A military court in Ofer, one of the two military courts in the West Bank, has recommended that in cases involving Palestinian defendants, the Israel Defense Forces' GOC Central Command, Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon allow the court to use the “non-conviction” mechanism employed in Israeli civilian courts.

Military judge Maj. Meir Wigisser noted that the present system of conviction and sentencing “could impair the feeling that justice is being carried out.” In a “non-conviction” arrangement, which is acceptable for light offenses committed by persons with no previous criminal record, the court sentences the defendant to a number of hours of community service. Such sentences leave the defendant without a criminal record.

The statements were made in connection with the trial of Fares Bader in Bitunya, which is located not far from Ramallah, who was convicted of having participated in a demonstration in his community in April 2011. The indictment sheet notes that Bader “struck the fence with his hands and climbed the barbed wire fence to hang a flag and pictures on it. His actions inflicted damage to the fence.”

Bader pleaded guilty and, in the stage of arguments on sentencing, his counsel, attorney Nery Ramati, requested that the “non-conviction” arrangement employed in Israeli civilian courts be applied in this case as well.

Wigisser, the presiding judge, denied the request on the grounds that he lacked the authority to implement such an arrangement and wrote in his verdict that he could not apply this arrangement simply through a single verdict.

Nevertheless, he expressed criticism of the security legislation in effect for the West Bank (the security laws for the region are announced in orders issued by the GOC Central Command) and wrote that the “present state of affairs – in which the court’s verdict must be binary, namely, conviction or acquittal – produces results that could impair the feeling that justice is being carried out.”

Moreover, Wigisser proposed that, in certain cases, the court should be authorized to have the option of issuing a warning to the defendant that he or she not repeat the offense. Wigisser sent a copy of his verdict to the legal adviser for the West Bank.

Open gallery view Relatives of a Palestinian defendant watch proceedings at the Ofer military court in the West Bank. Credit: Daniel Bar-On