Published Wednesday 29/12/2010 (updated) 30/12/2010 18:18
The arrests were concentrated in East Jerusalem, where 500 children were detained, and in Hebron, the ministry found.
PA Detainees' Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqe said the high number reflected the Israeli policy to systematically pursue children, particularly in occupied East Jerusalem, where children were often put under house arrest.
In its report, the ministry said prisoners were routinely kept in solitary confinement in cells which resembled graves. Some prisoners, including Hasan Salameh and Ahmad Al-Mughrabi, have spent more than eight years in such inhumane conditions.
The Israeli intelligence service Shin Bet ordered 12 Palestinian prisoners to serve long sentences in solitary confinement, the report said.
Petitions to Israeli courts have failed as the policy is politically motivated, the ministry said, adding that it has requested that European politicians intervene.
