A/HRC/16/71 arrested at checkpoints, on the street and during home raids. Children and their families were seldom informed of the charges against them.55 Children were subjected to beating, kicking, verbal abuse and threats during interrogation. An average of 303 Palestinian children (12–17 years old) were detained in Israeli prisons during the reporting period,56 in contravention of article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. At the end of October, 256 children remained in Israeli detention, including 34 between the ages of 12–15 years.57 Two children had remained in detention without charge or trial since March.58 As of August, 42.5 per cent of Palestinian children in Israeli prisons were held in facilities with adults.59 Children as young as thirteen were sentenced to house arrest away from their families.60 OHCHR documented the case of a 13-year-old resident of Hebron who was sentenced to five months of house arrest in a home away from his family.61 6. Arbitrary detention by the Palestinian Authority and treatment in detention 49. Palestinian Authority security forces detained citizens throughout the West Bank without following appropriate legal procedures, in violation of international human rights law62 and the Palestinian Basic Law. From March to the conclusion of the reporting period, hundreds of Palestinians were arbitrarily detained. In many of those cases, ill-treatment was carried out by the Palestinian General Intelligence Services (Mukhabarat) or the Palestinian Preventive Security Service (PSS). 50. The arrests carried out by Palestinian security forces targeted PLC members, university professors, journalists and ordinary citizens. On 21 September, a Palestinian security force raided the house of a PLC member in Deir Al Ghusun and transported him to the security compound (Mukata’a) in Tulkarem before he was released.63 Journalists were also victims of arbitrary detention. In March, the Mukhabarat arrested a Palestinian journalist while he crossed the Allenby Bridge. He was released after spending 15 days in the Mukhabarat interrogation centre in Jericho. In May, he was re-arrested and detained for approximately ten days in Juneid prison. In neither case was he charged with a crime. He was ill-treated and, when not detained, was not permitted to travel to Jordan – where he lives and works.64 Employees of Islamic charities were also targeted by Palestinian security services. On 13 September, PSS in Hebron arrested a man who was transferred to Adh Dhahiriya and later to the PSS detention facility in Jericho. The man was detained until 3 November, whereupon he was released without having been charged.65 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 14 Defence for Children International-Palestine (DCI-Palestine), submission to European Parliament Sub-Committee on Human Rights on the hearing on Situation in Prisons in Israel and Palestine, 25 October 2010. DCI-Palestine, Detention Bulletin, October 2010. Ibid. Ibid. DCI-Palestine, “Submission to European Parliament” (citing figures provided by the Israeli Prison Service). See Wadi Hilweh Information Center, “New policies of arrest and deportation against Silwan children”, 30 October 2010. Available from http://silwanic.net/?p=7978. Also “Silwan youth placed on house arrest in neighboring towns”, 16 November 2010. Available from http://silwanic.net/?p=8609. Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations Geneva, letter to the High Commissioner dated 1 October 2010. For example, article 9 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Case monitored by OHCHR on 29 September. Case monitored by OHCHR on 27 May. Case monitored by OHCHR on 11 November.