Adalah Requests that Family Members of West Bank Detainees and Prisoners Held in Israel Be Allowed to Visit their Relatives
On 12 November 2002, Adalah submitted a pre-petition to the Attorney General's office, requesting that the families of detainees and prisoners from the West Bank currently being held in Israel be allowed to visit their relatives at prisons and detention centers.
The pre-petition was submitted by Adalah General Director Hassan Jabareen, Advocate, on behalf of Palestinian detainees and prisoners from the West Bank who are currently being held in Israel. Relatives of these detainees and prisoners who reside in the West Bank are not able to enter Israel without a permit from the military authorities and the Ministry of Defense's Office of Coordination and Liaison. Such permits have not been issued for many months, making it impossible for West Bank residents to visit family members who are detained or imprisoned inside Israel.
Adalah argued in the pre-petition that the detainees and prisoners have the right to receive visits from their families. Such a right is recognized both in Israeli domestic and international law. Adalah argued that the Israeli government has the obligation to facilitate these visits and, accordingly, requested that arrangements be made for the transportation of detainees' and prisoners' relatives from the West Bank to prisons and detention camps in Israel, on a regular basis.
