Palestinians in Israeli jails rising

RAMALLAH: The number of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel’s jails has risen by 26 per cent since 2011, according to Israeli government data.
The evidence was made public at a Wednesday Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee session, which made the decision that Palestinian “security detainees” will no longer be permitted to make telephone calls to their families while in detention.
The decision to ban phone calls was based on a recommendation to the committee by Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and is based on concerns that security detainees have been communicating with outside figures in relation to plans to attack Israelis.
These phone calls have been happening despite an existing Israeli Prison Service ban on security detainees making phone calls. It appears that the ban approved by the Knesset committee will formalise an existing ban that Israeli officials admit doesn’t work.
Haaretz cited Ehud Halevy, the Israel Prison Service’s legal adviser as saying security prisoners’ actions derive “from ideological motives, and the motivation does not end with detention.”