ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews restrictions on the rights of Arabs in Israel imposed on security grounds. The issue of security control cannot be examined in a vacuum. The State of Israel has, from its inception, faced very real security problems. The very real nature of the country’s security problems does not imply that the wide-scale use of legal mechanisms to limit the liberties of Arab citizens was justified on security grounds. Decisions of the courts upholding security-related restrictions on the liberties of an individual may be seen purely as a means of legitimizing political decisions. The Supreme Court of Israel has refused to accept that “state security” is an absolute value any threat to which may justify restrictions on the liberties of the individual. The reviewing judge may depart from the rules of evidence and may even hear evidence without the detainee or his counsel being present; if he is satisfied that disclosing the evidence may impair state or public security.
