Arab political prisoners are classified by the Israel Prison Service as “security prisoners.” Since 1967, Israel has arrested close to 700,000 Palestinians.

In the few years leading up to the year 2000, the number of political prisoners incarcerated each year stood at approximately 1,150 individuals on average. With the outbreak of the second Intifada and in its wake, the number of prisoners rose dramatically.

Data from the Israel Prison Service indicates that at the end of October 2006 the total number of Arab prisoners classified as “security prisoners” was about 9,140, including 289 Palestinian citizens of Israel.^[1] Amongst the prisoners who are citizens of Israel and classified as security prisoners, among whom 277 are Palestinian citizens and only 12 are Jews. Arab citizens are, therefore, about 96% of the “security prisoners” who are citizens of Israel.

Some 94% of the political prisoners and detainees are Palestinian residents of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Over 98% of them have been tried in military courts.

According to data from the Palestinian National Information Center, Israel has arrested approximately 5,000 Palestinian children (under the age of 18) since 2000. In mid-August 2006, almost 335 Palestinian children remained in Israeli prisons.

The number of Palestinian women arrested since October 2000 is 500; as of October 2006, over 100 women were still in prison. ^[2]

Of the 277 political prisoners and detainees who are Palestinian citizens of Israel being held in Israeli jails as of October 2006, at least 20 of whom have spent over 15 years in prison.

Any Palestinian prisoner who is a resident of the OPT or any Arab citizen of an Arab state may be released in the framework of a political accord. However, Palestinian prisoners who are citizens of the State of Israel are discriminated against relative to other Palestinian prisoners due to Israel's refusal to recognize them as part of the group of political prisoners.

Political prisoners who are citizens of the State of Israel are also discriminated against relative to Israeli Jewish prisoners, not only at the level of punishment and conditions of confinement, but also regarding the chances of early release, whether through clemency, a mitigation of the sentence or release after having served two-thirds of the sentence. Unlike Jewish prisoners who are citizens of the state, Palestinian political prisoners who are citizens of the state have yet to win any real mitigation of their sentences or early release.

* Data collected by Attorney Abeer Baker.