On Thursday, 24 July, five of Israel's most prominent authors published an open letter to Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai, calling on him to end the practice of administrative detention.
In the coming weeks, additional open letters will be published in the Israeli press, signed by Israelis from all walks of life. The text of the open letter is translated below. If you would like your name to appear on this open letter, please let us know. If you contact us via e-mail, specify how your name is spelled in Hebrew.
In order to cover the cost of publishing the letters, we request a contribution of 100 shekels per signatory (and additional donations are welcome). Checks can be sent to B'Tselem. Please indicate that the money is for the administrative detention letter.
The following is the text of the open letter:
We the following join the recently published call of authors to Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai concerning administrative detention:
Dear Minister,
Today, some 250 Palestinians are being held in prisons in Israel, without trial, under administrative detention. Some of them have been in detention for more than a year; some have been detained for two, three, and even five years.
The administrative detainees do not know the reason for their detention: the information against them is classified. Hence neither the detainees nor their lawyers are able to confront the allegations. Moreover, none of the detainees know when they will be released; theoretically their detention can be prolonged indefinitely.
International law, including treaties which Israel has signed, allows the use of administrative detention only in cases of emergency, for limited periods of time, as a preventive measure only - not as a punishment. There can be no doubt that administrative detention which lasts for years does not fall within these criteria. The use of administrative detention as punishment, whether against Palestinians or Israelis, is totally unacceptable, legally, practically and morally.
Out of deep concern for the protection of moral and legal standards in Israel, we call upon you to act urgently in one of two ways: if there is evidence against the administrative detainees, bring them to trial without delay; if not, release them at once.
We cannot allow human beings to rot in Israeli prisons for years without trial!
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