Israel’s parliament is moving forward with a bill that, if passed, would allow the occupation authorities to legally execute Palestinians. This development has attracted little attention internationally, but for Palestinians it is yet another looming fear.
The bill is part of a deal that will allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a coalition government at the end of 2022. The bill was called for by Itamar Ben Gvir, the current Minister of National Security, who has led a reign of terror across the West Bank for the past three years.
The bill passed its first reading in November, and in January, provisions were made for the death penalty to be carried out within 90 days of the verdict, without appeal, and by hanging. Palestinians accused of planning attacks on or killing Israelis face the death penalty. Ben Gvir has repeatedly called for the execution of Palestinians and recently visited Ofer prison where he was photographed overseeing the abuse of detainees.
It’s no surprise that we’ve gotten this far. For decades, the international community has ignored the fate of Palestinian prisoners of war. For the past two and a half years, there has been little global reaction to the mass atrocities of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, whether charged or not. Israel’s efforts to legalize the execution of Palestinians are the logical next step in resolving the Palestinian issue.
“Prisoner” or POW?
The use of the term “prisoners of war” to refer to Palestinians held by Israel is deceptive. It removes this cruelty from the context of military occupation and colonization in which Palestinians live. Prisoners of war or prisoners of war are much more accurate terms. This is because Palestinians are being taken for no reason at all, either for resisting the occupation or for terrorizing their families and communities.
More than a third of Palestinians currently held in Israeli custody are held in “administrative detention,” meaning they are held without charge, including women and children. Palestinians are also being “tried” in military tribunals, which are openly biased against the occupied population.
I myself was a victim of this system of oppression due to unjust detention.
In November 2015, Israeli soldiers broke into my home in Ramallah and took me away. They tortured me for weeks and kept me in isolation without even telling me what I was being accused of.
In the end, they came up with the charge of “incitement” but presented no evidence. They held me in “administrative detention”, which is actually an arbitrary arrest. The abuse continued, and during one interrogation an Israeli police officer threatened to rape me.
They treated me like an animal with no rights or legal protection. Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross were prevented from visiting me. I was released only after I went on a hunger strike for three months and my condition deteriorated to a dangerous level.
This happened to me 10 years ago, long before October 7, 2023. At the time, the international community turned a blind eye to Israel’s violations of international law through administrative detention and ill-treatment.
Since October 7, conditions in Israeli military prisons have deteriorated, with torture, starvation, and medical neglect rampant. Since then, at least 88 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli custody. The international community has remained silent, issuing occasional weak condemnations.
legalize the illegal
Israel’s brutal abuses of detained Palestinians are in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions, to which it is a party. Due to their occupation, Palestinians are considered a protected people and have rights that have been systematically denied to them by Israeli authorities.
Nevertheless, the international community accepted these grave violations. Under the guise of anti-terrorism, international discourse has transformed the Palestinians from an occupied people into a threat to Israel and international security.
Even shocking images and testimonies of gang rapes in Israeli detention centers could not overturn this flawed picture.
In this context, the death penalty bill is not an extremist proposal. It fits perfectly into the pattern of atrocities committed against Palestinian detainees.
From the Palestinian perspective, this bill is yet another means of Israeli revenge. If passed, it would spread further fear and further weaken peaceful resistance to Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and their property.
This bill is also a nightmare for all families with family members serving time in Israeli prisons. They are already feeling the pinch, with a lack of information about their loved ones since visitation bans were imposed amid a surge in deaths in custody.
What’s even scarier is that this bill could be applied retroactively. This means anyone can be executed for planning or causing the death of an Israeli.
There are currently reports in the Israeli media that the Israeli government is probably under pressure not to push forward with this law. There were some suggestions to modify the text to make it more readable. But we know that Israel will eventually execute Palestinians. As we have done with other laws, we deceptively maneuver to minimize reaction while still going forward with what we want to do.
As Israel attempts to force its way through yet another international legal norm, what it will most likely get is a “call for restraint” or a “statement of condemnation.” Such weak rhetoric has enabled the onslaught on international law over the past few decades, and especially over the past two and a half years.
If the international community wants to save what is left of the international legal system and save face, it is time for a fundamental change in approach.
Instead of making weak statements about respecting international law, we must impose sanctions on Israel. Israeli officials accused of committing crimes against Palestinians should not be entertained and should be held accountable.
Only then can there be hope for the safe and peaceful return of all Palestinian prisoners of war – something that was already agreed to during the Oslo Accords. Only then can there be any hope of thwarting Israel’s efforts to dismantle international law and allow it to do whatever it wants in Palestine.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.
