Inside Story

Why are so many Palestinians imprisoned in Israel?

Thousands of Palestinians are held in Israeli jails and the number is increasing daily.

Hamas has always made the freedom of Palestinian prisoners one of the conditions for the release of Israeli and foreign captives.

And it’s one of the terms of the truce that is set to begin on Friday.

An estimated 7,800 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails, and dozens more are arrested in the occupied West Bank every day.

Israel’s use of administrative detention means it can imprison Palestinians without charging them – a practice human rights groups say violates international law.

Is Israel using mass detention as a weapon of war?

Presenter: Folly Bah Thibault

Guests:

Mustafa Barghouti – Secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative

Budour Hassan – Researcher on Israel and Palestine at Amnesty International

Ayed Abu Eqtaish – Accountability programme director at Defense for Children International – Palestine who specialises in child detentions