West Bank along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want those territories for their hoped-for future state.