Palestinian prisoners in Israel already face horrific conditions, with a rights group documenting the deaths of at least 94 of them in the past two years, and the rape of prisoners caught on camera.
The far-right Israeli minister responsible for prisons, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has proudly declared that conditions have gotten harsher for Palestinian prisoners under his watch. And in late October, he stood over Palestinian prisoners forced to lie face-down on the floor as he called for the death penalty to be introduced for those he termed Palestinian “terrorists”.
Ben-Gvir may soon get his wish.
In early November, the Israeli parliament passed the first reading of a bill that would introduce the death penalty for those convicted of killing Israelis if they had “racist” motives or were doing it “with the aim of harming Israel”. The bill clearly targets Palestinians, even as Israelis carry out deadly attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and Israel continues its killing of Palestinians in Gaza.
The reaction has been stark among Palestinians. What they hear is not just another legislative measure, but a signal that Israel is planning to formalise a system of lethal punishment.
“This law practically aims to execute prisoners simply for their struggle for their people’s freedom and their right to self-determination,” said Farid al-Atrash, the director of the Independent Commission for Human Rights in the occupied West Bank.
Alarm is widespread among Palestinian lawyers and activists. They claim that the law fundamentally undermines judicial safeguards, and warn that it seeks to erase the status of Palestinian detainees as protected under international law.
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