Like every year, Yesh Din publishes a data sheet that collects and analyses information from its monitoring of investigations conducted by the Samaria and Judea (SJ) District Police for ideologically motivated offenses committed by Israelis against Palestinian residents of the West Bank and their property.

The data sheet presents findings on the outcomes of 781 investigation files handled by the SJ District Police opened as a result of complaints filed by Palestinians with the help of Yesh Din.

The findings show that only 9 percent of the investigation files for offenses committed by Israelis against Palestinians in the West Bank lead to indictments. The vast majority – more than 84 percent – closed under circumstances that suggest investigative failure, most as a result of police failure to locate the offenders or to collect sufficient evidence to put them on trial. A small number of files closed because the complaints were lost and the apparently unjustified closure of investigation files on grounds of “lack of criminal culpability.”

The failure rate is particularly high regarding the investigation of property crimes (such as arson, damage to property or crops, damage to trees, theft of agricultural produce, etc.). Indictments were issued in less than 3 percent of these cases and 95 percent of these files were closed under circumstances that suggest investigative failure.