Palestinian lawyers boycott Israeli courts in protest against strip-search

A large group of Palestinian lawyers have refused to appear before an Israeli court because they were ordered to be strip-searched before entering the courtroom. The details have been revealed in a press statement issued by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.

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The incident took place at the court convened by the Israeli occupation authorities in Salem Camp to the west of Jenin. The Palestinian lawyers were prevented from going into the court through the lawyers’ entrance and were forced to use the gate through which prisoners’ families enter. It was there that they were ordered to be strip-searched. The move was rejected out of hand by the lawyers. “The occupation authorities are trying to humiliate us through this degrading inspection procedure,” they complained.

The lawyers’ group called on local and international human rights organisations to intervene urgently to end such procedures which violate legal protocols. Palestinian lawyers inside Israel itself suspended their work and refused to attend Israeli courts out of solidarity with their colleagues.