As part of its ongoing examination of the law enforcement system’s handling of ideologically motivated offenses committed by Israeli citizens against Palestinians and their property, Yesh Din published a data sheet that collects and analyzes information based on its monitoring of Samaria and Judea (SJ) District Police investigations files for such offenses. The data shows that only 9 percent of the investigation files for ideologically motivated offenses against Palestinians in the West Bank led to indictment.

The data sheet presents findings about the results of 642 investigation files handled by the SJ District Police following complaints submitted by Palestinian residents of the West Bank regarding offenses by Israeli citizens against them and their property.

The vast majority of investigations – over 90 percent – end with the closing of the case on the grounds of investigative failure, for example, “unknown offender,” “insufficient evidence” and files that were lost.

The rate of failure is exceptionally high when it comes to investigations into offenses involving violence and property damage. Seventy-eight percent of cases of violence and 93 percent of cases of property damage were closed on grounds that suggest that the investigators failed to do their job.