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International Law, Israel, and Palestine

Israel’s Common Use of Torture Must Be Exposed

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi is Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative. He is based in Ramallah, a major city in the West Bank.

Read Jeff Blankfort’s Commentary

By Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi
From The Daily Star
June 7, 2004

The pictures of American soldiers torturing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq have shocked the world. To the Palestinian people however, these photographs of hooded or naked figures come as no surprise. For the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have served time in Israeli prisons, the pictures only bring back memories of their own torture.

In many cases, the treatment of Iraqis in Abu Ghraib bears a striking resemblance to Israeli methods of torture. Accusations are now being made in the world’s press that Israeli security officers have actually assisted in the training of private US security contractors being sent to Iraq.

Regardless of whether there is any truth to these allegations, the world must recognize that torture is commonplace in Israel. It is not enough to condemn the actions of these American soldiers while ignoring the systematic human rights abuses imposed upon the Palestinian people.

Like the United States, Israel lays claim to the highest moral standards, yet it is apparent that there are elements within the Israeli Armed Forces and indeed government for whom torture is a necessary and acceptable weapon. The two nations’ refusal to accept the legitimacy of the International Criminal Court can only enhance the suspicion that these two countries wish to legitimize the torture of prisoners without ever being held to account by those they abuse.

An Israeli High Court ruling on Sept. 6, 1999 prohibited a number of torture techniques. However, these methods were not completely outlawed. Instead the court’s ruling still allows the Knesset to enact laws that would give intelligence officers the authority to use such methods. The court deemed the security situation faced by Israel to be grave enough to merit granting intelligence services the power to torture.

Now, the excuse that every Palestinian is a “ticking bomb” gives the Israeli security forces carte blanche to abuse any prisoners in their care, including children. Human rights groups maintain that the use of torture in Israeli prisons has increased and become more systematic over the past two years. Violations of the United Nations Convention Against Torture are now commonplace as the military grip on the Occupied Territories has been tightened.

Commentary
by Jeff Blankfort

When I was in Jordan in August, 1970 and invited to stay overnight at Schneller Camp outside of Amman by a young PLO guard, I noticed that his upper body was covered with scars. When I asked him about them he described how he had been arrested by the Israelis and accused of being a fedayeen which he wasn’t at the time, and when he wouldn’t give them the information they wanted, they burned him with cigarettes and broke both his arms at the elbows. He then became a fedayeen. A woman, who was active and leader of a women’s group, told me that when she refused to talk the Israeli soldiers raped her daughter in front of her and then asked her what kind of a mother she was to allow her daughter to be raped by withholding information.

The Israeli Army and police also receive the unconditional backing of the country’s legal system, perpetuating the culture that they can act with impunity in Israeli prisons. The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) has found that the Israeli attorney general has approved every case of torture as a necessary security measure. The High Court has rejected every single one of the 124 petitions submitted by PCATI against prisoners being denied access to legal support.

The thousands of statements given by former Palestinian prisoners bear witness to the relish with which their Israeli tormentors went about their task. Just as in Iraq, any humiliation or abuse is permissible if it goes under the spurious banner of security. The casual disregard for human dignity and international law within the Israeli Army and police is despicable.

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, including the death or maiming of numerous Palestinian prisoners, Israel continues to deny that torture is used in its prisons. Over 7,000 Palestinian prisoners currently remain in Israeli prisons, many of them held without charge or trial. Most will have suffered some degree of torture before their release. It is shocking to realize that around 650,000 Palestinians have spent time in Israeli custody since 1967, most of them adult males. This means that almost one in two Palestinian adult males has been imprisoned.

The torture in Abu Ghraib prison has shaken the Bush administration to its very core. Photographic evidence is all that is lacking to finally expose and condemn Israel’s barbaric treatment of its Palestinian prisoners. This is the only difference between the two cases, yet the weight of evidence against Israel, in the testimonies of former prisoners and investigations by human rights organizations, is overwhelming. It is not enough to condemn the actions of American soldiers in Iraqi jails while thousands of Palestinians continue to suffer. Israel’s use of torture must also be exposed.

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Additional Resources

The Gaza Strip: A humanitarian implosion

Back to a Routine of Torture – Torture and Ill-treatment of Palestinian Detainees during Arrest, Detention and Interrogation – September 2001 - April 2003

Amnesty International – Israeli Settlers Wage Campaign of Intimidation

Booklet – ‘No Exit’

Amnesty International – Under the Rubble

Human Rights Watch – Second Class: Discrimination Against Palestinian Arab Children in Israel’s Schools

Jews for Justice – The Arab Citizens of Israel

IHL Report – Review of the Applicability of International Humanitarian Law to the Occupied Palestinian Territory

UN Maps

Amnesty Report – Israeli army must respect human rights in its operations

Organizations

Association for Civil Rights in Israel

Seeds of Peace

Mossawa Center: The Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens of Israel

Public Committee Against Torture in Israel

Al-Haq

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories

Amnesty International

International Humanitarian Law Research Initiative

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