Israeli citizen detained for months by Palestinian police, in breach of Oslo Accords
Lawyers for 21-year-old Muhammad Odeh say ongoing detention in Nablus ‘puts his life at risk’ as PA holds him without trial; Israeli authorities unresponsive
An Israeli citizen has been in Palestinian Authority detention in the West Bank for five months without any legal recourse or help from Israeli authorities.
According to his family and lawyers, 21-year-old Muhammad Odeh was detained by Palestinian security forces in September on allegations that he robbed a truck transporting cigarettes through PA-controlled territory in the West Bank.
“His status isn’t clear — there are no charges filed against him, there is no trial underway… he is on standby,” Odeh’s lawyer, Reda Anbusi, told The Times of Israel.
Despite the fact that his arrest by Palestinian police blatantly violates the Oslo Accords, Israeli authorities responsible for Odeh’s return have not managed to secure his release, though they are aware of the matter. The case was first reported by Shomrim -The Center for Media and Democracy in Israel, last week.
Odeh’s father, Abdallah, filed two complaints with West Bank police regarding the arrest, but both were closed months ago.
“No one is able to give me any answers. Each agency pushes [the issue] off onto other agencies,” lamented Abdallah, who characterized his life since his son’s arrest as frantically running from place to place, turning to both Israeli and Palestinian officials for help.
Meanwhile, the 21-year-old is in great distress, enduring harsh conditions in a Nablus detention facility, according to his lawyer Reda Anbusi, who is in contact with Odeh by weekly phone calls.
“He once told me that he was contemplating suicide,” Anbusi said. “He is in a room without a mattress. Sometimes there are up to 20 people in the same room; it’s really difficult for him.”
In a letter he sent to his family via an detainee who was released, Odeh detailed being “beaten and tortured, physically and emotionally.” He added that guards had encouraged him to hang himself, telling him that the Israeli government would not work for his release.
Until his arrest, Muhammad Odeh lived with his father and seven sisters in Jaljulia, an Arab town in central Israel.
According to his father, Odeh was wrongly accused by Palestinian police of joining up with four others to rob a truck transporting cigarettes in the West Bank. But Abdallah insists that his son was in the house with his family on December 24, 2023, the day the crime was committed
The following September, Odeh was contacted by Palestinian police and called to Nablus to provide an alibi to investigators regarding the incident. He was then arrested on the spot.
Anbusi emphasized that no indictment was ever filed against Odeh in connection with the robbery.
Months before Odeh’s arrest, prosecutors indicted five suspects in connection with the incident, including Muhammad Jasser Abdallah Qaq from the West Bank city of Salfit.
In his letter, Odeh divulged that Palestinian guards alleged he is Qaq, a claim he denied to no avail.
Odeh’s full name, as he signed it on the letter, is Muhammad Abdallah Jasser Odeh, markedly similar to Qaq’s.
Although Qaq is listed on the indictment, the faceless suspect is never mentioned in the ensuing written statement, which only accuses the first four indicted men of involvement in the crime.
Odeh’s father and lawyers said that the true burglars in the case erroneously mentioned his name to Palestinian police, assuming that they wouldn’t try to arrest an Israeli citizen.
One of the suspects confessed this to investigators on May 21, 2024, saying he gave police the name “Muhammad Odeh” along with the names of other Arab Israelis, in order to cover for his accomplices. Prosecutors filed their indictment in June.
But a few months later, after the suspect admitted to providing police with names of uninvolved Arab Israelis, Palestinian police arrested Odeh regardless.
“They are holding him and demanding money for his return,” said Abdallah, who added that the money would reimburse the robbed driver for his truck — set on fire by the perpetrators — and his stolen cigarettes.
Odeh’s lawyers stressed that the prosecutors’ allegations are beside the point and that his continued detention flies in the face of the Oslo Accords, which stipulate that Israel maintains sole jurisdiction over criminal offenses committed by its citizens in the West Bank.
“If you have an Israeli citizen, investigate him in Israel. He can’t just be detained for many months by the Palestinian Authority without any trial,” said Eran Ben-Ari, another lawyer representing the family. “He cannot remain there another minute. This situation is putting his life at risk.”
According to a security source who spoke to The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity, the duty to return Odeh to Israel lies with the Israeli police’s unit for coordination with Palestinian law enforcement.
The Israel Police have not yet responded to requests for comment regarding Odeh’s arrest.
The source also noted that it is exceedingly rare for an Israeli citizen to be held in Palestinian detention for five months. That said, this is not the only instance an Arab Israeli has been held for a long period in Palestinian Authority detention.
In January, Haaretz reported a similar case, in which a resident of Kafr Qasim was arrested and detained by Palestinian police in April 2024. According to a source who spoke to the paper, Israeli authorities have asked the PA to transfer 29-year-old Rami Amer back to Israel, but the PA refused.
The Times of Israel Community.