failed in this seemingly uncomplicated task mostly due to the court clerk’s omission to mention the name of the arrested person in the letters and correspondence issued by the court to the prison in order to send the arrested person to the court to attend the hearing on the date mentioned in the letter. Such an omission results in adjourning the hearing and sending a new letter to ensure bringing the prisoner to the following hearing. In addition, the failure to bring the arrested person is sometimes due to the lack of police capabilities, such as the lack of fuel for vehicles in which prisoners are transported to and from the court and detention centres. The problem appeared to be particularly acute in Gaza First Instance Courts, where detainees are not timely taken to Court to attend hearings almost 40% of the time. ISTIQLAL believes that by focusing on more efficient case witness summonsing systems and ensuring that accused are brought to court timely, courts could dramatically increase their effectiveness and performance in terms of case clearance capabilities. 4. Length of trial postponements Another concerning aspect of frequent trial postponements is related to the length of the postponement itself. According to data gathered by ISTIQLAL, shown in Chart 12, a small percentage of postponements in all Courts were short (i.e. one week or less), ranging from 2% of instances in the First instance Courts in Gaza to 5,6% of instances in first Instance Courts in the West Bank. Most postponements in all monitored courts lasted over three weeks, and the majority over a month. The situation appears particularly concerning in Gaza, where over 75% of postponements lasted over a month and over 13% over three months. Chart 12 - Length of trial postponements 60% 50% Serious Crimes Court 40% 30% First Instance Courts West Bank First Instance Courts Gaza Strip 20% 10% 0% 1-7 days 8-14 days 15-21 days 22-30 days 31-60 days 61-90 days 32 90+ days