The main military court in the West Bank is located in Ofer army base, nearly adjacent to the central military jail, and to road 443, used for Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories.
That is where reviews of detention on remand are held as well as military trials of adults and minors and appeals, in several halls.
Military courts are supposedly open to the public just like the civilian judicial system that serves Israel’s citizens. In actual fact, visitors are differentiated on site according to status, role or allegiance to the existing order: lawyers, military personnel, and VIP visitors pass the gate and wait in the courtyard with reasonable toilets and access to the court offices. Palestinian family members and representatives of political and human rights organizations have to cross several gates that are usually locked, and then report to electrical turnstiles behind which a black mirror delivers instructions: get back to deposit belongings at the payment cubicle, proceed through a turnstile and then another and then an electronic gate and then a manual search. Visitors move in high-fenced tracks and wait in separate courtyards although they have already passed the security checks, while inside the halls there is no longer any separation.