The subjugation of Palestinians continues in the occupied territories, even as the spotlight has moved from the Gaza conflict to Israel’s wars on Iran and Lebanon. However, as activists continue to document Israeli carceral practices before and after the 2025 ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Middle East Policy has just published the testimonies of 50 Palestinian women about their treatment in custody, including allegations of gender-based violence such as sexual harassment and threats of rape, as well as physical and psychological abuse and inhumane conditions. The article is free to read for the next month.
Middle East Policy has just released its 167th issue, with articles covering Palestinian rights, Jordan’s maneuvering between Israel and Iran, and Turkey’s geopolitical ambitions (see table of contents below). Readers can still access our free special issue, Washington’s War on Iran, featuring 14 analyses of the conflict, including Tehran’s response to the June 2025 war, the voices of protesters against the Islamic Republic, and parallels with the 2003 Iraq invasion, especially the groupthink that produced the American folly. If you find this newsletter useful, please forward it to others you believe will benefit; register to receive our weekly updates here. And please follow us on the social media platforms X and LinkedIn.
In their examination of the Israeli carceral system, Oqab Jabali and Saqer Jabali interview 50 women from Gaza and the West Bank, who share their experiences of imprisonment at the hands of the occupying forces. The former detainees reveal beatings, strip searches, solitary confinement, and denial of medical care, often in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions with little access to legal support.
Detainees in this study’s sample reported trauma from the moment of arrest. This includes physical violence, such as rifle butts to the ribs, dragging by hair, beatings to the abdomen, and prolonged shackling. “I was beaten on my stomach during arrest; my clothes were torn, and I bled heavily for 20 days,” recounted a 29-year-old mother of two from Hebron. “I was denied medical attention despite repeated requests and held in solitary confinement in a filthy cell without food.” A 17-year-old student from Ramallah thoroughly described a similar experience: “I was shackled for hours, deprived of sleep as loud music played nonstop, and then strip searched and electroshocked after refusing to comply.” Participants’ descriptions of electric shocks and stress positions align with patterns of ill-treatment documented by UN bodies. “They didn’t ask questions first,” one 21-year-old student explained. “They broke you first.”
These women, whose stays in detention lasted between six and 42 months, report a range of gender-based physical and psychological abuse. This includes the denial of feminine hygiene products, threats against family members, and inadequate protections for unborn or newborn children. One female detainee, “three months pregnant, was interrogated for hours while shackled, denied prenatal vitamins, and refused water,” Jabali and Jabali write.
Electrified torture is another allegation leveled by the Palestinian women. “I lost feeling in my hands temporarily, and my whole body shook uncontrollably,” one woman said in an interview. “I begged them to stop, but they kept shocking me,” recounted another. “The pain was unbearable and left marks on my skin.”
The authors conclude with a call for global action to ensure accountability, protect detainees’ rights, and secure the release of all Palestinian female prisoners. The article by Oqab Jabali and Saqer Jabali is free to read for the next month.
You can find other incisive examinations in our free special issue, Washington’s War on Iran, and in The Israel-Iran War, our coverage of the 2025 campaign against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. And check out the Middle East Policy Council’s website for insights from its analysts.
Middle East Policy, Spring 2026
JUSTICE IN PALESTINE
‘I Thought I Would Die’:
Testimony from Palestinian Women Jailed by Israel
Oqab Jabali | Saqer Jabali—free to read!
Jerusalem and the Unresolved Question of Sovereignty
Havva Yavuz
AMMAN’S BALANCING ACT
Jordan’s Role in Establishing a Sunni-Israeli Alliance Against Iran
Ronen Yitzhak—free to read!
Jordan’s Stability and Regime Survival amid the War on Palestinians
Nur Köprülü | Fadi Al-Ghrouf
Explaining the Post-October 7 Durability of Israel’s Peace Deals with Egypt and Jordan
Chen Kertcher | Carmela Lutmar—open access!
ANKARA’S AMBITIONS
Regime Change in Syria and the Emerging Israel-Turkey Conflict
Mehmet Doğan Üçok
Geopolitics and Aspirations for Sustainability: Turkey’s Emergence as an Energy Hub
Umud Shokri—open access!
Ottoman Coup Traditions and the Republican Army’s Legacy
Sertif Demir | Yaşar Ertürk
TURKEY-GULF RELATIONS
Geopolitical Rebranding of the ‘New Syria’ amid the Turkey-Gulf Rapprochement
Hae Won Jeong
Turkey’s Relations with Gulf States: Temporary Shift or Permanent Alignment?
Engin Koç
BOOK REVIEW
Gülistan Gürbey et al., Between Diplomacy and Non-Diplomacy: Foreign Relations of Kurdistan-Iraq and Palestine
Reviewed by Hogr Tarkhani
Daniel Drewski and Jürgen Gerhards, Framing Refugees: How the Admission of Refugees is Debated in Six Countries across the World
Reviewed by Emrah Atar
Peter Beinart, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning; and Omar El Akkad, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
Reviewed by A.R. Joyce