2. Courts’ infrastructure
Another aspect that ISTIQLAL considered as revealing of Palestinian Courts’ overall
preparedness pertains to their infrastructural capabilities. Table 6 shows the indicators
ISTIQLAL considered when monitoring hearings before First Instance Courts and the Serious
Crimes Court: i) adequate police protection; ii) presence of a court recorder; iii) presence of
an usher; iv) courtroom acoustics.
Table 6
COURTS’ INFRASTRUCTURAL
PREPAREDNESS (% OF HEARINGS)
Ramallah First instance Court
Bethlehem First instance Court
Hebron First instance Court
Nablus First instance Court
Tulkarm First instance Court
Jenin First instance Court
Qalqilya First instance Court
Jericho First instance Court
First instance Courts West Bank
Gaza First instance Court
Khan Yunis First instance Court
First Instance Courts Gaza Strip
First Instance Courts average
Serious Crimes Court
Police
protection
provided
97,5
100,0
99,3
73,3
100,0
94,7
97,1
100,0
96,6
90,4
66,1
77,6
90,8
91,7
Court Clerk
present
99,4
97,3
99,6
100,0
99,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
99,3
100,0
100,0
100,0
99,5
99,5
Bailiff
present
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
99,3
100,0
100,0
92,3
99,4
100,0
100,0
100,0
99,6
100,0
Voices
heard
clearly
46,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
97,1
100,0
38,5
92,2
75,4
99,5
86,8
90,0
76,7
On average, in the vast majority of all monitored hearings courts complied with minimum
guarantees in terms of security, presence of court support staff, and courtroom acoustics.
The following paragraphs contain more detailed observations and point out cases where
courts did not reach a satisfactory performance in terms of infrastructures.
a) Police protection
In order to operate safely, courts need to be provided with adequate security measures. Trials
in some cases involve defendants charged with serious criminal offences or with affiliation to
criminal groups. The presence of security staff not only enables judges to carry out their work
without fearing for their own safety, but also allows them to manage situations where peace
and order needs to be restored inside the courtroom.
In most monitoring hearings, ISTIQLAL observed the presence of law enforcement staff. While
in courts such as Betlehem, Tulkarm and Jericho security staff was always present, in two
courts, namely Khan Yunis and Nablus, no security was provided in a significant number of
cases (respectively one third and one quarter of the monitored hearings).
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