Ofer Prison

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Ofer Prison

Ofer Prison (Kele Ofer), formerly officially known as Incarceration Facility 385 (???? ????? 385), is an Israel

Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
i incarceration facility

Incarceration facility (Israel)

An incarceration facility is the official name given by the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Prison Service to one of several prisons in Israel used to hold Palestinian prisoners - either under sentence or under administrative detention....
(???? ????? mitkan kli'a, abbr. Matak) located in the West Bank

West Bank

The West Bank is the eastern Part of the Palestinian territories on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel....
, between Ramallah

Ramallah

Ramallah is a Palestinian people city in the central West Bank adjacent to al-Bireh with a population nearly 25,500. Ramallah is located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem and currently serves as the administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority....
/Beituniya and Giv'at Ze'ev

Giv'at Ze'ev

Giv'at Ze'ev is an Israeli settlement and town governed by a Local council , located northwest of Jerusalem. While it lies within the borders of the Matte Binyamin Regional Council, it is a separate municipal entity....
. It is one of three facilities of the same nature, including the Megiddo and Ktzi'ot prisons.

Ofer Prison is run by the Israel Prison Service

Israel Prison Service

The Israel Prison Service , commonly known in Israel by its acronym Shabas , is the Israeli prison service. It is responsible for maintaining civilian prisons in Israel, as well as some security prisons containing Palestinian detainees....
and like the other two facilities, used to operated by the Israel Defense Forces

Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew Acronym and initialism Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the GOC Army Headquarters, Israeli Air Force and Israeli navy....
' Military Police Corps.

When under IDF control, it was capable of holding up to 800 prisoners, both tried and those under administrative detention

Administrative detention

Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial, usually for National security reasons. A large number of countries , both Democracy and undemocratic, resort to administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism, control illegal immigration, or to protect the ruling regime....
.

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Encyclopedia

Ofer Prison (Kele Ofer), formerly officially known as Incarceration Facility 385 (???? ????? 385), is an Israel

Israel

Incarceration facility (Israel)

West Bank

Ramallah

Giv'at Ze'ev

Israel Prison Service

Israel Defense Forces

Administrative detention

History

Camp Ofer was originally founded in December 1968, on the ruins of Camp Yardeni, a base which was located there before the Six-Day War

Six-Day War

In the Six-Day War of June 5-10, 1967, Israel defeated the armies of the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. In Arabic, the war is called ....
. It was named after lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the army and most Marine and air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel....
Zvi Ofer, the commander of the Haruv Reconnaissance Unit, who was killed in action earlier in the same year.

The prison was built in the base in 1988, after the onset of the First Intifada

First Intifada

The First Intifada was a mass Palestinian Rebellion against Israeli rule in the Palestinian Territories. The rebellion began in the Jabalya Camp refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem....
. Following the Oslo Accords

Oslo Accords

The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles was a milestone in the Palestinian - Israeli conflict....
, and the numerous prisoner releases of 1995, Ofer's remaining prisoners and detainees were moved to Megiddo Prison, and Ofer was closed.

It was finally officially re-opened on March 29, 2002, as part of Operation Defensive Shield

Operation Defensive Shield

Operation Defensive Shield was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces in 2002, during the course of the Second Intifada....
. Its full construction was set to be completed on August 10, 2002.

On October 3, 2006, control of Ofer Prison was moved to the Israel Prison Service

Israel Prison Service

The Israel Prison Service , commonly known in Israel by its acronym Shabas , is the Israeli prison service. It is responsible for maintaining civilian prisons in Israel, as well as some security prisons containing Palestinian detainees....
, making it the last incarceration facility for Palestinians to be moved to the IPS (although two detention centers in the West Bank are still controlled by the Military Police Corps).

Staff

As of 2006, Ofer Prison is staffed by the Israel Prison Service, which took control of it in 2006. The staff consists of jailors and officers, as well as a contingent of IPS's special unit, Metzada, and interrogators from the Shabak.

Before IPS, the prison was run by the IDF's Military Police Corps. The staff included soldiers who completed the Palestinian detainees' jailors (Metaplei Atzurei HaShtahim) course, including the Company for Special Tasks (abbr. Palmam). The prison as a whole was a battalion

Battalion

A battalion is a military unit of around 500-1500 men usually consisting of between two and seven company and typically commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel....
-level unit, commanded by a lieutenant colonel.

Commanders

Ofer Prison is headed by Colonel Asher Vaknin.