For example:
-- besides needing permission to visit clients, lawyers must have proof of power of attorney from prisoners' families even though requiring this has no legal basis and getting it is burdensome given West Bank travel restrictions;
-- interviewing prisoners requires knowing where they're held; learning when they're moved and where; dealing with orders barring meetings with clients; putting up with difficult travel through checkpoints; long waits inside prisons; limited amounts of time with clients; speaking with them on phones behind a thick plastic window easily monitored by authorities; and restricted access to documents; it makes some attorneys call these obstacles "a way of making the lawyer think a thousand times before deciding to visit the prison" under a judicial process rigged to get convictions.
Scheduling is another problem in military courts. Lawyers must report there by 9:30 AM, then endure unreliable timetables for hearings. An entire day may be consumed for a 15-minute one, and some attorneys report that they waited until 7PM for it to begin. They also say they're treated like prisoners themselves because their clients have faint hope for justice, yet they do their best under a very unfair system practically assuring convictions.
Entering facilities is nerve-wracking and intimidating as well. West Bank lawyers aren't allowed to drive to military courts on the grounds that they pose security threats. Once at a facility, they endure waits to be admitted. They need soldiers to unlock gates. Some are cooperative, others not, and then they must clear security. Those in traditional Islamic dress are especially pressed to prove they're lawyers, not terrorists seeking entry.
One attorney described his Gaza experience saying:
"As a lawyer, you are a cow. They treat us like they are trying to milk us. They squeeze everything from us: our dignity, our time - everything."
Logistical obstacles are also daunting in the West Bank. For Gaza-based lawyers, they're even more restrictive, especially since Israel's "disengagement" in August-September 2005 and now that Gaza remains under siege.
Prior to summer 2005, Gazans were tried in the Erez military court on the Gaza/Israeli border through which lawyers needed permission to cross. From 2003 - 2005, only two got it, and they endured "obtrusive security procedures," including public and at times embarrassing searches, long delays, and no set hearing schedules.
In addition, whenever border crossings were closed, lawyers were denied access to Erez, so weren't able to assist clients and couldn't see them "during their detention at facilities inside Israel."
Post-disengagement, Erez was closed and lawyers are now denied access to Israeli military courts and prisons inside Israel. Gazans arrested are usually held in Askalan/Shikma prison, then tried or given detention hearings at the B'ir Sab'a/Beersheba courthouse inside Israel. Only lawyers with Israeli citizenship may represent them. Gazan attorneys "are reduced to playing the tole of messengers between the families of prisoners and lawyers inside Israel."
Language is another obstacle as military and civil court proceedings are in Hebrew. Lawyers must be proficient enough to understand them. Palestinians may not be and require Arabic translations, a process their attorneys call "uneven" at best. Also, translators speak so quietly that detainees may not understand the most perfect translation, so can't follow the proceedings properly. Nor can their families consigned to the back of courtrooms.
Another problem is a lack of official court proceedings in Arabic, so prisoner responses become "the answers of the guy who is translating." In addition, "all confessions, statements, police reports, military codes and judicial rulings are provided in Hebrew without translation, even though Arabic is an official language in Israel." But not in military or civil courts.
Under West Bank military orders, unauthorized political activities are crimes, including putting up posters, writing slogans on walls, being members of certain political parties or organizations, displaying Palestinian flags or symbols, attending demonstrations, and socializing with persons classified as security threats - legal activities in democracies but not in Israel or the OPT.
Palestinians engaging in them are prosecuted under the umbrella charge of "threatening the security of the state." They bear the burden of proof, so guilty unless proved innocent is the legal standard in violation of international law. In addition, lawyers face months of delay to learn the charges against clients that are often vague and lack details, including about claimed offenses, dates, time and place where occurred plus evidence that would hold up in legitimate proceedings.
"Lawyers representing administrative detainees must contend with impossibly vague charges" such as "being a threat to the security of the area with no other details provided." Even when more information is gotten, it's only after clients have been held for months.
