Don most Palestinian prisoners have “blood on their hands”?
No. The vast majority of Palestinian prisoners are political prisoners who have been arbitrarily imprisoned or detained for no legitimate security reason, but instead for political expression, peaceful resistance or simply because they are Palestinian. According to B’Tselem: Security is interpreted in an extremely broad manner such that non-violent speech and political activity are considered dangerous…[This] is a blatant contradiction of the right to freedom of speech and freedom of opinion guaranteed under international law. If these same standards were applied inside Israel, half of the Likud party would be in administrative detention.”11Furthermore, of the Palestinians currently being held, thousands of them have not even been put on trial. Many Palestinians are arrested arbitrarily. For example, from February to March 2002, approximately 8,500 Palestinians were arrested arbitrarily. In many cities, all Palestinian males from the ages of 15 to 45 were rounded up and detained or i
