Between Execution and the Execution Law

Secretary of Foreign Relations and Media
The Higher Commission for the Follow-up of Prisoners and Released Prisoners

It is expected that the law of executing prisoners will be ratified after the approval of the Knesset’s general assembly, "the Parliament of Occupation", in the coming days after passing its preliminary and first readings and the approval of what is known as the National Security Committee, amidst threats and warnings from the so-called Minister of Internal Security, Ben Gvir, who endorsed the law after it was presented by a member of the Knesset from his own party (the Jewish Power) Limor Ben Hurvitz, which is a law that allows the official implementation of the death penalty against prisoners on the grounds of "committing acts" that led to the killing of "Jews". This law, in a simplified and condensed manner, raises many questions in legal and political circles, with warnings of its anticipated implementation in the near future in light of the escalating conditions inside prisons and the daily practices and violations committed by the occupying state, which represent serious infringements on the most basic provisions of international and humanitarian law.

Regarding this law, it is not about "beating, mourning, and wailing"; it requires more than that. For 28 months of genocide in the Gaza Strip specifically, the occupying state executed extrajudicial killings, including 84 confirmed prisoners, and the number is expected to rise significantly beyond what has been revealed. There are still other numbers kept secret in the secret prisons or enforced disappearances, and there has been no official disclosure about these numbers, which require significant efforts to uncover. Notably, however, is that the methodology of torture and ill-treatment leading to death has been expanded in an unprecedented manner over the past few months. The rise in the number of martyrs in such a short period reveals just a small portion of what is happening in the prison arenas, which have indeed turned into fields of execution, daily torture, and ongoing cruelty, granting wide powers to prison administrations without any oversight for acts of humiliation and oppression that do not cease. Therefore, the official endorsement and legislation of the death penalty is the crucial point that raises the question of why? And why now, since the previous operations of the law will fall under what framework? Do they represent condemnations of the occupying state? Where will they use the pretext of the war, i.e., the genocide on the Gaza Strip and the world's preoccupation with the atrocities committed against unarmed civilians (around 300 thousand martyrs and wounded), which provides a convenient opportunity not only to escape from punishment but also to enact more of these fascist laws.

The law of executing prisoners, according to many international reports, including the report of the Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory and international human rights organizations, firmly confirmed the commission of practices that rise to war crimes inside prisons and detention centers, including sexual assaults, beatings, torture, inhumane treatment, deliberate medical neglect, and starvation. Not only this, but it also surpasses the minimum provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and international covenants, challenging the international will in this regard. Thus, without the need to ratify the death penalty law, documenting the actions of the occupation authorities in executing citizens after arresting them alive in many areas or under the pretext of unlawful combatants in front of television screens over the past few months is well-known to everyone, without the possibility of denying what happened or evading it. But what is new this time warns that execution is becoming "legitimate" in the sense that there is a parliamentary legislative system standing behind it, endorsing and defending it before international bodies as (the implementation of a law against criminals) and undermining the legitimacy of the entire Palestinian national struggle protected by international resolutions and the United Nations and international legitimacy under a clause that guarantees the right of peoples to defend themselves and liberate their occupied land, alongside their right to choose and practice the forms of struggle they decide to achieve this noble goal of the right to independence and self-determination and national sovereignty.

The law, without the need to discuss its drawbacks and articles and what it entails of official colonial persistence in snuffing out the lives of prisoners or even delving into the details of the numbers it includes or the deceptive timeframe to object or the way to (manipulate) presenting the prisoner before the courts and the complicity of the judiciary in covering many of the crimes of the occupation, came to achieve several objectives, primarily undermining the legitimacy of the national struggle and the right to it, and forming an additional intimidation factor to limit "struggle" as it uses, for example, policies of home demolitions or collective punishments and closures or other forms, in addition to attempting to break the will of the Palestinian people by direct brute force, proving that the occupation can execute any operations of executions, massacres, or displacement without considering the laws or international covenants that could deter it. Another among many objectives is to cover up the previous execution crimes and provide protection for soldiers and prison administrations that could be placed on lists of candidates for international sanctions, even if after a while.

It may only be a few days before the law becomes effective, although it has already been applied before its enactment, as noted, against dozens of citizens, and its actual commencement will not take long either. But today, a unified, comprehensive, and effective action plan is required on all levels from political forces, human rights, humanitarian, civil institutions, and committees, then embassies, representations, and missions, placing it on the agenda of international interest as a human law amid the world's preoccupation with the ongoing war in the region and the economic crises that arise from it. Despite all this, there is an urgent need that compels everyone not to neglect this issue, which requires commencing serious and persistent official and popular local and global efforts to reach a clear international position to prevent its implementation and compel the occupying state to stop it. Not only that, but to work on applying international law to hold the occupying power accountable for the crimes it commits that do not prescribe and work on opening the file of executions, field assassinations, the series of killing, and the extermination of families, as happened in Tammoun a few days ago. It is crucial to launch a wide-scale campaign at the level of parliaments for an effective movement to boycott the Knesset of occupation under the far-right government and work on imposing deterrent international sanctions against it. Without serious, balanced, and broad movement, the law will be subjected to a formal discussion with little objection and then approved, becoming effective. We do not want to see the bodies of prisoners hanging on gallows, but we want to see them among us enjoying life among their families and loved ones, holding their children. This is what the prisoner expects who has spent his life holding onto the dream of independence and liberation.