Adalah to Prime Minister: Implement Goldstone Recommendation to Establish Independent Inquiry into Treatment of Palestinian and Jewish Protestors in Israel against the Military Offensive on Gaza

On 5 November 2009, Adalah sent a letter to the Israeli Prime Minister, Justice Minister and Attorney General demanding that they implement the recommendation of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict ("The Goldstone Mission") report to establish an "independent inquiry to assess whether the treatment by Israeli judicial authorities of Palestinian and Jewish Israelis expressing dissent in connection with the offensive was discriminatory, in terms of both charges and detention pending trial" (para. 1972 (g) of the report). The letter was prepared by Adalah Attorney Abeer Baker.

The Goldstone Mission recommended that Israel cease actions, which are aimed at "limiting the expression of criticism by civil society and members of the public concerning Israel’s policies and conduct during the military operations in the Gaza Strip." In other words, the Goldstone Mission recommended examining whether the Israeli legal system adopted a discriminatory policy against the anti-War protestors with regard to the charges filed against them and the lengthy periods of detention imposed on them pending trial.

In its report, the Goldstone Mission discussed at length the information contained in a report on the subject prepared and submitted to it by Adalah entitled "Prohibited Protest".

Adalah's report outlines the illegal ways and means the law enforcement authorities used to stop the protests by Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel against thes military aggression on Gaza in December 2008-January 2009. The Goldstone Mission examined the broad wave of mass arrests of protestors including minors. It also emphasized the General Security Service's (GSS) harassment campaign against Arab political activists, the suppression of legal protests, the excessive police violence used against the demonstrators, and the prevention of human rights activists and journalists from entering Gaza among other incidents in this regard.

Adalah argued in the letter that the Goldstone Mission's decision to particularly address the restriction of freedom of expression of Palestinian and Jewish citizens in Israel during the military attacks on Gaza indicates the importance of these issues. In addition, by issuing this recommendation the Mission showed its awareness to the fact that these measures are not isolated incidents, but part of the structural policies directed by law enforcement authorities in Israel toward anyone who dares to express his/her indignation against Israel's military aggression against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Accordingly, the specific importance rendered by the Mission to the demonstrators' right of freedom of expression and its criticism of the excessive ease shown by the police in suppressing the anti-War protests, obligates the Government of Israel to conduct an in-depth examination of the law enforcement authorities' breach of their duty to maintain the rights of citizens and residents of the state.

Attorney Baker added that the need to conduct a serious and official investigation of the issue also stems from the similarity between the law enforcement authorities' conduct during the attacks on the Gaza Strip and the October 2000 events. In particular, similarities exist in the mass arrests and detention of protestors, the courts' refusal to release the detainees, as well as the prosecutor's refusal to open criminal investigations into the criminal offenses committed by the police against the detainees.