Statement Issued by the American Center for Justice (ACJ) Regarding Legislative Efforts to Impose the Death Penalty on Palestinian Prisoners

The American Center for Justice is closely monitoring Israeli legislative initiatives, putting the lives of thousands of Palestinian prisoners at risk of execution. This development constitutes a serious regression that strikes at the very core of the international legal system, placing the rules of international humanitarian law under a dangerous test that threatens their integrity and survival.
These efforts stand in direct contradiction to Common Article 3 of the four Geneva Conventions, which prohibits the passing and carrying out of death sentences without a prior judgment issued by a regularly constituted court affording all judicial guarantees recognized as indispensable. Israeli military courts operating in the occupied territories lack even the minimum of such guarantees. Their reliance on exceptional procedures and secret evidence undermines the right to defense, thereby stripping these courts of legitimacy. Consequently, any death sentences issued by such bodies amount to arbitrary executions that rise to the level of war crimes.
This legislative trajectory subjects detainees to classifications that effectively deprive them of the protections of international law, transforming the judicial system into an instrument of retaliation. It further empties international treaty provisions of their binding substance and sets a dangerous precedent by granting domestic laws of occupation supremacy over peremptory norms of international humanitarian law.
Accordingly, the American Center for Justice firmly rejects this legislative direction and calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to fulfill their legal obligations to ensure respect for peremptory norms. The Center also urges United Nations bodies, particularly the General Assembly and the Security Council, to take concrete measures to halt this legislative overreach. In parallel, it calls on UN human rights mechanisms to document these violations and refer them to the International Criminal Court to exercise its jurisdiction and activate accountability mechanisms under the Rome Statute, with the aim of preventing the erosion of the international protection system and curbing any attempts to legitimize grave violations of the right to life.
American Center for Justice (ACJ)
30 March 2026