UN: Arbitrary detention has made the Palestinian territories an 'open-air prison'

A report submitted to the UNHRC by UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Francesca Albanese found that since 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinians, including children as young as 12, had been arrested and detained by Israeli authorities.

News Center- Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, has submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council. She told reporters in Geneva that Israel had transformed the Palestinian territories into an “open-air prison” through widespread detentions of Palestinians.

More than 800,000 Palestinians, including children, have been arrested

She said that Israel had carried out widespread, systematic and arbitrary detention of Palestinians since the 1967 war, known in Israel as the Six-Day War.

In a report presented to the UNHRC on Monday, Francesca Albanese found that since 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinians, including children as young as 12, had been arrested and detained by Israeli authorities.

The report said it was based on a six-month investigation and “consultations, testimonies, stakeholders' contributions, and a comprehensive review of primary and public sources.”

“By deeming all Palestinians as a potential security threat, Israel is blurring the line between its own security and the security of its annexation plan ... Palestinians are presumed guilty without evidence, arrested without warrants, detained without charge or trial very often, and brutalized in Israeli custody,” Francesca Albanese said at a briefing for journalists.

31 women and 160 children are behind bars in Israel

In April, the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees, reported that 4,900 prisoners, including 31 women and 160 children, were detained in Israel. According to the Palestinian authorities and human rights organizations, more than one million Palestinians have been arrested and detained by Israeli authorities since 1967.