Public Policy on Human Rights in Israel: The Perspective from a Local Military Court

This article will attempt to elaborate on human rights policies in Israel by analyzing the judicial activism in the military courts in Israel. Judicial activism as it has been claimed here is actually an equilibrium that results from the action of a number of players who operate against the backdrop of certain structural and cultural conditions, both local and international. These players include politicians, bureaucrats, interest groups, and the general public. They operate in an environment characterized by the inability of the government to function effectively (non-governability), an environment that shows the effect of law on politics and the development of an alternative political culture. This article posits that there is an increase in judicial activism after significant, violent events occur. It follows that the judicial activism of the legal system in the territories is quite similar to the one in Israel. The tension between the need for security and the desire to ensure human rights has existed in the legal system since its inception. The inability of the Israeli government to operate effectively and the collapse of the Palestinian Authority left the military courts as the actual policy-makers in the territories. Even though there is no clear-cut policy, over the years these courts, like the courts in Israel, have adopted an approach that increasingly upholds human rights.