Ofer Prison
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Ofer Prison (Hebrew: כלא עופר, Kele Ofer), formerly officially known as Incarceration Facility 385 (מתקן כליאה 385), is an Israeli incarceration facility (מתקן כליאה mitkan kli'a, abbr. Matak) in the West Bank, between Ramallah/Beituniya and Giv'at Ze'ev. It is one of three prison facilities along with Megiddo and Ktzi'ot, the latter two located in Israel and not in the West Bank. Ofer Prison is run by the Israel Prison Service and like the other two facilities, used to be operated by the Israel Defense Forces' Military Police Corps.
When under IDF control, it was capable of holding up to 800 prisoners, both tried and those under administrative detention. As of September 2016, it holds about 1,250 Palestinian prisoners.[1]
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The imprisonment of children in Ofer Prison has been documented as one of the human rights abuses taking place at the prison.[2]
History
Camp Ofer was founded in December 1968, at the location of a former Jordanian Army base from before the Six-Day War. It was named after lieutenant colonel Zvi Ofer, the commander of the Haruv Reconnaissance Unit, who was killed in action earlier in the same year.[citation needed]
The prison was built in the base in 1988, after the onset of the First Intifada. Following the Oslo Accords, and the numerous prisoner releases of 1995, Ofer's remaining prisoners and detainees were moved to Megiddo Prison, and Ofer was closed.[3]
It was officially re-opened on March 29, 2002, as part of Operation Defensive Shield. Its full construction was set to be completed on August 10, 2002.
On October 3, 2006, control of Ofer Prison was moved to the Israel Prison Service, making it the last incarceration facility for Palestinians to be moved to the IPS (although two detention centers in the West Bank are still controlled by the Military Police Corps).
Human Rights abuses
Non-governmental organizations such has Machsom Watch have continuously reported the imprisonment of children in Ofer Prison.[2] A delegation of British MPs visiting the facilities alleged human rights abuses:
The children came in handcuffed with their hands in front of them but all too often their hands are cuffed behind their backs.[4]
— Richard Burden, Haaretz, 13/12/2010
Arguably more concerning observations were made by a delegation of leading British lawyers who also visited the facilities and observed the use of iron shackles on children, which they considered to be in breach of Article 40 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Standard Minimum Rules.[5]
Alleged Torture and death of Adnan al-Bursh
On 19 April 2024, Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, the head of orthopedics at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, died at Ofer Prison. He had been arrested in the Gaza Strip under unclear circumstances. The Israeli authorities did not notify his family and refused to disclose any details about his death. Fellow prisoners who knew him and had been released said that al-Bursh appeared badly tortured and starved before his death in custody.[6] Gideon Levy wrote in Haaretz that al-Bursh was tortured and beaten to death in an Israeli jail, and that the response of the Israel Prisen Service—“The service does not address the circumstances of the deaths of detainees who are not Israeli citizens.”—was pure audacity.[7]
Staff
As of 2006, Ofer Prison is staffed by the Israel Prison Service, which took control of it in 2006. The staff consists of jailors and officers, as well as a contingent of IPS's special unit, Rapid Response Unit (Keter), and interrogators from the Shabak.[citation needed]
Before IPS, the prison was run by the IDF's Military Police Corps. The staff included soldiers who completed the Palestinian detainees' jailors (Hebrew: מטפלי עצורי השטחים, Metaplei Atzurei HaShtahim) course, including the Company for Special Tasks (abbr. Palmam). The prison as a whole was a battalion-level unit, commanded by a lieutenant colonel.[citation needed]
Commanders
Ofer Prison is headed by Colonel Eran Fire.
References
- ^ Ben-Zur, Raanan (December 20, 2008). "10 Lightly Wounded as Palestinian Inmates Clash with Guards". Ynetnews. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
- ^ a b "Ofer, Mon, 22.11.10, Morning". Archived from the original on 2013-04-29. Retrieved 2011-08-02.
- ^ Asher, Danny (April 2008). Red and Blue - A Corps's Story 1948-2008 (in Hebrew). Israeli Ministry of Defense. p. 112.
- ^ "Haaretz: Otherwise Occupied / Labour is concerned". Retrieved 2011-08-02.
- ^ Sedley, S., Scotland, P., Oldham, F., Hildyard, M., Khan, J., Harrill, J., Lanchin, J., Davies, G., & Mason, M. Children in Military Custody, 2012 at 23 and 30. (Available at www.childreninmilitarycustody.org Archived 2018-08-02 at the Wayback Machine)
- ^ Jack Khoury, Bar Peleg: A Senior Gazan Doctor Died During Israeli Detention. Officials Refuse to Explain How. Haaretz, 12 May 2024.
- ^ Gideon Levy: What About the Palestinian Hostages?Haaretz, 16 May 2024.