Israel turns occupied Palestinian territories into open-air prison: UN expert

A United Nations expert has said Israel had transformed the occupied Palestinian territories into an "open-air prison" through widespread, systematic and arbitrary detentions of Palestinians since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, said on Tuesday that the high number of criminal convictions for Palestinians stems from "violations of international law and criminalization of ordinary acts of life."

"There is no other way to define the regime that Israel has imposed on the Palestinians - which is apartheid by default -other than an open-air prison," Albanese said at a press briefing in Geneva.

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

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," Albanese said.

"Palestinians are presumed guilty without evidence, arrested without warrants, detained without charge or trial very often, and brutalised in Israeli custody," she added.

'Dual legal system'

Albanese, who said she did not visit the occupied Palestinian territories before submitting the report due to "Israel's continued refusal to facilitate her entry", also outlined what she called unlawful detention practices, saying they could amount to international crimes.

“My report does not condone any acts of violence committed by Palestinians while living under an unlawful occupation or in their pursuit to end it,” she said.

“However, we must acknowledge that most Palestinians have been convicted through a series of violations of international law, such as discrimination, persecution, and breaches of due process and for ordinary acts of life and in the exercise of legitimate civil and political rights.”

Albanese said Israel has built illegal settlements, segregated roads, walls, checkpoints, and physical infrastructure that "rests in the hands of the Israeli military, which writes, enforces, and reviews these martial laws that only apply to Palestinians," acting as an arbitrary deprivation of liberty.

She said Israeli domestic law applies to Jewish-Israeli settlers who are illegally residing in the areas.

“This dual legal system is the pillar of Israel’s apartheid regime. The presence of the Palestinian Authority does not change this reality, nor does it alter Israel’s obligations under international law.”