Prisoners' Club: The Israeli Supreme Court's Decision Regarding Red Cross Visits Is Ineffective Without Implementation

SadaNews - Abdallah Al-Zaghari, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, stated that the decision issued by the Israeli Supreme Court regarding the policy of the occupation government, which prevents the International Committee of the Red Cross from visiting Palestinian prisoners and detainees, is "illegal". Despite the attention it has received, this decision remains devoid of practical effect unless translated into concrete actions that ensure the resumption of visits without delay and guarantee the protection of prisoners and their fundamental rights in accordance with the provisions of international humanitarian law.

Al-Zaghari clarified that any genuine assessment of this decision must be accompanied by a serious review of the role required from the International Committee of the Red Cross, and addressing the shortcomings that characterized its intervention during the past phase, in line with the unprecedented scale of violations faced by Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the occupation's prisons and camps.

He emphasized that this decision cannot, under any circumstances, serve as a cover or justification for overlooking the role played and still played by the Israeli Supreme Court in legitimizing the occupation's policies and its gross violations, and in entrenching a system of impunity. It cannot be separated from the broader context in which Israeli judicial institutions have contributed, to varying degrees, to cementing the crimes committed against the Palestinian people, including those committed against prisoners and detainees.

He added that the Israeli judicial system has played a more evident and dangerous role in providing legal cover for the continuation of gross violations against Palestinians since the onset of genocide, as reflected in a series of judicial decisions and procedures that affected their fundamental rights and freedoms.

He also pointed out that Israeli military courts in the West Bank continue to perform their role as one of the most prominent tools of the colonial apartheid system, entrenching arbitrary detention while contributing to establishing a system of torture and ill-treatment within the prisons, and violating the most basic guarantees of fair trial and fundamental rights of detainees. He reiterated the importance of continuing international efforts and demands aimed at dismantling these courts as a structural part of the system of oppression and colonial control.

He affirmed that the level of crimes and violations faced by Palestinian prisoners and detainees since the onset of genocide has reached unprecedented and dangerous levels, posing a direct threat to their lives and human dignity. Deliberate starvation policies, denial of medical care, the spread of diseases and epidemics, alongside systematic torture, daily abuse, and inhumane and degrading treatment, have resulted in the martyrdom of more than one hundred prisoners and detainees, with 89 identities announced so far, indicating the grave scale of crimes committed within the Israeli detention system.

Al-Zaghari renewed his call to the international human rights system, including the United Nations and its specialized mechanisms, and international human rights organizations, to move from mere monitoring, documentation, and reporting to taking practical and effective steps that lead to holding the occupying state accountable for the crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners and detainees. He stressed that the continued failure of the international community to enforce accountability reflects a deep imbalance in the international justice system, amid the prioritization of the logic of power and political interests over the principles of international law and human rights, alongside the ongoing support provided by some international powers for the occupation's policies, primarily by the United States of America.

He noted that the crimes committed by the occupation do not only affect the Palestinian people, but extend to target human rights defenders and those in solidarity with the Palestinian cause worldwide, reflecting the widening circle of targeting and violations imposed by the occupation's policies.

It is noteworthy that the number of prisoners and detainees in the occupation's prisons has reached about 9,500, including 3,324 administrative detainees, 90 female detainees, and about 360 children, in addition to 1,316 detainees classified by the occupation authorities as "illegal combatants", amid ongoing large-scale arrest campaigns and intensified crimes related to the ongoing genocide against the Gaza Strip.