Israeli and Palestinian defense attorneys declared a one-month strike Thursday to protest what they charged were intolerable conditions in the military courts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The lawyers said the “indignity imposed on our clients” made it impossible to give them a proper defense.
The strike was promptly denounced by Brig. Gen. Amnon Strasnow, the judge advocate general who is the chief legal officer of the Israel Defense Force.
He called it a most serious, irresponsible and completely unjustified step and said the courts would continue to conduct hearings in a legal manner without the attorneys.
Strasnow said that since the Palestinian uprising began 19 months ago, and especially in recent months, there has been real improvement in the work of the military courts.
The number of judges has doubled, the trials are quicker and the working conditions of the lawyers have improved, he said.
But the lawyers charged that despite the IDF’s promises, Palestinian lawyers are still harassed in court, are often denied access to their clients and are not informed of changes in the court calendar.
Abed Assali, an Arab defense attorney with extensive experience dealing with the military court system, said he was joining the strike out of respect for the legal profession.
“The shadow of the current situation, of mass arrests, collective arrests, of hundreds of automatic remand hearings in the jails, have made me reach the conclusion that I have nothing to offer my clients,” Assali said.
Felicia Langer, an Israeli lawyer who has represented clients in military courts since 1968, told reporters at a news conference in East Jerusalem that during the last year, she “realized it is almost impossible to perform any legal duties” in the military courts in the territories.
She said she reached that conclusion “because I couldn’t bear to see the people humiliated in front of me, and not being able to help.
“It is almost impossible to retain dignity and to try to defend somebody’s dignity,” she said.
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