Articles for Palestine

On 13 May 2016, the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) published its Concluding Observations following the submission by Israel of its fifth periodic report and the review sessions held on 3 and 4 May 2016.

Alkarama welcomes the release, on 24 April 2016, of 12-year-old Palestinian student Dima Al-Wawi, who was arrested on her way to school on 9 February 2016 and, on 18 February, was sentenced by the Israeli Ofer Court to four months in prison for “carrying a knife”, which according to the court, would have been used to kill Israeli settlers.

On 14 December 2015, 24-year-old circus performer Mohammad Faisal Nafez Abu Sakha was arrested by Israel Forces and later placed in administrative detention for six months for allegedly “being a member of an illegal organisation,” an accusation he denies.

On 18 February 2016, 12-year-old student Dima Al-Wawi was sentenced by the Israeli Ofer Court to four and a half months in prison and a fine of 8,000 Shekel (US$ 2,000) for "carrying a knife in her backpack, attempting to kill Israeli settlers and threatening Israel's security." She is currently detained in a prison for women together with other juvenile prisoners and her family is not allowed to visit her.

In the middle of the night on 8 January 2016, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) destroyed Shafeeq Halabi's house in Surda, a village north of Ramallah, in reprisal against Halabi's son Muhannad shot dead by the police three months earlier for stabbing Israelis.

On 21 November 2015, 34-year-old reporter at Al Majd TV Mohammad-Adeeb Ahmad Sulaiman Alqeeq was arrested from his home by Israeli soldiers and taken to the Al Jalameh prison, where he was subjected to periods of incommunicado detention and torture. Accused of "inciting violence through the media", Alqeeq remains since in administrative detention.

Alkarama welcomed the release, on 11 January 2016, of Ali Mustafa Ahmad Hanoon, a blind Palestinian Imam arrested by Israeli soldiers in May 2014. Ali Mustafa was arbitrarily held in administrative detention for 20 months before being released.

On 26 July 2014, 20-year-old Fares Ghaleb Mohammad Dar-Sheikh-Saadah was arrested by members of the Israeli army at a checkpoint in Hebron, a city in the southern West Bank, and taken to the Ktzi'ot Prison in the Negev desert. In April 2015, after an incident at the prison, Fares was transferred to the Megiddo Prison in northern Israel, known for its repeated abuses of Palestinian children, where he has been detained in solitary confinement ever since.

On 26 November 2015, Mohammed Mahdi Saleh Suleiman − a Palestinian teenager arrested on 15 March 2013, tortured and arbitrarily detained for more than two years awaiting trial − was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment and to pay fine of 30,000 Shekel by the Salem Military Court for, among several other charges, "throwing stones." Mohamed is one of the five Palestinian boys from Hares – the 'Hares Boys' case – accused of "attempted murder" by way of throwing stones who have been detained since their arr

On 28 October 2015, the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) held a special session, which convened together Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) to address the current situation of increased violence and human rights violations in t