العربية
HE
العربية
HE
On March 2, 2022, HaMoked submitted a revised petition to the HCJ demanding that summons be used as the primary method for bringing Palestinian children from the West Bank for interrogation instead of the traumatic night arrests used by the Israeli security forces as the first recourse when children are wanted for interrogation. HaMoked also demanded that the State amend the classified procedure regarding “the summoning of suspected children before a pre-planned arrest in the Samaria and Judea Area [i.e. the West Bank]”, formulated in the framework of HaMoked’s previous petition on the matter; the State has clarified that the possibility of using a summons would not apply to children “required for interrogation not by the Israel Police” or children suspected of “severe offences” or “with a criminal record of severe offences”.
On August 8, 2022, the State submitted its response to the updated petition, arguing that there was no call for judicial intervention, that there was no legal obligation to refrain from night arrests and that the procedure was never intended to have a significant impact on the scope of arrests of children in the West Bank.
According to a HaMoked report on the matter, indeed nothing had changed on the ground; in 2022, Israel continued and even expanded its unlawful practice of night arrests of children, almost all whom were not suspected of severe offences, as indicated by the fact that most of them were released soon after the arrest without any charges. The report concluded that this was a policy of arbitrary arrests meant to frighten and intimidate the civilian population.
At the end of the hearing of May 29, 2023, the Court proposed that the State consider full disclosure of the procedure as well as revision in order to establish a substantive distinction between the various ages of children.
On August 3, 2023, the State responded, announcing the decision to approve publication of the procedure, subject to redactions due to “information security constraints”. The State also updated that following the Court’s comments, three sections were added to the procedure: 3(C) that added weight is to be given to the minor’s age upon deciding the manner of bringing them for interrogation; 3(D) that night arrests are to be used as the last resort in the case of minors under age 14; 5(A) that an investigator responsible for the file of a minor required for police arrest or interrogation, must address the question of “whether an initiated arrest of the minor is necessary or is it possible to summon him for interrogation”. Therefore, the State argued the petition should be dismissed.
On September 9, 2023 HaMoked submitted its response, elaborating on the flaws in the procedure and the problems in its implementation. However, on October 25, 2023, in the shadow of the horrific war which erupted just weeks beforehand, the HCJ deleted the petition. The Court adopted the State’s stance that the petition had exhausted itself, given that the Respondents partially satisfied the remedies sought, established a new procedure in the matter and “following comments we voiced even amended the procedure and ordered its publication (subject to the redaction of certain details…)”. The Court added that “we must wait for evidence and findings regarding the manner of [the procedure’s] implementation, before we can examine if there are any remaining aspects which justify this Court’s intervention” and clarified to the petitioners that they may petition the court anew “insofar as further down the road claims arise regarding the updated procedure given the manner of its implementation”.
