What Does Israel Publish on Complaints Against Settler Violence?
Israel’s State Comptroller audited the Samaria and Judea police district and the closing of criminal files.
12,865 cases of disturbing public order, security violations and damage to property were opened in the Israel Police’s Samaria and Judea District in 2020, a police count of the district’s own case openings, published by the State Comptroller of Israel in a follow-up audit presented to the Knesset State Audit Committee on 15 February 2022. That audit, and its sister chapter in the same May 2022 report on how the Police and the State Attorney’s Office close criminal files, are what Israel’s state audit institution has published on the receiving end of complaints. Neither carries a count of complaints filed by Palestinian residents over violence by Israeli civilians. The figures below are what the two audits do publish.
| Figure | What it counts | Period |
|---|---|---|
| 12,865 | Cases opened in the Samaria and Judea District for disturbing public order, security violations and damage to property, the district’s own count | 2020 |
| NIS 270 million | The audit’s own estimate of traffic fines issued to Palestinian drivers and left uncollected | 2014 to 2021 |
| About 55,000 | Suspects’ files closed on the ground of lack of evidence, about 60% of the files closed that year, approximately 90,000 | 2020 |
| 41% to 58% | Share of files the Police Investigations Department closed on the ground of lack of evidence, at the start and end of the window | 2015 to 2020 |
| About 94% | Complainants’ appeals dismissed by the Appeals Unit at the State Attorney’s Office, on the Unit’s own count | 2018 to 2020 |
| None | Counts of complaints filed by Palestinian residents over violence by Israeli civilians, in either audit | As at the audits |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, State Comptroller Report, May 2022, the chapter on the Samaria and Judea District of the Israel Police and the chapter on Closing Criminal Files by the Israel Police and the Office of the State Attorney.
The Comptroller’s 2022 follow-up audit reports unremedied policing deficiencies
The State Comptroller of Israel examined the Israel Police, COGAT, the Civil Administration and the IDF from February to August 2021, with supplementary examinations to November 2021, testing whether deficiencies raised in an earlier audit of the district had been rectified. The district was established in September 1994 and runs from Mount Hebron to the Megiddo region and from the Judea and Samaria boundary line to the Jordan Valley. The Comptroller published the report, in its own words, “while imposing confidentiality on sections of it,” so every count in it stands over a partially published document.
| Item | Status at the follow-up audit |
|---|---|
| Bulletproof vehicles unsuited to the district’s missions, unchanged in kind and number as at June 2021 | Not rectified |
| Most ceramic vests past their plate expiry date | Not rectified |
| Transfer of Palestinian vehicle and driver licensing information from the Civil Administration to the Police | Not rectified |
| Investigation of falsified real-estate transactions | Not rectified |
| Control Center staffing, training and shielding, with an alternative centre inaugurated at national headquarters in November 2020 | Rectified |
| Authority to examine gunfire by Border Police officers under IDF command that injured or killed Palestinians, transferred to the IDF and Military Police from October 2019 | Rectified |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, Samaria and Judea District of the Israel Police, Follow-up Audit, May 2022.
The Comptroller audited how police and prosecutors close criminal files
The State Comptroller of Israel examined the grounds on which criminal files against suspects are closed, from February to July 2021, at the State Attorney’s Office and the Israel Police. It reported that the Police and the State Attorney’s Office closed about 55,000 suspects’ files on the ground of lack of evidence in 2020, about 60% of the approximately 90,000 files closed that year, each a count by those bodies of their own case handling. It also reported that the Police keep no data on closures for lack of guilt in the computerised systems of their Research and Statistics Department, and that in 30% to 40% of closed files no notice of closing was sent to the complainant or the suspect.
Which body receives a complaint against an Israeli civilian in Area C?
Article XVII(2) of the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, in the English text published by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a party to it, provides that the Council’s personal jurisdiction applies “to all persons, except for Israelis,” and Article XVII(1) places settlements and Israelis outside its jurisdiction altogether. Article XVII(4)(a) states that Israel, through its military government, “has the authority over areas that are not under the territorial jurisdiction of the Council, powers and responsibilities not transferred to the Council and Israelis.” The split those clauses create is set out in the two legal tracks in the West Bank.
No Israeli body publishes a count of settler-violence complaints filed
The State Comptroller of Israel published, in Annual Report 66b of 2016, the Civil Administration Supervision Unit’s own counts of illegal construction it identified in each sector, taken from the unit’s 2013 summary report. The same audit records that the Defence Minister decided in December 2013 to establish a unit to conduct criminal investigations of planning and building offences in the area, and that at the audit’s close it had not been established.
| Figure | What it counts | Period |
|---|---|---|
| 13,481 | Illegal construction cases the unit identified in the Palestinian sector, on its own count | 1997 to 2013 |
| 3,813 | Of those 13,481, the cases demolished, 28% | 1997 to 2013 |
| 6,605 | Illegal construction cases the unit identified in the Israeli sector, on its own count | 1997 to 2013 |
| 1,807 | Of those 6,605, the cases demolished, 27% | 1997 to 2013 |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, Annual Report 66b, 2016.
Neither the 2016 audit nor the 2022 follow-up audit of the police district publishes a count of complaints filed by Palestinian residents over violence by Israeli civilians, a figure for where the district’s stations are located, an account of access arrangements for complainants, or a filing rate. Related published records cover unauthorized outposts.
Which figures on this page may not be added together?
| Figure | What it counts | Period |
|---|---|---|
| 12,865 | Criminal case openings in one police district | 2020 |
| About 55,000 | Closures on one ground, Police and State Attorney’s Office nationally | 2020 |
| 13,481 | Planning and building cases identified by the Civil Administration Supervision Unit | 1997 to 2013 |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, chapters of May 2022 and Annual Report 66b of 2016.
These are three universes and may not be summed or divided into one another. Table 1 of the closure audit covers suspects’ files only and states that the offender unknown ground is not included in it. The approximately 90,000 figure that accompanies the about 60% share is not Table 1’s 2020 total of 80,357, so a numerator from one may not be placed over a denominator from the other. The 28% and the 27% are each a share of that sector’s own identifications, and the two sectors differ in size. Each audit examines named bodies over a stated window and closes; the Comptroller states that its findings are valid as of the date of presentation.
Questions readers ask
Who audited the Samaria and Judea police district?
The State Comptroller of Israel audited it, examining the Israel Police, COGAT, the Civil Administration and the IDF from February to August 2021, with supplementary examinations to November 2021.
Does the police district audit count complaints about settler violence?
It does not. The State Comptroller of Israel published no complaint, investigation, indictment or conviction count for offences by Israeli civilians against Palestinians in that chapter.
Does the closure audit break its figures down by complainant identity?
It does not. The State Comptroller of Israel published closure figures by ground, by year and by prosecution district, with no ethnic, national or residence breakdown.
How many appeals by complainants succeeded?
The State Comptroller of Israel reported that the Appeals Unit at the State Attorney’s Office decided about 2,000 files annually from 2018 to 2020, with indictments following in about 0.5% of appeals and approximately 94% dismissed.
How many appeals ended in an instruction to indict in 2020?
The State Comptroller of Israel recorded 7 of about 1,500 appeal files in 2020.
Do closure grounds differ between prosecution districts?
The State Comptroller of Israel found differences of about 20% between district attorneys’ offices, with the chance of a file being closed for lack of guilt at approximately 33% in the Northern District Attorney’s Office and approximately 15% in Haifa in 2020.
How many people hold a record of a closed file?
The State Comptroller of Israel reported about 830,000 adults, about 13% of Israel’s adult population, holding a Police Registry record for files closed without an indictment as at June 2021.
Were complainees always questioned before their files closed?
The State Comptroller of Israel reported about 130,000 complainees whose investigation files were opened without their being questioned under caution between 2015 and 2020, about 126,000 of those files closed on the circumstances ground.
Which body investigates Border Police gunfire that injures Palestinians?
The State Comptroller of Israel recorded that authority to examine and investigate such gunfire by Border Police officers operating under IDF command passed to the IDF and the Military Police from October 2019, following a Prime Minister’s decision of January 2018.
Who staffs the Civil Administration?
The State Comptroller of Israel reported 25 staff officers serving as the ministries’ professional representatives, within a Civil Administration of 314 employees, 202 Israeli civil servants and 112 Palestinian employees, in 2019.
Is either audit a continuing series?
Neither is. The State Comptroller of Israel publishes each as a chapter covering a named body over a stated window, and states that the findings are valid as of the date of presentation.
Sources
- Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, 1995. The Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Article XVII. English text published by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gov.il. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2016. Judea and Samaria Area: Activity of the Supervision and Enforcement Unit and Aspects of Land Registration. Annual Report 66b. mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2021. Staff Officers in the Civil Administration in the Judea and Samaria Region. Annual Report 70C, English abstract, pp. 55 to 59. mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2022. Interdisciplinary Audit: Samaria and Judea District of the Israel Police, Follow-up Audit. State Comptroller Report, May 2022, Chapter Four, p. 321. Catalogue Number 2022-A-002, ISSN 0334-9713. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2022. Closing Criminal Files by the Israel Police and the Office of the State Attorney. State Comptroller Report, May 2022, Chapter One, pp. 111 to 120. Catalogue Number 2022-A-002, ISSN 0334-9713. Official or primary record.
