Israel and Torture Source: Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Summer, 1977), pp. 191-219 Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Institute for Palestine Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2535792 Accessed: 09-03-2015 20:14 UTC

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Israel and Torture

[The followingthree documents are takenfrom the leadingquality Sunday newspaper in GreatBritain, the Sunday Times. The firstconsists of theresults of a specialinvestigation by the SundayTimes' "Insight" sectioninto allegationsthat the State of Israel employstorture as a techniqueof interrogationof detainees. The second documentis the replyof the Israeli Embassyin London thefollowing week to theInsight report. The finaldocument constitutes the replyof the SundayTimes Insight team to the Israeli criticisms.]

1. THE "INSIGHT REPORT," going to die," Courvoisier told friends JUNE 19,1977. later. Abdul-Karimlived. At midday,he was Earlyon themorning of February24 this admittedto the King Hussein hospital at year,a transfertook place at the Allenby Salt,25 milesfrom the bridge on theroad to Bridge, the main crossingpoint fromthe Amman. The case notes of his initial Israeli-occupiedWest Bank to the East examinationrecorded that he was thinand Bank of Jordan. weak. He complainedof pains in the chest An Israeliarmy jeep drove to the centre and foundit hardto breatheout. He had an of thebridge and pulled up. SeveralIsraeli infectionof the urinarytract. He talkedof soldiers climbed out, followed by an severe head pains and showed signs of InternationalRed Cross delegate from giddiness. And his difficultyin moving Jerusalem,a young Swiss named Bernard tended to confirmhis complaintthat his Munger.Together they helped a frailfigure joints, especially his knees, were painful fromthe jeep and laid him on a stretcher. too. ChestX-rays then showed thatAbdul- His namewas Omar Abdul-Karim.He was Karim's ribs had at some point been a Palestiniancarpenter from the village of fractured.The houseman also noted that BeitSahur, just below Bethlehem. He was 35 Abdul-Karimwas in a highlynervous state yearsold, but he looked an old man. and prescribedtranquillisers. On the Jordanianside of the bridge a Abdul-Karim continued to bear the small group awaited Abdul-Karim. It marks of having come through some comprisedhis brother;a Jordanianarmy traumaticexperience, however. When his liaison officer;and Jean Courvoisier,head wifeNijmi came to see him,he staredat her. of theInternational Red Crossdelegation in "Who areyou ?" he asked. It was some time Jordan'scapital, Amman. The Red Cross before he showed signs of remembering men, Courvoisierand Munger,picked up her. thestretcher and carriedit to an ambulance With the aid of antibiotics, multi- of the Jordanian Red Crescent (which vitaminsand a high-proteindiet, Abdul- operates in Jordan in liaison with the Karim has slowly recovered,though two InternationalRed Cross). monthslater, he could still barelywalk. As Munger walked back to the Israeli He had been arrested, said Abdul- jeep, Abdul-Karim tried feebly to wave Karim, by the Israeli securityforces four goodbye. When an army man asked his monthsbefore and accused of belonging name, his lips barely moved. To his to the fedayeen,the Palestinian resistance brother'sdistress, Abdul-Karim appeared and terroristmovement. He had then,he not to recognizehim. "I thoughthe was said, been tortured.And the tortureshe

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recountedwere so brutal, so prolonged great caution, though consistentpatterns and, above all, so organizedand applied as emergefrom these, too. Our conclusions to leave no doubt if his storywere true are: that systematictorture is an Israeli 1. Israel's securityand intelligenceser- practice. vices ill-treatArabs in detention. We were expecting Abdul-Karim's 2. Some of the ill-treatmentis merely arrival. We had learned of his case in primitive:prolonged beatings,for exam- January,while he was still in Israeli ple. But more refinedtechniques are also custody;and before his release we had talked used, includingelectric-shock torture and withhis wife, his lawyer and themayor of his confinementin specially-constructedcells. village. This sort of apparatus,allied to the degree For fivemonths, we have been inquiring of organizationevident in its application, into allegations of systematictorture by removes Israel's practice from the lesser Israel of Arab prisoners. Such allegations realmsof brutalityand placesit firmlyin the have been persistentfor almost a decade, categoryof torture. ever since the firstweeks of the Israeli 3. Torture takes place in at least six occupationof the West Bank and the Gaza centres: at the prisons of the four main Stripafter Israel's victory of June 1967. The occupied towns of Nablus, Ramallah and United Nations, Amnesty and several Hebron on the West Bank, and Gaza in individuals,have, at differenttimes, made the south; at the detention centre in detailedexaminations of the evidence and Jerusalem, known as the Russian have,in varying degrees, been disapproving Compound; and at a special military ofIsrael. But virtuallyall previousinquiries intelligencecentre whose whereaboutsare have been vulnerableto criticismbecause uncertain,but whichtestimony suggests is theywere conductedoutside Israel and the somewhereinside the vast militarysupply occupied territories,without attemptsat base at Sarafand,near Lod airporton the on-the-spotverification. Even a special Jerusalem-TelAviv road. There is some committeeof the UN, a body not loth to evidencetoo that,at least fora time,there criticizeIsrael, has admittedits inability "to was a second such camp somewherenear reacha conclusivefinding, since this would Gaza. only be possible aftera freeinvestigation 4. All of Israel's securityservices are inside the occupied territories." implicated:the Shin Beth, roughlyIsrael's For thisInsight inquiry we have worked M15 and Special Branch in one, which inside the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, reportsto the officeof the PrimeMinister; taking statementsand examining stories MilitaryIntelligence, which reportsto the there and going into neighbouringArab Minister of Defence; the border police; countries,when necessary,to check those and Latam, Israel's "Department for claims further.We have questioned 49 Special Missions,"both of which reportto PalestinianArabs, who have been in the the Police Minister. custody of the Israeli security forces. 5. Tortureis organizedso methodically Almost all are still living in the occupied thatit cannotbe dismissedas a handfulof territories.Forty-four of themalleged, in "rogue cops" exceeding orders. It is varyingdetail, that they had been tortured. systematic.It appears to be sanctionedat In 22 of the cases, the Arabs involved some level as deliberatepolicy. have agreedto be named,even thoughthey 6. Torture seems to be used for three still live under Israeli militaryrule. In purposes. The firstis, of course,to extract reachingour conclusions we have given information.The second motive, which greaterweight to thesecases. The remain- seems at least as common, is to induce ing cases, wherePalestinians have asked to people to confess to "security" offences, remainanonymous, we have treatedwith of which theymay, or may not, be guilty.

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The extractedconfession is then used as more purposeful. Except during in- the principal evidence in court: Israel terrogationsessions, he was continuously makessomething of the factthat it has few hooded by a black canvas bag. Fresh political prisonersin its jails, only those interrogatorstook over, though Orli was duly convicted according to law. The also there. thirdpurpose appears to be to persuade Electricitywas now used. Two thin, Arabs in the occupied territoriesthat it is black leads were taped to Abdul-Karim least painfulto behave passively... with stickingplaster. These went into a The case ofOmar Abdul-Karim, the man black box, presumablya transformer,and sentover the Allenbybridge, is typicalfor fromit a thickwhite wire was pluggedinto a two reasons. His allegations differlittle wall socket. A buttonon the box switched fromthose in scoresof previouscases. And thecurrent on. "It feltas thoughmy bones thedifficulties of checkingwhat he saysare, were being crushed," Abdul-Karim said. as we shallshow, no differenteither. First, "The mostpainful was when theyattached his story,recorded during eight hours of thewires to mytesticles. When the current questioningin mid-April.The phrase "he was applied, I felt it throughmy whole says" should mentallybe added to each body. Afterthe shocksended, I feltpain in assertionthat follows: all myjoints. Everymuscle ached and I felt Omar Abdul-Karim was arrested on thatmy nerveswere exhausted." October 3, 1976, as he was crossing Abdul-Karimsays electricity was used at eastwardover the Allenbybridge, on his "eight or nine" sessions. But he says he wayto see his brother'swife in Amman. He continuedto maintainhis innocence. After was driven to the Russian Compound, 11 dayshe was movedagain, to theprison at known to Arabs as "Moscobiya" - the Hebron on the West Bank. detention and interrogation centre in Edi and Orli were stillwith him, but yet Jerusalemwhich houses Shin Beth and more interrogatorsnow joined in. On his Latam and occasionallythe borderpolice. firstday at Hebron, one named "Ouzi" Among the interrogatorswho ques- kicked his face; when blood fromAbdul- tioned him the same evening were two Karim's nose spottedhis boot, Ouzi made whom he came to know as "Edi" and him lick it off. Abdul-Karim recalls the "Orli." They accused him of being one of boot: "Thick, with a kind of grid on the thefedayeen. When he deniedthis, they beat soles, like a commando's." himon thesoles ofhis feet.Later, for about He also identifiesone interrogatoras 15 minutes,he was hung up by his wrists. "Abu Ghazal," a man with an "Aleppo Then he was sentto a cell in themain prison rose" on his cheek,a pittingpeculiar to the blockat Moscobiya. His feetwere swollen; MiddleEast. Abu Ghazal swunghim round he crawledthere. the roomby his hairand, when it came out, He was in Moscobiya forseven days. In forcedhim to eat it. "It stuckall down my later interrogations,he lay prone on the throat. It made me want to throw up." floorand, whileone man stood on his legs, Then he had to drinksalty water. Finally, another pulled his arms back. Another Abu Ghazal and a second interrogator time, a stick was twisted through his forceda bottleup Abdul-Karim'srectum. handcuffs,cutting the blood supplyto his That was the firstday. The second day, hands. He stilldenied involvement with the he sayshe was again suspendedby his wrists fedayeen. froma pulleyand beaten. "I feltsomething Aftera week, he was transferredin a break in my chest... Then I fell uncon- closed lorry to another location - he scious. When I came to I was on the floor thought Sarafand. So far his treatment and they were throwing water in my might just be described as "brutality", face... " ratherthan torture. But thenew centrewas It was on thethird or fourthday that Orli

This content downloaded from 66.134.128.11 on Mon, 09 Mar 2015 20:14:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 194 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES broughtAbdul-Karim's wife Nijmi to the He says he does not rememberthis. Then prison. "When she saw me in such a on December 12, his wife Nijmi says, she condition she started screaming. Orli and their12-year-old son visitedhim back grabbedher by the hair. He startedslapping in Hebronand he did notrecognize the boy. herface until blood came fromher nose and He sayshe does not rememberthis episode mouth..." Abdul-Karim said he would either. About this time, the Israelis took confess. him to the Jordanian border; but the "Orli said: 'Now we are friends.' He Jordaniansrefused to accepthim because no pulledout a cigaretteand handedit to me. I arrangementshad been made. Abdul-Karim took the cigaretteand startedsmoking and says he just recallssomething like that. Of he said: 'Now talk.' So I had to startlying. his eventual journey to Salt in February I had nothingto tell and I had to save my throughthe mediationof the International wife. I said I had bombs and I hid themin Red Cross,he remembersvery little. mylavatory. When I said thismy wife said: It is an appallingstory, but how muchof 'No, I was theone who put themthere.' In it is true?In thenature of torture,only two factthere was nothingwe had done but she partiesare present:torturer and victim.As said she had done it to save me,and I said it Amnesty International has said: "The to save her." confrontationbetween the individualand Abdul-Karimwas takenback to hishome the limitlesspower of the state... takes at Beit Sahur where sewage truckssucked place in the darkest recess of political out the cesspitby his house. They found power." Failing a confession by the nothing.When it was realizedhe had lied, torturers,we have to look forother things: Edi repeatedlybanged Abdul-Karim'shead corroborationof verifiabledetails; or the againsta rough wall. Pieces of plasterfell consistencyof one account with others,in out and Orli told him to swallow them, circumstanceswhere collusion can be ruled which he did. out. By those tests,Abdul-Karim's story "If I had anythingI would give it to deservescredence. you," Abdul-Karim kept telling his in- We had learnedof his case, as we said, terrogators.They did not believe him. He even beforehis release. The independent was keptunder a cold shower;jammed into interviewswe conductedthen went some a barrelof freezingwater; and suspended way to corroboratehis account. from his wrists once more while the Six weeks beforeAbdul-Karim's release, interrogatorOrli squeezed his genitals. his wifeNijmi had told us - in an interview "The mindcannot imagine how thathurts. at Beit Sahur how she had been arrested It was so bad, it mademe forgetall theother and taken to Hebron prison. She and her pain." husband had been beaten in frontof each The lastassault Abdul-Karim remembers other,she said. Her face had been slapped is beingshut in a smallcell intowhich some and herhair pulled. Her husbandappeared kindof gas was squirtedthrough the judas- "badly beatenon his faceand his eyeswere hole in the door. "I couldn't stop cough- swollen. There were burnson the back of ing. My eyes and nose were running.The hishands and therewere burns on his faceas whole world startedturning round me." if made by an iron or an electricfire." He remembers"a piece of glass like a (Abdul-Karim later showed us, among finger"which was finallyslid into each othermarks on his body, a flatscar on the nostrilto ease his breathing. back of his rightwrist. He said it had been From thatpoint, Abdul-Karim's alleged caused by the application of electricity, recollectionsare confused and fragmentary. unmodifiedby a transformer,in Hebron. We have establishedthat at the end of "They taped the wiresto me and thenput November,for example, he spenta week in the plug directlyin the socket. It just blew the main Israeliprison hospital at Ramleh. me away, and they had to re-attachit.

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Sparks came from my hand. The other it." He later told the mayor that Abdul- equipmentdidn't cause sparks.") Karimhad been movedto a prisonhospital. Other interviewshelped to corroborate The mayor also contacted the In- Abdul-Karim'sstory. On November14 his ternationalRed Cross in Jerusalem: "I lawyerFelicia Langer and her clerk Abed asked them to look into the allegations. el-Asali visited Abdul-Karim in Hebron Later the Red Cross delegate Bernard prison. Langer subsequently wrote an Munger confirmedto me that they were accountof the visit: "He was broughtto me true. He confirmedFelicia Langer's letter supportedby other prisonersbecause he completely." was unable to walk by himself.... He was As a matterof policy, the Red Crossnever looking verybad, his face was completely commentspublicly on cases. The chiefRed yellow... All the timehe was pointingto Cross delegatein Jerusalem,Alfredo Wits- his ribs,claiming he was unable to breathe chi, said he could not confirmor deny the out. One ofhis fellowprisoners told us that mayor'sstatement. "We make our reports his ribs had been broken during in- to the authoritiesand requestaction," he terrogation...Omar indicatedto us thathe said. Similarlyin Amman,Jean Courvoisier had been torturedby electricityand while would confirmonly that he had metAbdul- speaking of it he started tremblingter- Karim on the Allenbybridge. ribly. He did not know his age, place We have established,however, that the of birth, address, or whether he had JerusalemRed Cross delegateMunger first children.Just once duringour visit,he let got access to Abdul-Karim at the end of slipthat his wifehad been beatenin frontof November,about 55 daysafter his arrest.It him,but then he stoppedtalking about it. It was about then and so possiblyas a result seemedto us thathe was in anotherworld. " of Munger's intervention- that Abdul- In another interviewsix weeks before Karim was moved to Ramleh prison Abdul-Karim's release, Langer's clerk hospital. He was X-rayed, but returned Asali confirmedher account, adding that aftera week to Hebron. In the lightof his theyhad seen Abdul-Karimsuddenly start latercondition whichMunger described laughingand kissa prisonguard. "He said to doctorsin Ammanas "lamentable"and to thatthe guard was the onlyone who didn't which the medical records at Salt bear torturehim... " (Asali did not mention witness- thisseems a strangedecision. It burnson Abdul-Karim,but he did claimto is not surprisingthat Abdul-Karim has the have seen "blue marksand red markslike fondest memories of Munger, whose blood near his ear.") continued effortshelped finallybring his It was also in mid-January,again six release. "He saved mylife," Abdul-Karim weeks before his release, that we in- says. terviewed the mayor of Abdul-Karim's But ifthere is independentcorroboration village,Hanna al-Atrash. He told us then forpoints of Abdul-Karim's story, there are how the Israelis had spent several days also weaknesseswhich make it fallshort of drainingthe sewers round Abdul-Karim's finalproof. house. His accountof theepisode agreesin In thefirst place, he wasonce a memberof generalwith that given to us laterby Abdul- thefedayeen. Seven years ago, he serveda 20- Karim who could in no way have monthsentence for possessing a revolver. colluded withhim. His lawyer,Felicia Langer, thoughJewish The mayor also told us that in late and a refugeefrom the Final Solution,is an November, having heard from Felicia active Communist,regularly denounced by Langer of Abdul-Karim'sstate, he wentto the Israeli Governmentfor political con- see the Israeli militarygovernor of the tactswith enemiesof the state. Bethlehem district: "He said he didn't Secondly, the medical evidence is not believe the story,but he would look into conclusive. It rests ultimatelyupon the

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judgmentsand testimonyof the directorof had fallenill in prison afterserving three the Salthospital, Dr. AhmadHamzeh. But yearsof an 11-yearsentence. He had asked Dr. Hamzehis scarcelyneutral. In 1976 the the Israelis to let him go to Jordan for Israelisdeported him from the West Bank. medicaltreatment, and theyhad agreed. His clinical judgments,too, are open to The storywas a lie. Medical recordsin challenge. In findingAbdul-Karim's in- Bethlehemshow, as we have said, that in juries"consistent with" his story of torture, February1976 a year beforehis release Dr. Hamzeh placed some emphasison his over the Allenbybridge - Abdul-Karim fracturedribs. Yet in February1976, we went, a free man, to the Bethlehem have discovered,Abdul-Karim visited the orthopaedic hospital, and made several Mount of David orthopaedichospital in furthervisits as an out-patientbefore his Bethlehem,complaining of pains in hisback arrest. The mayor, Hanna al-Atrash, and chest.Hospital records show thatan X- confirmsthat the arrest was in October ray taken then also showed "evidence of 1976. Finally,we reproducethe pictureof multiplefractures in ribs." Medical experts Abdul-Karimand his wife taken on their in London say thateven if Abdul-Karim's 13th wedding anniversary[not included ribs had later been refractured,Dr. here-Ed.] It was takenat thePhoto-David Hamzeh's X-rays mightnot have allowed studio in Bethlehemin the springof 1976. him to distinguishbetween the two sets of The studio rememberstaking it. breaks. Mistakenidentity can be ruledout. Few It might be said that, in a countryof convicted "guerrillas and saboteurs" are avowed politicalfreedom, Felicia Langer's invalidedin mid-sentenceover the Allenby politicsshould not debar her testimony.It bridge. Nor did the militaryauthorities could also be said that old fractureswere sound confused.The point,however, is not surely susceptibleto fresh damage from that they provably lied. The disquieting beatings.Yet doubtsremain. And whilewe pointis thatthe officer who toldthe lie must could corroboratemany points in their eitherhave been orderedby his superiorsto accounts,Abdul-Karim and his wifedisag- do so - or else lied on his own initiative, reed on one significantdetail. He said that knowinghe would not be punishedif his his wifewas broughtbefore him at Hebron superiorsfound out. Whateverhappened to about October 25 - and the detail of his Omar Abdul-Karim,in other words, was testimonyleaves littleroom forerror. She part of an officially-sanctionedsystem. had already told us that the date was On the day afterthe UnitedNations had October 15. voted to establish the State of Israel in This ebb and flowof evidence is typicalof November,1947, Chaim Weizmann, Israel's tortureallegations; and it illustratesthe firstpresident and, to many,its founding persistentdifficulties of proof. In Abdul- father,wrote: "I am certainthat the world Karim's case, however, one piece of will judge the Jewishstate by what it shall externalevidence stronglysuggests that do with the Arabs." The dilemma his somethingwhich the Israelis wish to hide did prophecyencapsulates leads directlyto the indeed happen to him. It comes fromthe situationrevealed by our investigation. Israelisthemselves. Israel is a Jewish state, determinedto The day he was sentover theJordan and remainso. Yet it rules1 .7 millionArabs - up to Salt hospital,Dr. Hamzeh contacted fora decade 1 .2 millionof thesehave been Reutersand told them of Abdul-Karim's undermilitary occupation. condition. A Reuters' reporterin Israel The reasons why Israel has since 1948 askedthe West Bank militaryauthorities for steadilyincreased its dominionover Arabs an explanation. and their land go back into the infinite He was told that Abdul-Karim was a regress of cause-and-effect,charge and convictedArab guerrillaand saboteurwho counter-chargethat makes up modern

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Middle Easternhistory. That is outsidethe tranquiland thrivingtoday... Arabs and scope of our inquiry.The factis thatmost Israeliswho until1967 had lived in mutual Israelis see no choice but to continue separation and estrangement,are today militaryoccupation; while some Israelis enjoyingthe beginningsof a peacefuland activelywant to do so, on the groundsof fruitfulco-existence." historicJewish rights to the land. Since our thesis is precisely that the Because Israel is so dependenton what internationalneed to maintainthat position Weizmann saw as the judgment of the goes farto explainthe use of torture,it is world,it musttry to ensurethe judgment is necessary to begin by outlining Israel's favourable. The conflict between this responseto theproblems of "coexistence." internationalneed and the domesticreality On theWest Bank Palestinianreaction to of militaryrule and Arab resistanceex- theIsraeli occupation has runthrough three pressedsometimes through terrorism seems phases. Phase One: active resistancefrom to us themost concrete explanation of why mid-1967to theend of 1969. By theend of torturehas become, on the evidence, an 1969, raids on border settlementshad acceptedIsraeli practice. almost died out. There are, of course, many who will Phase Two from mid-1970 brought passionatelyreject our evidenceas literally relativequiescence. With the crushingof unthinkable.Many more will findin the Palestinians in the "Black September" idea of a persecutedrace becomingin turn struggle in Jordan, and the death of thepersecutors a paradoxso distastefulas to President Nasser, the activists looked demandbetter evidence than perhaps would abroad: to the Munich Olympics of be needed against other countries. Even September1972, forinstance. morewill point out thatIsrael claims - and Phase Three can be traced back to the undoubtedlyfeels itself - to be at war for Israeliraid on Beirutin April1973, when it its life; and thatthe Arabs' recordon civil seized thousands of documents. On the libertiesis, to say the least,poor. basis of these, the West Bank, and, The point,of course,is thatIsrael itself significantly,Galilee, within Israel's old does not, in theory,accept the unspoken borders, saw fresh waves of arrests of implicationsof theirargument. suspectedfedayeenactivists or sympathizers. Israel does not admit that torture is The unrestthese sparked -largely in the justifiedby its situation. It denies that formof civil disordersand demonstrations tortureis ever used. Nor does Israel justify by high school students has ebbed and failuresin civil rightsby comparisonswith flowed but never really died. With con- Arab deficiencies.On the contrary,it is tinuedIsraeli settlement on theWest Bank, fundamentalto Israel's ethos and to its and Palestiniansuicide raids like those on claims for internationalsupport that it is Kiryat Shemona, Maalot and Beit Shean, part of the West -thus to be judged by feelingbetween the two communitieshas Westernstandards. Israel claims as "a fact" steadilyworsened. - in thewords of an officialIsraeli observer In Gaza, thesequence has been different. to a United Nations Human RightsCom- With300,000 refugees crammed into camps missionmeeting in March1973 "thatthe alongside100,000 native Gazans, thearea is humanrights of the civilianpopulation [in one of the most overcrowdedin the world theoccupied territories] have been and are - and perfectguerrilla country. Active fully respected and protected.... The resistancecontinued there until mid-1971, realities are those of an open society, when it degeneratedinto a mini-civilwar tranquiland relaxed." between rival Palestinianfactions. Israel Aftera decade of militaryoccupation, bulldozedwide roads throughthe camps as Israel has feltable to state, in its official the firststep towardstheir pacification and handbook: "The administeredareas are control. By mid-1972 the fedayeenwere

This content downloaded from 66.134.128.11 on Mon, 09 Mar 2015 20:14:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 198 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES crushed. Ten years afterthe occupation, Israel Israel has never denied that its battle has (on the latestpublished figure) only 37 against the Palestinian resistance has detainees. But nearly 60 percent of all involved tough measures. It has prisonersin jail in Israel or the occupied demolishedhomes (16,212 between July areas are Arabs found guilty of security 1967 and August 1971 according to an offences-some 3,200 out of 5,800. independently-keptlog) and deported Thus Israel can demonstrateto itself "known agents of subversion" (1,130 to and to the world that it has no political Jordansince 1967 accordingto Jordanian prisoners- only convictedterrorists. As police records). But it points out thatthe Israel's ambassadorto the United Nations, Arabs have free municipal elections and Jacob Doron, asked in a speech last enjoybetter standards of livingthan Arabs November: "What is wrong with the in Egypt,Syria and the Lebanon, and that holding of trials and the conviction of it uses punitivemeasures with restraint. those found guilty after due process of Against this background, Israel has law?" The answer is: when those public confrontedthe hardest problem for any convictionsare gained by means of secret occupyingpower, its treatmentof resistors torture. and terrorists.In 1976, it claimed to have The militarycourts are the fulcrumof brokenup 91 sabotage ringsand arrested Israel's claim to rule the occupied 807 people connectedwith them. territoriesaccording to the rule of law. Even beforeits 1967 victory,Israel had We have talked with six lawyers- two prepared an administrativestructure for Israelis and four Palestinians - who territoriesto be occupied -and a system regularlyappear in them to defendthose of militarycourts. But the round-upsof accused of security offences. For the late 1967 and early 1968 swamped the record, their names are: Felicia Langer, system.Faced withsimilar problems in the Lea Tsemel, Wasfi0. Masri,Anton Jaser, Mandate days, the British resorted to Elias Khoury and Fayez abu Rahmeh. detentioncamps one near Tel Aviv; Their unanimous opinion is that the one in the desertnear Gaza. (Arabs and militarycourts collude in and knowingly Jews alike still refer to them as conceal the use of torture by Israel's "concentrationcamps"; conditions were intelligence and security services. The apparentlydreadful. ) mechanismis, in its way, elegant,almost The idea of the Jews of all people syllogistic. Most convictions in those reviving "concentration camps" was courts are based on confessions by the rejectedin emotionaldebates in the Israeli accused; most of those confessions,the parliament.There was no alternativeto lawyersare convinced,are extractedby ill- over-crowdingthe jails of Israel and the treatment or torture; almost without occupied territorieswith detainees. In the exception the courts reject that con- months afterthe 1967 war, the number tention. held withouttrial passed 2,000. By early A security suspect in the occupied 1970 it was still 1,923. territoriesis usually arrested by Israeli But, slowly,the militarycourts caught soldiers or border police, accompanied up. Gradually,almost all Arabs picked up mostly by one or more men in civilian in new sweeps - and most of those held clothes. Most Palestinianswe spoke to fromthe earlydays - were convictedby referredto the plain-clothesmen as Shin the militarycourts of "securityoffences" Beth, Israel's internalsecurity service. (In ranging from membershipof an illegal fact, we have learned, they are just as organization, distributing leaflets, or likely to belong to Israel's military daubing slogans, to possessing arms or intelligence.) committingsabotage or murder. The suspect can be held for up to 18

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days beforebeing taken beforea military theywere admitting.The new officerthen judge. He can order furtherdetention of composed the statementfor the court. up to six months.In thistime the suspect Several had triedto change theirminds is interrogated.When eventually he is aboutconfessing. One, ShehadehShalaldeh broughtto trial- up to a yearlater -the of Ramallah,protested, for instance, that he prosecutionis almost invariablyequipped could not read his supposed confession with a statement,signed by the suspect, because it was in Hebrew. (This is a com- confessingto at least some of the charges. moncomplaint.) "The officerleft the room Israel says that all confessions are and two men in civilianclothes came in. I voluntary. The six advocates we have told them I wanted to know what I was spoken to do not believe this. Wasfi 0. signing.They said, 'we haven'tgot timefor Masri, a 60-year-oldlawyer from Nablus, all that' and theystarted beating me. So I and a senior judge under Jordanianrule said 'okay, okay. I'll sign'." said: "In 90 percentof cases I have, the It is almostimpossible for defendants to prisonerhad told me that he was beaten bringtheir real interrogatorsto court,be- and tortured.Of course it is verydifficult cause theyuse Arab names- "Abu Sami," to prove because theydon't have witnesses "Abu Jamil," "Abu Daoud" - or nick- to see thembeaten. But I am certainthat names like "Jacky," "Danny," or "Ari." it happens." Even ifthe defendantsdid succeed,the re- The militarycourts usually have three sultwas thesame. Lea Tsemel told us how militaryjudges of whom only one must she had finallybrought to court an in- have been qualified,through six years at the terrogatorher client had described. "He Bar, to become a civilianjudge. The Mil- justlooked at thedefendant and said he had itaryRegulations they apply are based to never seen him beforein his life." some extenton regulationsdrawn up bythe Successfulchallenges to the validityof Britishin 1945 -to countermainly Jewish confessionsare rare. Wasfi 0. Masri is terrorism. muchadmired by otheradvocates for hav- But it is not in thecourts that the crucial ing persuaded militarycourts to rule out manccuvretakes place. The courts do in- confessionsin five cases - froma totalhe deed allow defencecounsel to challengethe estimatesas "thousands." Lea Tsemel said validityof confessions.When that occurs, a she had "almost succeeded once." "littletrial" (in Hebrew, a Zuta) is held. Her real role, she explained, was plea This is whathappens. The defendanttells bargaining.One of herclients was theonly thecourt that he was ill-treatedor tortured. survivorof a band of infiltratorswho had The prosecutionthen produces the pol- been shot down by an Israeli patrol. "He icemanor armyofficer who took the coIn- toldme he had sufferedvery bad tortureand fession. According to the young Israeli- he wanted to protestin court. The pro- born advocate Lea Tsemel,the officertells secutionoffered a deal. If I did not contest the court: "I sat with the suspect,we had his confessionthey would ask for a max- coffeetogether, I gave him cigarettes,he imumof 18 years.As he could have got life, talkedfreely, and everythingwas normal." I advised him to agree." And thisofficer is almostalways telling the A Palestinianadvocate from Gaza, Fayez truth. abu Rahmeh,told us thathe had decidednot The catch is thatthe policemanmay in- to takeany more security cases: "I told the deed have takenthe statement.But he did Israelis,I have had enough. I toldthem they not conductthe interrogation. Many of the should just go back to internmentand end formerprisoners we questioned said that this farce." afterthey had agreed to make a statement The question,therefore, is whathappens theywere passed frominterrogators to the in those secretinterrogation sessions ? police,together with a note of the offences GhassanHarb is a 37-year-oldPalestinian

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intellectualand journalistfrom Ramallah, theyappear to have talkedvery little. It was on the West Bank ten miles northof Jer- not untilJune 12, 51 days afterhis arrest, usalem. On thenight of April21-22, 1974, thatHarb's own turncame. he and his wifewere staying with his father- He was blindfoldedagain and made to lie in-law there. Shortlyafter midnight, they down in what he thinkswas a jeep for a werewoken by halfa dozen Israelisoldiers journeyof two or threehours. When the and two menin civilianclothes. One of the jeep stoppedat last,and Harb got out, still civilianstold Harb to get dressed. blindfolded,a heavycloth bag was put over "What is the matter?"Harb asked. his head. Afterperhaps 30 or 40 minutes "You will findout," the man replied. just standingthere with his handsin theair Harb was handcuffed,blindfolded and "when thereare bad conditions,perhaps bundledinto a vehicle which took him to a personthinks that the time is longerthan it Ramallahprison. reallyis," Harb adds cautiously- he was What happened to Ghassan Harb over takeninto a room,and bothblindfolds were the two monthsthat followed has already removed. A man in civilian clothes ad- excited internationalattention. When his dressedhim in Arabic. case was raised at the United Nations last "Do you know whereyou are?" year, Israel's ambassador there, Jacob "No," Harb said. Doron, dismissedit as "typicalof the kind "You are in Kasr el-Nihaye." of atrocitystories spread against the Israeli That is thename of a prisonin Baghdad, administrationby certainelements." thecapital of Iraq, notoriousfor its tortures Whathe meantwas thatHarb was a Com- and secretexecutions. Harb knew he was munist.It is true,however, that both sides, not in Iraq. But he also knewwhat Kasr el- Israel and its accusers,have distortedthe Nihayemeans. The Palace of theEnd. And Harb case - in partbecause the key witness, he knew what his interrogatormeant. Harb himself,was unavailable. For two- Harb learnedthat he had been arrested and-a-halfyears afterthat midnightvisit, because,as an admittedCommunist, he was Harb was detainedwithout trial. suspectedof complicityin armedresistance Only on January18 this year was he on theWest Bank. He had joined theCom- releasedand sent home. Soon afterwards, munistParty as a schoolboy in Ramallah, we recordedfor the firsttime his own ac- thenpart of Jordan. The Jordaniangovern- countof his experiences.Harb struckus as menthad bannedthe party and in 1957 Harb an excellent witness: careful, restrained, was arrested.He was 17. Withother party questioninghis own impressionsand an- membershe spent the next eight years in xious to findpoints that might be verified. prison. This, in essence,is his story: An amnestyfinally released him and, For thefirst 50 days,nothing happened to during the 1967 war, Harb was studying him. He was punched and kicked on his economics at Moscow university.He re- arrival at prison and. still blindfolded, turnedto Ramallahin 1972,to workfor the heard othersgetting the same treatment. Arab newspaperal-Fajr, publishedin Jer- But then,after three nights in a small cell usalem. He wrote and spoke against the withsix otherprisoners, he was moved to a Israeli occupation. largerroom containing 40 men. As thedays These activitiesmay have irritatedthe passed, the others- most of whom had Israelis but none of them was illegal. As been arrestedon the same nightas himself Israel's Ambassador, Jacob Doron, said - were taken for questioning. Aftersix, "Nobody is in prison because of their seven or sometimes15 days they would politicalbeliefs. " Israelpermits Communists return"in very bad condition," he says. to stand for electionin Israel itself. "They had been beaten. You could see the On theWest Bank, however,all political markson the facesand chests." Strangely, partiesand theiractivity are banned, and

This content downloaded from 66.134.128.11 on Mon, 09 Mar 2015 20:14:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPECIAL DOCUMENT 201 knownCommunists are keptunder surveil- "You don'twant to speak." He gesturedto lance. This has beenespecially so since1973 the guards,who wore soldiers' uniforms. when the West Bank communistsand the "Take him," he said. PalestineLiberation Organization decided In anotherroom, Harb was madeto strip, to forman alliance,which theycalled the given a military-typeoverall and photo- PalestineNational Front. Since Israel re- graphed.Thenhe was broughtback to his gardsthe PLO as a purelyterrorist organi- interrogator.He was to see himmany times zation it soon saw the Front in the same in the next 16 days. light. On thenight of April21-22, 1974, it "He was stout,rather dark skinnedbut moved againstthe Front. Harb was arres- not black. Black hair,no moustache. His ted. hairwas a littlecurly. I don'tremember if he At the UN, AmbassadorDoron said af- had a partingor not." He was, Harb thinks, terwardsthat Israel had only "arrested about 170 centimetres 5ft7in tall,and those againstwhom therewas evidence of between32 and 40 years old. "He spoke criminaloffences. " But mostof those arres- Arabic witha Syrianaccent. " Harb recalls ted in the sweep were never charged. We thathe alwayswore civiliantrousers and a knowof nine men one of themHarb, and short-sleevedshirt. eightof themavowed Communists who The firstbeating began at once. "He sat wereapparently taken to Israel'sown Palace on a table,I was on a benchand he began to of theEnd. Threewere deported to Jordan beat me. Fifteenminutes, 20 minutes,beat- in 1975; two morewere allowed to returnto ingwith his hand across my face," Harb says. theirWest Bank homes in 1976; Harb and (Again, Harb warnsthat he mayexaggerate anotherwere released this year; two are still the time.) Only one question was asked: in prison. None has ever been tried,let "Do you want to speak?" Harb repeated alone convicted. thathe had nothingto say. That does not,of course,prove thatnone At the end of that firstsession Harb, had committedan offence.The secretaryof blindfoldedonce morewith the bag, was led the JordanianCommunist Party has been away. His handcuffswere removed,he was quoted as sayingthat his West Bank com- strippedof his overall,his hands were re- rades had indeed been active. The factre- fastenedbehind his back and, naked apart mainsthat Harb deniesinvolvement in any fromthe bag over his head, he was pushed criminalactivity, and no evidencehas ever intowhat he feltwas a confinedspace. The been produced. door shut. Despite two air holes in the top It is necessaryto spell this out only be- of thebag, Harb fearedhe would suffocate, cause AmbassadorDoron has dismissedthe so by slidinghis head against the wall he allegationswhich follow as "an attemptto removed it. He found himselfin a tiny, arouse public opinion and to cover up the windowlesscell, the only light coming from crimescommitted." He thereforeuses the a crack underthe door. assertionof unprovedcrimes to brushaside "It was reallyjust a cupboard,"he says. the allegationsof torture. He thinksit was 60 cms (2ft)square, and no The underlyingissue remains: Even if more than 150 cms (5ft) high. "I am 178 Harb and his comrades were guilty,how cms and I couldn'tstand up in it." Nor was were theytreated in Israel's Palace of the it possible to sit down. End? But the most curious featurewas the On Harb's account,his firstmeeting with floor.It was concrete,and setinto it at close his interrogatorthere ended abruptly."We but irregularintervals was a set of stone knowyou are againstthe authorities; tell us spikes. "They were sharp, and they had everythingyou know," the interrogator acuteedges. Theywere perhaps one-and-a- said. Harb replied that he had no infor- half or two centimetreshigh. I could not mation. "All right,"the interrogatorsaid, normallystand on them. I could stand on

This content downloaded from 66.134.128.11 on Mon, 09 Mar 2015 20:14:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 202 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES thembut withdifficulty and pain. I would routinebegan again and again almost liftone leg and putthe other down, and then withoutvariation over the four days that liftthat one when it got tiredand put the followed. "Cupboard," courtyard, in- otherdown, and so on." terrogation,cell though not always to Harb thinkshe spentthree or fourhours rest. The routinecould startat any timeof in "the cupboard" on his firstoccasion day or night. though he cautions this may be an over- Sometimes during the beatings in the estimate. But his release from the place courtyard,Harb would be stripped:"They broughtno relief. took me outside,took myclothes and there The door opened. A soldier undid were four or five people. Now one kicks Harb's handcuffsto let him dress,then fas- me, the otherreceives me, and gives me to tened his hands in frontof him. Because the first as a ball, kickingto and fro. Harb had pulled offhis hood, he was slap- Afterwardsthey let me crawl. I was still ped and blindfoldedagain, this time with withoutclothes of course. Somebodysat on "some kind of spectacles,cloth spectacles my back, and theywere laughing." made of a black material." The bag was On anotheroccasion, Harb was made to thenput over these. Harb was led intowhat crawl,bizarrely, into a dog kennel,less than he thinkswas an open courtyard,for fur- two feetsquare. The dog was not in it,but thertreatment. Harb could hear it howling nearby. "There were three or four of them. I Harb also heard the sounds of other judgedthat by their voices. Theywere beat- prisoners: "On one occasion in the very ing me, and thenthey said: 'Now go down earlyperiod they took me to thecupboard at on yourhands and knees.' Therewere little night... at perhapsnine or twelveo'clock. stonesin theyard, and theywere very pain- Then was takenoutside and I heard some ful to crawl on." (Particularlypainful for voices, sounds of pain, crying,pleading. Harb, he has bone deformitiesprotruding 'Oh myhead.' 'Oh mystomach.' 'You are fromhis knees.) killingme.' Of course I couldn't see who "That continued for about an hour, were the people who were groaning,but I perhaps. I was crawling around on the heard it." groundand theywere kickingme and beat- Certainly,the centreappeared to be staf- ing me. While I was crawlingaround they fed to handlemore than one inmate. Bet- rode on me, sat on me like a horse." ween June 12-16 the five days of in- When Harb was at last broughtto his tensive questioning Harb was in- interrogatoronce more, the man said: terrogatedby six or seven differentmen, all "Now see your condition." He then in civilianclothes. The "Syrian" was not punched Harb repeatedly,while he and alwaysamong them. Nor was violence al- a second interrogatorasked questions. ways used though when it was, it was "They said: 'Do you know thisperson, severe. At one point, Harb says, his feet thatperson...' mentioningnames. I said I were beatenwith a stick. didn't... One of themsaid I was accused of Afterthose five days, however,his treat- militarycharges and I told them'No, no.' ment eased. He was interrogatedfor He said: 'We know you are active in this another12 days, but the sessions became field,'and I said: 'All right,if you know I'm more relaxed and discursive,and he was active show me some evidence. I know it sparedthe "cupboard" and the courtyard. isn'ttrue. If you have some evidence,please "I don't knowif I had convincedthem I had show it to me.' He said, 'We know, we nothingto do withmilitary charges," Harb know,' and he kept on beatingme." says. That was the firstday. Eventually,ac- On whathe calculateswas June28, Harb, cordingto Harb, he was locked into a cell stillblindfolded, was drivenfrom the centre and allowed to sleep. In the morning,the to Yagur prisonoutside Haifa in northern

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Israel. Five or sixother prisoners went with the local prison. him. At Yagur, Harb began the detention It was on his arrivalthere that Harb was fromwhich he was releasedin Januarythis examined by two Israeli doctors per- year. functorily,Harb claims. He was also in- Israel deniesthat Harb was tortured.Its terviewedby a delegateof theInternational most detailedrebuttal was given by Am- Red Cross,to whomhe madea formalcom- bassador Doron in a speech at the United plaint of torture.And, as Doron said, he Nationslast November,after a reportby a was allowed to meeta local deputation:the "special committee"of the UN on the oc- deputy mayor of Ramallah and his own cupied territorieshad mentioned Harb's brother. case among others. We have talkedto bothmen. Contraryto The lawyerFelicia Langer had brought what Doron claimed, both say theydid severalof thesecases to the UN; so Doron think Harb had been mistreated. His firstattacked her credibility: "a memberof brother says Harb looked ill, had lost the politbureauof the pro-Moscow Com- weightand showed signs of ill-treatment, munistparty" and "an activepropagandist includingscars. The deputymayor of the againstthe state... devoted to the slander time, a lawyer named Alfred Kisek, re- and denigrationof Israel." called: "He told us he had been tortured. Harb, Doron continued,had been de- He didn'tseem as bad as I had heard,but he tainedfor investigation of his "subversive looked ill and we believedthat he had been activitieson behalf of a terror organi- ill-treated." zation." As soon as his allegationsof tor- What of Israel's "impartial inquiries" turehad becomeknown, he had been exam- into thecase? Earlyin July,as unrestgrew ined by two doctorswho had "found ab- over the allegationsput about by Harb's solutely nothing wrong with him." An wife, the police minister,Shlomo Hillel, Arab delegationfrom his home town, Ra- announced an inquiry under a police mallah,had also been allowed to visithim; officer.Harb was takento Ramallahpolice theytoo, Doron said, had been "satisfied headquartersto be questioned. It was, he that he had not been mistreatedin any says, a cursoryaffair. The resultantstate- way." As to the substanceof Harb's char- ment was no more than 500 words. (By ges, Doron said that after"impartial in- contrast,the transcript of our detailedques- quiries" which the Israeli authoritieshad tioningof Harb totals11,000 words.) The themselvesinstituted, he could statethat no policeman also questioned Langer's six torturehad takenplace. "Nobody's held in other complainants.By early August, he prisonblindfolded and tied up." had presentedhis report. It dismissedthe The otherparties involved in those in- allegations quirieshave differentrecollections. It was Langer fought back. With another only a day or so afterHarb had left the lawyer,Walid Fahum,she fileda complaint interrogationcentre that his wife Afafvis- in the SupremeCourt in Tel Aviv alleging itedhim in Yagur prison. She was, she says, thatthe inquiry had been inadequateand the horrified:"He looked terrible.He was pale minister,Hillel, delinquent in his duty. and exhausted,and he had lost a lot of Technically,therefore, the court could only weight." examinethe narrowprocedural issue. But Her reportof what she had seen and what the lawyers,of course, hoped the court her husbandtold her caused unrestin Ra- would considerthe wider issue of the alle- mallah. Harb's familyis well-knownlo- gationsthemselves. And thisthe court duly cally; and Harb's own writingsand spee- did. ches had given him a reputation. Seeing Its procedurewas so strange,however, this,the Israeli military governor of Ramal- that at the very least considerabledoubt lah orderedHarb's transferfrom Yagur to mustbe caston whatit found. No witnesses

This content downloaded from 66.134.128.11 on Mon, 09 Mar 2015 20:14:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 204 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES were called. No fuller statementswere In our view thesefacts and theweight of taken. The court said it limiteditself "to detailthe men volunteered30 monthsafter choosingbetween the conflictingclaims of theirexperiences argues realityrather than the prisonersand the investigatorsas sub- some long-rememberedfabrication. mittedin writing." On the strengthof These are theirstories: medicalreports which "did not show any Mohammed abu-Ghabiyr, a shoe- signs of intentionallyinflicted injuries" it maker from Jerusalem,spoke of the in- chose to believe the investigators.On De- terrogationcentre as a "militarycamp" cember18 thecomplaint against Hillel was where the guards wore "soldiers' uni- dismissed. forms." He too was stripped, photo- We know,as we have said, of eightother graphed and given a one-piece overall in PalestinianArabs who appear to have been camouflagecolours. He too talksof being in the special interrogationcentre at about blindfoldedwith "a blackbag made of very the same time as Harb. Two are still in thickcloth" withtwo air holes in the top. custody,but of the six who were freedwe He too was blindfoldedthe whole timeex- tracedand interviewedfour: ceptin his cell or underinterrogation. Like Muhammadabu-Ghabiyr Harb he describeda "stonycourtyard," and JamalFreitah mentionedthe presenceof dogs. Khaldoun Abdul-Haq Harb, asked to estimatethe layout and Husni Haddad. size of the centre,said thathe could not do OnlyHaddad was in exilein Jordan.(He so, because he thoughthe had been led died in Ammanin May thisyear; we retain everywherein circles. Ghabiyr,asked the the tape of our interviewwith him.) The same question, replied: "I couldn't tell. otherthree still live, like Harb, on theWest The problemwas theyused to walk me in Bank. None was ever charged. circles. In view of what theysay, it is important Jamal Freitah, a labourer from to considerwhether these four and Harb Nablus, talkedof "a prisonuniform" and a could have colluded theiraccounts. 'bag ofblack cloth' over his head. He spoke Harb and three of them were certainly of crawlingnaked over gravel; duringthat together for some days in Yagur, im- ordeal,he added,his eyeswere covered with mediatelyafter interrogation. But thenthey an extrablindfold under the bag. were split up, and only two served in the At least once a day, he said, he was put same prison (Haq and Freitahin Nablus). into what he called "the frigidaire":"It is Haddad had not been in Yagur with the about 60 cms by 60 cms by 160 cms high. others,but he saw Harb fora few days in The concretein thefloor was made in a way Ramallah when he was taken there for a that it looks like small hills near to each hearingto extendhis detention. otherwith verysharp edges. Everyoneof This gives thetheoretical possibility that themis like a nail." the fivemen could have conspiredto fab- Kaldoun Abdul-Haq, a partnerin a ricatea story.But onlyduring those days at Nablus constructioncompany, spoke of Yagur could a storyhave been cooked up beingstripped, photographed and given "a to be passed to Haddad later. And thereare camouflageoverall" to wear. His blindfold two furtherpoints. Afterhis deportationto was "a blacksack madeof cloth" with "two Jordan,Haddad had no chanceto meetthe holes in thetop to letair in." He talkedof a others. Secondly,we firstinterviewed two courtyard- he calledit "a place in theopen of thosestill on theWest Bank - Haq and air" - where,he said, he was hung by his abu-Ghabiyr- withoutany warningand arms froma hook in a wall. And he re- beforethe final pair, Harb and Freitah,had membereda tinycupboard - "the floorwas been freed.We questionedthem only days coveredwith very sharp stones which were aftertheir release. set in cement."

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- Husni Haddad, at the timeof his ar- theten square milesof Israel'sbiggest army rest a factoryowner in Bethlehem,was ordnanceand supplydepot, Sarafand. (The givena khakijacket and trousersrather than JewishNational Fund also uses partof Sar- an overall. But the "black canvas sack" afand to house the equipment for road- withthe two holes was unchanged.So was buildingin its new settlementsin Israeland "a sort of garden" with "gravel under- the occupied territories.) foot,"where he was once madeto crawland Sarafandoccupies a prominentplace in kickedas he did. He too remembereda cell Palestiniandemonology. Scores of state- 50 cms by 50 cms by 150 cms, the floorof mentstalk of it; and mostof those who have which had spikes "like people's thumbs" been throughthe interrogationcentre refer but withsharp edges. to it automaticallyas Sarafand.But thatis Even mundanedetails in Harb's account an assumptionon theirpart, as questioning wereconfirmed by Haddad. Both men said soon shows. that the firstinterrogation room had in- There are, nevertheless,historical rea- structionalcharts showing weapons on its sons why they could be right. Sarafand walls. Both said thata strangenoise distur- was builtas themain British ordnance depot bed theirsleep. Harb talkedof "sounds of in Palestinebefore World War Two. When engines,whirring." Haddad spoke of "a Britain then needed two camps to house kind of hissingnoise froman engine, or Arab detaineesduring the riotsof the late maybea buzzingnoise." The plasticplates, 1930s, one was builtinside Sarafand. (The theabsence of cutlery, the plastic bucket for other was in Sinai.) So many of the old a lavatory,the lack of lavatorypaper... Britishmandate buildings were takenover, scoresof detailsmatch in thefive accounts. functionand all,by the Israelis that Sarafand Therewere also inconsistencies.Haq, for would have been a logicalchoice to house a instance,recalls the courtyard as being"like new generationof Arab detainees. the soil" and denies therewere stones or For it is clear fromdetainees' accounts gravel. And theill-treatment alleged varied that the mysterious new interrogation in typeand extent. Freitahalleged almost centrerun by the militarycame, into oper- continuousbeatings and abuse. Ghabiyr ationafter the 1967 war. And itwas another said he was hardlytouched. (Perhaps the three years or so before its buildings reason was that Ghabiyr has a historyof ramshackleat first,as ifdisused for a time tuberculosisand, at his arrest,was ill witha had been renovated.(Some detainees,taken stomachcomplaint.) thereat intervals,observed the process.) Takingthe evidence as a whole,however, The assertionthat they were in Sarafand we conclude that it amounts at least to a comes most confidentlyfrom those early strongprima facie case that in 1974 Israel alumni. Yet each in turn seems to have maintainedan interrogationcentre adminis- learned this only from inmates already tered by the army,where suspects were there.Only one claimedto have seen a sign hooded,continuously handcuffed, deprived "Sarafand prison" and we thought this of sleep and other human amenities,and improbable. systematicallysubjected to physical and In thoseearly years, blindfolding was less mentalsuffering. rigorouslyenforced, and a few detainees Where is this interrogationcentre, this caughtglimpses of their surroundings. One "Palace of the End"? The most likelyan- recalls a eucalyptustree. But after1970, sweris thatit lies behind the high wire fence continuousblindfolding and isolationshut that all touristssee as they drive the last out even those fragments. stretchfrom Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. The Detaineescould stillhear, of course,and wire,the military checkpoints at a couple of manyspeak of aircraftoverhead. Sarafand entrances,and a fewlow scruffybuildings in lies below a flightpath into Lod airportfive thedistance are virtually all thatis visibleof milesaway. But while some spoke of low-

This content downloaded from 66.134.128.11 on Mon, 09 Mar 2015 20:14:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 206 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES flyingheavy aircraft which suggestsan ditionalprivileges, e. g., visitsby therepre- airportnearby otherssaid theyhad been sentativesof the ICRC ... on these oc- high. (Because theirsis theless predictable casions, theymay talk with each prisoner testimony,the high-fliersseem preferable withoutwitnesses." witnesses.) AmbassadorDoron did not mentiontwo So completelyhave the Israelismanaged importantpoints. The Red Crosshas indeed to isolate those under interrogationsince been able to visit prisons in the occupied 1970-1971,in fact,that the only evidence territoriessince 1968. (Israel deniesthat the thatthe centredid not shiftto some new Geneva Conventionapplies, so it concedes locale thencomes fromtwo prisonerswho, the Red Cross no rightsthere; but it is al- having been there before and after that lowed in.) Throughout those nine years, period,are confidentthey were in the same however,the Israelishave consistentlyfor- place both times. bidden the Red Cross to see prisoners But when we triedto matchthose few undergoinginterrogation. Nor did Doron earlytopographical details with those from say what we know from unimpeachable Harb and the othersarrested in 1974, we sourcesto be true: over the last nine years, could not decide ifthey related to the same when Red Crossrepresentatives have got to place. Nor was Harb or his comradespre- prisonersin jails,they have heardstory after paredto assertthat they were in Sarafand. storyof ill-treatmentand torture.And the "Others said it was Sarafand,"Harb re- Red Cross has filedhundreds of noticesto called. "But I don't know." Because it was the Israeli Governmentpointing this out. so hotthere, Harb tendsto believehe was in The InternationalCommittee of the Red "the southernpart of Israel." (But he lived Crosshas, of course, won itsright to operate in the cool hills,and all the Israeli coastal by promising governments to remain plain is hot in June.) silent. Its delegates,all Swiss, undertake Husni Haddad agreedwith Harb. "I was neverto talkof theirwork. We have,how- a driverand I knewthe roads," he said, and ever, learned fromimpeccable sources of he thoughtthat on the journeyfrom his the problems the Red Cross faces in the home in Bethlehemthe jeep had turned occupied territories. southbefore reaching Sarafand. Haddad also The Red Cross is not immediatelynot- said that near the end of his stay at the ifiedof arrests.Often it is the familiesor centre,the shutteroutside his cell window lawyersof prisonerswho contactthe Red slipped. Cross and usuallythey do not themselves He saw fasttraffic on a main road about know where the prisonersare now. The 150 yardsaway, he said. That is roughlythe Red Cross thentries to traceand get to the distancefrom the road to the buildingsvi- detaineesas swiftlyas possible especially sibleat Sarafand.But Haddad thoughtthat if thereare any groundsfor suspectingill- a high proportionof the cars he saw had. treatment.But the delegatesface three ob- lightgrey numberplates, which indicates stacles. Gaza registrations.He believed,therefore, They have access only to prisons,not to thatthe centre was somewhereclose to the police stationsor militarycamps. Nor do Gaza Strip. theyhave unrestrictedaccess even to pris- Israel commonlycites the International ons. Attachedto prisons in the occupied Committeeof the Red Cross in its defence. territoriesare sets of cells which the Red At the UN last November, for instance, Cross cannot see. Some are outside the AmbassadorDoron said: "Following his prisonproper, attached to thelocal military imprisonment,particulars of each security governor's office. But inside Nablus jail, prisonerare sentto the InternationalCom- forexample, the special cells knownthere mitteeof the Red Cross." This categoryof as "X-cells" areto be foundon thesouth prisoners,he said, "even enjoy some ad- side near the solitaryconfinement cells.

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These remainunder the control of the under interrogation and then only in securityservices, and the Red Cross has no prisons,not militarycamps or police stat- access. ions. But thenthe Israeli authoritieschan- Nor, for the firsteight years of occu- ged theirminds. The InternationalCom- pation, could the Red Cross visit any priso- mittee of the Red Cross subsequently nersin theholding and interrogationcentre reported: "Even though its delegates known as the Russian Compound in Jer- thoughtthat therehad been some impro- usalem. And it has no access to the secret vement in interrogationconditions, the interrogationcentre where Harb was held. ICRC consideredthat the visiting procedure Moreover,48 hoursbefore a prisonvisit, now laid down by the Israeli authorities the Red Crosssubmits to theprison autho- no longer permittedit to ensure that ritiesa listof prisonersit particularlywants interrogationmethods at variance with to see. It sometimesthen happens that when humanitarian law did not occur." the delegatesarrive, they are told thatthe That was in September,1970. Six years prisonerin questionhas justbeen moved to later,after reports in Israelinewspapers that anotherjail. The delegatescovering that jail theRed Crosswas satisfiedwith conditions, promptlyadd theman to theirlist. If theyin the ICRC made anotherof its rare public turnare told that the prisoner has againbeen statements.(The Red Crosssays it does this moved a processdescribed to us as "play- only when it feels its policy of silence is ing paper games" their concern in- being exploitedor abused.) On January12 evitablyincreases. thisyear, the Red Crosssaid that"a number So the Red Cross mayonly get to priso- of problems which have been raised re- ners aftera search and rarelyif ever until gularlyby theICRC have not been solved." interrogationis over. Severalwitnesses told And it pointed out that it was still not us how Red Cross delegatesgreeted them permittedto visit "those undergoingin- when theyfinally met. "I've been looking terrogation." foryou everywhere"one delegateallegedly Interrogation,of course, is only one of said. Anotherapparently remarked: "Now the ends of ill-treatmentor torture. Ill- I have foundyou, you will be safe." treatmentmay also detera rebelliouspop- How oftendoes the Red Cross thenhear ulace. For that,however, a degreeof open- allegationsof ill-treatment?The Red Cross, nessis required a semi-publicassertion of of course,will not say. But our impression power. That is one possibleexplanation for is thatwhile beatingsare commonlymen- what happensin the Russiancompound in tioned,more elaborate ill-treatmentis al- Jerusalem. legedby half the prisoners or less. Not all of The Russian Compound,which sprawls thesedecide to make formalcomplaints. over severalacres in the heartof Jerusalem Even whena formalcomplaint is made just northof the old city,derives its name whichthe Red Crossthen transmits without fromits originaluse as a hospitalfor Or- commentto the Israeli authorities the thodoxpilgrims. Inside its walls todayare a Red Crossrarely learns officially if there has prison,a repairdepot for police vehicles, beenany action as a result or even ifthere petrolpumps and two rowsof single-storey has been an inquiryinto the complaint. barracks. Over a periodof six monthsdelegates may Much of the compound is open to the notice that complaintsabout a particular public: Barracknumber two issues driving formof treatmentare diminishing;or dis- licences and identitycards. But Barracks coverthat a particularinterrogator has been four,six and eighthouse theJerusalem out- transferred.That is all. posts of Israel's civilian securityservices, Only forfive months through the sum- including in BarrackFour thesection merof 1969,did theRed Crosspersuade the called Miotim, the departmentof min- Israelisto letits delegates see some of those orities.Its boss is an Iraqi Jewnamed Naim

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Shabo. and he was clearlyregarded as a trouble- Unlikethe rest of the captured territories, maker. Mughrabi gave us a detailed ac- east Jerusalemhas been not merelyoc- count of how he was beaten at the session cupied by Israel but effectivelyannexed Hedva Saridinterrupted. His storyis in part and its90,000 unwillingArab citizenswith corroboratedby anotherprisoner, though it. Miotim'sjob is to cope with the "sub- Mughrabi'sadditional allegation of electric versiveelements" among them. shock remainsunconfirmed. A few minutesafter 3 p. m. last De- Mughrabiwas one of 24 Palestinianswe cember15, Hedva Sarid walked into Bar- interviewedwho had been interrogatedin rackFour. She is thesecretary of the Israeli- the Russian Compound "Moscobiya" born lawyer Lea Tsemel, whom she had theArabs call it. Twenty-twosaid theyhad arrangedto meet there. "I looked for a been ill-treatedor worse. secretaryin thereception office, but nobody Like theallegations involving the prisons was there.Then I hearda shout I think of Ramallahand Hebron or the secretin- 'halam' [Arabic for 'immediately']. The terrogationcentre, those relating to the door of an officea littlefurther down the Russian Compound consistentlyspecify a corridorwas half-openand I looked inside. rangeof abuses which is bothlimited and by "There were some men five,six or and large peculiar to that place. At the seven aroundsomeone who I recognized Russian Compound,these centre on sexual as a clientof ours. They were all talkingto assault. him at the same time. In the middle of Nine of those we interviewedspoke of shoutingat him,one of them a manwith having had theirgenitals beaten, squeezed greyhair swung his leg and kickedour or twisted.Consistently, they said thiswas clientin the genitals. The clientcried out done mostlyfrom behind, while they stood, and foldedover. He heldhis genitalsand he naked and with legs apart,facing a wall. was crying. What is unusual is that Miotim makes "I startedshouting at the men. They littleapparent effort to concealat leastthese came and pushed me away and shut the morecommon assaults. Indeed, it seemsto door behindthem. I saw theman with grey go out of its way to demonstrateits power hairand I shoutedat him: 'I saw you kick over east Jerusalem.While most of thosein that boy. I want your number; that's il- its hands are arrestedin night raids, for legal.' example, many are simplysummoned by "He said: 'I am the head of thisdepart- pro formaletter. It talks of an interview, ment. My name is Naim Shabo. What do but Miotim'sreputation among Palestinians you want here?"' They pushed her out. is such thatthe recipientsautomatically ex- Hedva Sarid is not the only personwho pect worse. claims to have witnessedviolence in the Most of those summoned accept it is Russian Compound. An Americancharity pointlesstrying to escape, though. So they worker whose business sometimes takes turn up as requested,and frequentlyjust himup thererecalls seeing, last year, a man, disappearinto detention.No notificationis clearlyin a dazed state,brought out of Bar- given to theirfamilies. rack Four, led aroundin the freshair fora Mughrabi'sexperience, in other words, fewminutes and thentaken back inside. On seems fairlytypical of what Miotim has anothervisit, he saw a man led across the taught"trouble-makers" to expect. But the compound bleeding from the nose and RussianCompound has, like the "Palace of mouth. the End," interrogationand confession Lea Tsemel's client,whom Hedva Sarid functionsas well. For what happensthere says she saw being kicked, was a youth to those suspectedof knowledgeor com- called Mahmoud el-Mughrabi. At 16, he plicityin moreserious offences seems to be had alreadybeen picked up a dozen times, altogetherharsher.

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In assessingthose allegations,however, her down and shoved up a stick." we werefrequently driven back to gauging Whenhe could go on, he said thathe had fromlong interviewswhat Amnestycalls been taken into an interrogationroom to the "credibilityand motivation"of a wit- findRasmiah naked and handcuffed.One of ness. The testimonyof Josef Odeh, for the interrogators,he said, "asked me to example,is terrible- thoughby no means sleepwith her, and I said: 'Don't even think unique. It squareswith the pattern thrown of that. I would never do such a thing.' up by other testimony;and some cor- They were beatingme and beatingher and roborationis available. But the most im- we wereboth screaming.Rasmiah was still pressiveaspect was Odeh's mannerin giv- saying:'I know nothing.' And theyspread ing it. her legs and shoved the stickinto her. She Odeh's allegationsgo back to 1969 when was bleedingfrom her mouth and fromher his daughterRasmiah, then aged 21, was faceand fromher end. Then I became un- giventwo lifesentences for terrorist offen- conscious." ces which included the planting of two "An importantelement in determining bombs which killed 14 people. Amnesty'sreaction to anyevidence [on tor- Odeh says thatit was around 1 a. m. on ture],"the organization has written,"is the February28, 1969, when Israeli soldiers government'sreadiness to investigatealle- burstinto his home,then in Ramallah,and gationsand to punish any offenders." arrestedhim and his threedaughters - one Israel'shabitual response to allegationsof 23, one 17 and Rasmiah.They were taken to ill-treatmentor tortureis to dismissthem as the RussianCompound. fabrications.Some, even many,may be - His testimonybears out what the later but not,we think,all. And, judged by that prison sentencesargue: that the Israelis Amnestycriterion, Israel's denials are not were,fromthe start, really interested in Ras- always convincing. We have alreadyout- miah. Accordingto Odeh's account,during lined Israel's domestic response: the re- his 20 days at the compound, the in- peated failuresof lawyersto persuade its terrogatorsarranged a series of con- courtsto acceptthe allegations; the "impar- frontationsbetween members of thefamily, tial inquiries" where court proceduresef- seemingly,as a pressurizingdevice. fectivelybar the complainantsfrom seeing, Once, he had said, he was kept in one let alone challenging,official denials; in room while Rasmiah was beaten nearby: sum,a judiciaryusually equivocal and often "When they took me back... Rasmiah hostileto attemptsto probe the truth. couldn't stand on her own feet. She was Internationally,Israel's response is exem- lying on the floor and there were blood plifiedby theassertions given at the United stainson herclothes. Her facewas blue and Nations last November by its ambassador shehad a blackeye. Then she was pickedup there, Jacob Doron: "My country can by two soldiers,and at thatmoment I star- proudlystand by its recordof scrupulously tedcrying and screamingand theyblindfol- observingthe rule of law in theadministered ded me and I think she was then taken areas." Israel,he said,showed a "liberaland away." enlightenedattitude, including the candid As his recitalcontinued, Odeh became admissionof any mistakes that may have been visiblydistressed. He beganto breatherapi- made and the effortsto correctthem. . ." dly and the musclesin the side of his neck Doron admittedthose mistakes: "It is were twitching.We asked him when he true that in one or two cases, which are nextsaw Rasmiah,and he began to cry. At completelyexceptional, force has been re- lasthe said to our interpreter:"I wish I had grettablyused against prisoners. One of died ratherthan see thisthing... It's a ques- these exceptional cases unfortunately tion of honour... It's all right,interpret, broughtabout the deathof Ahmed Sheikh whynot? What is thereto tell? They held Dahdoul. . . "

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Dahdoul was beatento deathby soldiers statementsmade in the Insight articleon in a militaryvehicle in March 1976 while torturebefore publishing it. Althoughthe being drivento Tulkarmpolice station20 journalistsinvolved claim that they were miles north-eastof Tel Aviv. Doron de- working on the storyfor more than five scribedthe aftermath:"The rule of law is months,there is no referencemade to any strictlyapplied by the Israeli authorities attemptto verifythe stories from any autho- and... no favouritismis shown by the ritativeIsrael source whatsoever. authoritiesor the courts. The officerin It is strikingthat there is not a single question has since been found guiltyand interviewwith an Israeli judge, nor witha was sentencedto a long termof imprison- memberof the Israel Bar otherthan the two ment." hostilelawyers who apparentlyinspired the When Dahdoul died, the Israeli autho- article. There is not a single attemptat ritiesannounced that he had done so of a verificationwith members of theprison ser- heartattack. This was challengedby the vice. A place such as the Jerusalemlocal Arab doctorwho had treatedhim. Despite police stationis ominouslytermed "a de- considerableuproar, the truth did notbegin tentionand interrogationcentre" in order to emergeuntil four months later when the to tryand createa suitablemise en scene for authoritiessuddenly told Dahdoul's lawyer the SundayTimes horror fiction. Yet this once again, Felicia Langer that an local police stationis in the centreof town officerwould be charged. and, as every Jerusalemlawyer and jour- No evidencehas yet been publiclypro- nalist is aware, local police are perfectly duced that any trial occurred. It was al- willingto allow visitors.The buildings,by legedlyin a militarycourt. But itwas heldin the way, served as British Police Head- camera. Mrs. Langer was not permittedto quarters,including the barracks,and any send an observer,let alone participate.No Jerusalemresident who has lost a camera actionhas yetbeen taken against the soldiers will also be visitingthese "barracks." In- who actuallydid the beatings(though the cidentally,driving licences and identity AttorneyGeneral has recentlyannounced cards are not issued there. thatthey will now be filed). Nor were any Somelegalfacts: Israel has an independent depositionsever takenfrom the other Arab judiciary, a Ministry of Justice, an prisonersin the truckwith Dahdoul. The Attorney-Generaland an Officeof Stateand authoritiesmerely announced that a major DistrictAttorneys, all staffedby lawyers. had been reducedto therank of privateand We possess a judicial systemwhich even jailed fortwo years. To thisday, Israel has Israel's avowed enemiesadmit is both fair refusedto namethe soldier or say wherehe and of extremelyhigh calibre,yet the jour- is servingthe sentence. nalists did not apparentlyfeel there was Last December,Dahdoul's familyat last need to ask these people about what was got an order from the high court for a supposed to be going on in the State. transcriptof the trial. Two monthsago, the That Israel is theone and sole countryin it militarycourt respondedby sayingthat the area that does not carryout the death would allow Mrs. to see a only Langer copy penalty,and that tortureis a crime under - and thenonly if she agreednot to copy it Israel law are facts not mentioned. That or to writeanything about it. Mrs. Langer tortureor use of forcein additionto being refused. battleto see therecord of this The crimesare also offencesagainst the police admission" particular"candid continues. and militarycodes is not referredto, and So do the allegations. thatin the past officershave been punished and demotedfor use of force,is given but 2. THE ISRAELI REPLY, JULY 3,1977 scantymention. We regretthat the SundayTimes did not Only by carefulreading of thearticle can ask forIsrael's reactionor responseto the a readerrealize that even the writersof the

This content downloaded from 66.134.128.11 on Mon, 09 Mar 2015 20:14:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPECIAL DOCUMENT 211 articlehave grudginglyadmitted that Israel fessions. The phrase used, for instance, courtsrefuse to considerany statementby "the secretaryof theJordanian Communist theaccused if the court is notconvinced that Party has been quoted as saying that his it was given of theaccused's own freewill, West Bank comradeshad indeed been ac- withoutuse of forceor threatof force,and tive," is a prime example of the sort of that Israel applies the British "Judges deliberateavoidance of the factthat there Rules" in regardsto statementsmade to the had been clear statementsfrom the same police. The journalistsdid not apparently source that the "activity" involved was feelit necessary to add thatthe onus ofproof physicaland brutalterror. in suchcases is on theprosecution, although On firstreading the article one's im- theydo, again grudgingly,admit that even pressionis thatalthough, as the journalists theArab lawyerto whom theyspoke knew admit, there is no hard evidence of such of fivecases wheremilitary courts had re- torture,there is "corroborationof verifi- fusedto receiveconfessions by accused ter- able details." On a secondcareful reading, it rorists,as the prosecutionhad not shifted transpiresthat the corroborativeevidence the burdenof proof. exists as regardsdetails that are not dis- Only a readerwith legal trainingcan re- puted. The persons were indeed arrested, alize thatin Israel,as in othercommon law interrogatedand chargedwith crimes. That countries,a statementto thepolice contain- is not in issue. The fact,for instance, that ing a confessionneeds corroborativeevid- prisonerswere at such-and-sucha prison ence and it is impossibleto obtain a con- togetherand both describe it, is indeed victionbased on a confessionalone. In the evidence,but it is evidenceas to factsthat well-known case of Zoher Wasef Zaki are not in question. All Israel prisonsare Amira,who admittedin his statementto the open to inspectionand such inspectionsare police to the murderof a policeman and carried out frequentlyby judges, repre- thedefence did not object to theadmissibility sentatives of the AttorneyGeneral and ofthe statement, he was neverthelessacquit- defence-counsel, including advocates tedby the military court in Hebronsolely on Tsemel and Langer. It is only on careful theground that there was no corroborative readingof the article,that it becomes ap- evidenceto that contained in the statement to parentthat there is no evidencewhatsoever thepolice; and afterbeing keptin adminis- on the actual use of torture. trativedetention, he has been released to Israelemphatically denies the truth of the Jordanlast week. allegationsin the Insight article. Since a Selectiveand misleadingreporting: The ar- detailedrefutation of all theallegations pub- ticlemost carefully refrains from mention- lished in the four-page report of the ing forwhat crimespeople involved were SundayTimes would require at least the foundguilty. It was, in fact,acts of terror same amount of space, we would like to against civilians; it was the placing of referonly to some of the more blatantal- bombs in supermarkets,buses and high leged evidencequoted in the article. streetshops. This terrorhas been aimed at OmarAbdul-Munim Abdul-Karim Salame: Arabs and Jews alike. In the Gaza Strip The case referredto is thatof Omar Abdul- alone between January1968 and August MunimAbdul-Karim Salame. The authors 1971over 215 Arabswere killed, 51 of them of the articleadmit that "the medicalevid- women and 29 children,and over 1,314 ence is not conclusive." However,they add wounded,of them 180 womenand 139 chil- thatthere is "externalevidence," this being, dre - all by Arab terrorgroups. accordingto the article,that Israel military The impressionthe readeris intendedto authoritiestold a Reuter's correspondent get is thatwhat is involvedis some sortof that Omar Abdul-Karimhad served three politicalagitation, and thatthe only evid- yearsin prisonwhile in factInsight "disco- ence against the persons were their con- vered" thathe had been onlythree months

This content downloaded from 66.134.128.11 on Mon, 09 Mar 2015 20:14:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 212 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES in prison. In factOmar Abdul-Karimhad scribe how he had sent his nephew, been arrestedin 1970 and sentencedto four Othman,to Damascus to obtain arms (the yearsin prison,of which two and a halfwere nephewHassan Othmanconfirmed this in a suspended. He was released on June 20, separatestatement to the police). He then 1972, his period of arrestpre-trial being describedhow he had hiddendetonators in takeninto account. He was arrestedagain the roof of his house in the village of Beit fouryears later on October3, 1976and three Sahur. Aftersigning the statement,Karim monthslater, on February24, 1977,released wentwith an escortof borderpolice to his to Jordanon medicalgrounds. These facts house wherethe detonatorswere found,as are on fileand available to the public. The Karim had describedthem. fact that the Reuter's correspondentre- Karim was released afterthree months ferredto theearlier period of imprisonment because of his medicalcondition. The fact and not thelater is the "externalevidence" that he was under treatmentprior to his submittedby the Insightteam. The article arrestis not disputedby Insight. quotes thefact that the Mayor of thevillage Incidentally,two days after being re- saw Israelisoldiers draining Karim's sewer leased from prison in a state where "he as "corroboration"of Karim's story.This couldn'trecognize his brother,"he happily is, in fact,evidence that was not in dispute. appearedat a PressConference and on Jor- The searchof the sewer was done openly, danian television.Release of a prisoneron and it was as a resultof this search that medical grounds is a regularprocedure in damning evidence against Karim was Israel and in manycountries, but it might found. The article continues to quote well seeman extraordinarystep to people in anotherclassic case of a half-truth.It is our neighbouringArab states.This reason- stated that in 1970 Karim "served a 20- ing mightwell go a long way to explaining monthsentence for possessing a revolver." why Karim feltit necessaryto elaboratea Karimrefrains from adding that in addition falsestory of torture to explainhis statement to the revolver,he was found guiltyby a to the police and his earlyrelease. courtof complicity in theplacing of a bomb HassanHarb: As regardsthe second case in the Labour Exchange of Bethlehemon mentioned,that of Hassan Harb, thereis a August 17, 1969 and a furtherbomb in the formidablelist of medical certificatesdis- of on Municipality Bethlehem March 7, provingthe allegations. Hassan Harb was 1970. Incidentally,both places are frequen- examinedon admissionto prisonon April ted by local Arab residents. 24, 1974 and was foundto be sufferingfrom Afterquoting the allegations by Karimof haemorrhoids.On May 2, 1974 he received torture,the Insight report goes on to quote a dentalcheck-up and dentaltreatment. He him: "I had to startlying. I had nothingto was examinedagain on June11, 1974and on telland I had to save mywife. I said I had July4, 1974. On August 8, 1974 Hassan bombs and I hid them in my lavatory." Harb again receiveddental treatment and a However, the article does not state that furthermedical check-up on August 14, Karim then went on to give a long and 1974. On all themedical check-ups, Hassan detailed statementin which, interalia, he complained of the haemorrhoidsand re- describedhow and fromwhom he received ceived medication. On the examination explosivecharges and his meetingin Am- held on July4, 1974, the examiningdoctor man withYusul Qumsieh,a leading mem- noted a cut on the rightankle. In none of ber of Fatah, who in turn was under in- the examinationsdid Hassan complainthat structionsfrom Abdalla El-Atira,the man he had been torturednor did any of the responsiblefor placing the booby-trapped examinationsreveal any signs of such tor- refrigeratorin Jerusalem'sZion Square, in ture. The Insightteam do not directlyat- which 14 people were killedand 78 woun- temptto deny the veracityof the medical ded. Omar Abdul-Karimwent on to de- reports,and they admit that the medical

This content downloaded from 66.134.128.11 on Mon, 09 Mar 2015 20:14:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPECIAL DOCUMENT 213 statementswere subjectedto examination shelffull of glass bottles in a supermarketon by the Israel SupremeCourt and were not Agron Streetin Jerusalem,and two other faulted. bombs in theBritish Consulate.) However, No attempt to bring any conflicting thearticle fails to pointout thatOdeh him- medicalreport was made; yetthe paragraph selfwas triedfor participating in the bomb on Hassan Harb endsby criticizing the Sup- outrages,found guiltyby the court after remeCourt of Israel that"at the veryleast hearingof evidenceand witnessesand sen- considerabledoubt mustbe cast on what it tencedto lifeimprisonment. found." Abed Al-ShalloudiAl-Karim: The pat- The Insight team do, however, quote tern of refrainingfrom mentioningfacts Harb's wifeas sayingthat when she visited thatmust have been known to the Insight him at Yagur Prison some days after28 team comes up again and again. Abed Al- June, that is afterhe had been allegedly Shalloudi Al-Karimis quoted as complain- torturedat an interrogationcamp, "he was ing of being beaten,yet at his trialheld in pale and exhaustedand had lost a lot of the Lod court,he was representedby ad- weight." This statement,however, takes on vocate Razi Kfir who put up a bitterand a differenthue when it transpiresthat the prolongeddefence of his client, but made no same person,the wife of Hassan Harb, had objectionto the admissionof his statement at least a week beforethe visitsubmitted a to thepolice and madeno mentionof sucha swornaffidavit to theSupreme Court (H. C. beating. 247/74) statingthat her husband was "a He is quoted as having been held 16 sick person and she was worriedabout his monthswithout trial, but the Insightteam health." This was beforeshe had seen him thenfails to add thathe was thenbrought to afterhis alleged "torture" or heard about trialand sentencedto fouryears imprison- the allegation. mentof whichall but 15 monthswere sus- YusufOdeh: A furthercase referredto is pended, and the sentenceran retroactively that of Yusuf Odeh, who recallsa tale of fromthe day he was arrested;so thatin fact sexual sadism that indeed sounds horrify- he was releasedimmediately after being sen- ing. The event allegedlytook place eight tenced. yearsago; yet thereis in the articlenot a ZuherAl Dibi: ZuherAl Dibi is quoted as word of any attemptto verifythe incident, having receiveda seven-yearsentence for althoughOdeh claims therewere soldiers distributingleaflets. It is true that he did present. No mention of any complaint distributeleaflets, but the Insightteam fails made to Armyauthorities, no mentionof to add thathe was also convictedof throw- any requestfor a medical examination,no ing hand grenadesat a truckon December mentionof any names. The authors,how- 28, 1969 and of possessing explosives. It ever,state simply that "the mostimpressive was thisthat earned him a 12-yearsentence, aspect was Odeh's mannerin giving the of which fivewere suspendedand he was evidence." Israel emphaticallyand cat- releasedon February12, 1977. egoricallydenies that this incident (and the Fayez Toutunji:Fayez Toutunji appears otherincidents) occurred it is thewarped on the list of those claimingthey were ill- imaginationof a sick mind. treated or tortured. However, advocate In additionto the quoting of allegations Tsemel, on July 13, 1976, wrote to the thatare simply not true, there is theomission Ministerof Police complainingthat when of factsthat must have been known to the Toutunjihad been arrested,one of thepol- Insightteam. As regardsthe Odeh story, icemenwho accompaniedhim back to the thearticle admits that Rasmiah was senten- house drewa revolverin a threateningman- ced for"terrorist activities which included ner against a memberof the household. theplanting of two bombs which killed14 (The policeman later explained that he people." (They were indeed planted on a thoughthe was being threatened,and ne-

This content downloaded from 66.134.128.11 on Mon, 09 Mar 2015 20:14:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 214 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES verthelesswas reprimanded.) Lea Tsemel plainedon April 1, 1976 to the Ministerof specificallystates in herletter that there was Police that nine of her clients had been no violenceduring the arrest.In a further beatenby the police. The police wrote re- letterto the Ministerof Police, dated Sep- peatedlyasking her thather clientsor wit- tember29, 1976, on the issue, advocate nesses make statementsas to the alle- Tsemel again makes no referenceto any gations. Advocate Tsemel ignoredthe let- violence against her client. The Insight tersand no statementswere received. Again teamfails to quote eitherof these two letters in police file76/76, advocate Tsemel com- or explain why advocate Tsemel did not plained on January8, 1976 thata clientof complainif therehad been ill-treatment. hershad been struckby a policemanduring Themethods of advocates Langer and Tsemel: his arrest. The police authoritieswrote Again and again referenceis made to ad- threetimes to the advocate askingthat her vocates Langer and Tsemel as sources. clientmake a statement.The letterswere Both advocateLanger and advocateTsemel ignoredby advocate Tsemel. makea practiceof claimingthat every client In manyof thecases thepersons referred of theirswho makes a statementto the to had good reasonfor claiming that state- police does so under pressure. A case of mentsthey made were made undertorture, advocateTsemel that has becomefamous in for in these statementsthey implicated Israeli legal historyis the case of Khaled others in the various acts of terrorcom- Zawawi v the Ministerof Defence (H. C. mitted.There have been a numberof cases 98/76). Here she claimsthat her clienthad of Arab prisonersbeing brutallymurdered had to undergo two brain operations to by theirfellow prisoners on suspicionthat remove thrombosiscaused by "previous theyhad cooperatedwith the authorities. interrogations." What advocate Tsemel Once claiming torture,they perhaps feel had forgottenwas that a year earlier,at thatthey can no longerbe accused by their Zawawi's criminaltrial (H. C. 1104/75), she colleagues of betrayal. herselfhad pleaded for leniency on the Israelpolice and securityhave everyrea- groundsthat her client had a long historyof son to refrainfrom use of force. Such use chronicbrain thrombosis dating back many of forceis a serious criminaloffence, and years before. When this discrepancywas where cases of police brutalityhave been pointedout at the SupremeCourt session, foundin the past,police officershave been advocate Tsemel hurriedlywithdrew her prosecuted,and it is Israel's policyto do so petitionand only requestedthat the State in the future. not press for expenses against her client Furthermore,as has been emphasized, (whichthey refrained from doing). any statementobtained by such methodsis Advocates Tsemel and Langer have inadmissible.Torture leaves medicalevid- made a practiceof submittingcomplaints ence; yetin not one of thealleged cases has aboutill-treatment of their clients, yet when medical evidence been submitted.On the the police open inquiriesand request the contrary,in everycase whereIsrael autho- people to provide statementsor to submit rities were informedof the allegations, evidence, the two lawyers simply fail to medical reportsfailed to substantiatethe reply. allegations. For example, in police file 598/76 ad- Everyprisoner admitted to prisonis sub- vocate Langer complainedabout an arrest ject to a medicalexamination, and to a fur- thathad takenplace on February25, 1976. therexamination on release. These exam- The police phoned and wrotea numberof inationsare on record. letters,the last being on May 31, 1976 ask- During 1975,216 of thepersons from the ingher to substantiatethe claim. No answer territoriesbrought before military tribunals at all was receivedfrom advocate Langer. were given fullacquittals, and in 1976, 408 In policefile 755 /76,advocate Tsemel com- of such personswere given fullacquittals.

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The total numberof personssentenced to have old rib fractures,and occasionalpains morethan ten years imprisonment was 31 in in his chest and back; for these he went 1975, and 26 in 1976. This figureincludes sometimesas an out-patientto an ortho- bothpersons sentenced for regular criminal paedic hospital. by contrasthe leftIsraeli activityand persons sentencedfor crimes hands a stretchercase. connectedwith security offences. Israel re- Israel: His stateon releasewas notthat bad: portsto theRed Crosson everysingle priso- "Two daysafter being releasedfrom prison in a ner fromthe territories.The detailsof the statewhere 'he couldn'trecognize his brother' he prisonerare listedon a computerrun by the happilyappeared at a press conferenceand on Red Cross. Jordaniantelevision." If clear evidenceis produced,the Israeli Insight:Not true. The directorgeneral of Governmentundertakes to make everyef- JordanianTV, MohammedKamal, says: "I fortto investigatesuch complaintsand to have personallysearched throughall our prosecuteany policeman, soldier or security records. There was no such interview." officialinvolved, but no such evidencehas Nor was there a press conference.Sum- been producedand we can but reiterateour moned by the hospital doctor in Jordan, regretand dismay that the SundayTimes two reporterswent to Karim's bedside,one foundfit to printsuch an article. fromReuters and theother Daniel Souther- land of the Christian Science Monitor. 3 Southerlandrecalls that Karim was mostly in bed, proppinghimself on one elbow to THE "SUNDAY TIMES" REPLY, talk: "He was ratherweak and frailand very JULY 10, 1977 thin, and obviously sufferingphysical Israel's replyto our investigationdealt pain." He had "difficultywalking" even withthe central points by flatdenial, rather with a cane. "Seen from the rear... he thanwith detailed evidence; it raised side- looked likean old man," Southerlandwrote issues; it devotedgreat energy to attacking at the time. And he concluded thatKarim two of its own citizenswho were by no had been "badly beaten." meansour principalwitnesses; it contained Israel:Insight isguilty of "another classic case of a numberof untruths. This articleis divided a halftruth" in concealingKarim's previous con- into a briefsummary of our originalstate- victions. ment,the Israeliresponse in italicand then Insight:In fact,we pointedout thathe had Insight'scomment on thatresponse. been in the fedayeen a factorwhich we OmarAbdul-Karim: Section One of our said militatedagainst his credibility.And originalreport discussed the case of Omar we reportedhis previous sentence. We con- Abdul-Karim. He was arrested,a fitman, cede that we inadvertentlylisted only the on October3, 1976 and deportedto Jordan lessercharge in thatcase and not his con- on a stretcherlast February, after five currentconvictions for complicity in caus- monthsin the hands of Israelisecurity for- ing two explosions.(Karim, however,ad- ces. He told an appallingstory of brutality mits his guilt on the charge we cited, during interrogation.We examined the possessinga revolver;but denies involve- corroborativeevidence. We also pointedto mentin the explosions.) theweaknesses in his story"which make it Israel: Karimgave a "longand detailedstate- fallshort of final proof. " But we pointedto ment"of guilt during his five-month detention, the disquietingfact that the Israeli military whichwas corroboratedbyhis nephew. authoritieshad soughtto conceal how brief Insight:Karim's versionof how the Israelis a timeKarim had been in theirhands. triedto forcesuch a statementout of him Israel: Karimwas ill beforehis arrest. and his nephew occupies 17 pages of our Insight:Not true. He was fit,happy and transcript.Even ifsuch a statementexisted, holdingdown a job as a carpenter.He did therefore,it would be unimpressiveunless

This content downloaded from 66.134.128.11 on Mon, 09 Mar 2015 20:14:33 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 216 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES the allegationsof tortureare disproved. pointedout that"Israel claims- and un- But, in fact,Karim deniesgiving anything doubtedlyfeels itself - to be at war forits like what the Israelisallege. life," but that Israel, for the sake of its Israel's detailsseem odd. Israel alleges, internationalreputation, was reluctantto forinstance, a meetingbetween Karim and have politicaldetainees. anotherfedai in Amman sometime after Hence the pressureto get evidence on June 1972; and a trip to Damascus by whichsuspects could be convicted;and so, Karim's nephew. But the man Karim sup- we postulated, the introductionof ill- posedly met in Amman has lived in Syria treatmentand tortureas a meansof getting since the end of 1970 and is forbiddento confessions. We then showed how the enterJordan. And Karim'snephew was too draconiansystem of militarycourts works, youngto have a Jordanianpassport, so how and we quoted six named advocates with did he get to Damascus? Certainlynot on experience of them: "Their unanimous Israeli-issuedpapers. opinionis thatthe military courts collude in Finally,if Karim made this confession, and knowinglyconceal the use of tor- why was he nevercharged? ture.. ." Israel: Detonatorswere found in Karim'sroof Israel: "Tortureis a crimeunder Israeli law." andother, unspecified "damning evidence" in his Insight:So it is in mostcountries that use it. sewagepit. Israel: "We possessajudicial system which... is Insight:Karim denies this. The Israelis bothfair and of extremelyhigh calibre." neveralleged it to his lawyerat the time. Insight:True. That is what makes its re- And since Karim remainedin Israeli cus- luctanceto confrontthe issue of torturethe todyfor about fourmonths after his alleged more disturbing.For example,we cited a confessionand the search,the question is specificcase wherethe SupremeCourt dis- again: whywas he not chargedduring this misseda stringof tortureallegations solely time? on thebasis of briefstatements taken by the Israel:The Reuter report that Karim, at thetime police whichthe plaintiffs could neithersee ofdeportation, was a convictedguerrilla released nor challengeand medicalreports by doc- afterserving threeyears ofan 11-year sentence was tors who were farfrom independent. The Reuters'own mistake. plaintiffs'lawyer was noteven allowed to be Insight:Not true. Reuterspublished what in court. We foundthat procedure remark- the Israelistold them. Insightcharged the able. The Israelisdo not deny it. Israeli militaryauthorities with misleading Israel: "All Israel prisonsare open to in- Reuters when they asked about Karim's spection." conditionso as to discredithis story. The Insight:Not true. Most of Israel's prisons point has stillnot been met. are open to inspection.But the prisonswe The factsremain. Omar Abdul-Karim, cited - Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus and an activeman of 35, was deported"an old Gaza have specialcells, sometimes called man"5 on a stretcherafter five monthsin X-cells, where prisoners under in- Israeli hands, during which time he was terrogationare held by the securityforces. chargedwith no offence.What happened to Those cells and theirinmates are not open him? We challengeIsrael to releasethe re- to inspection,even bythe International Red ports on Karim's condition made by the Cross. Nor does theRed Cross or anyone InternationalRed Cross delegate Bernard else inspect the special interrogation Munger. centres. In Section Two, 'The Judgmentof the Israel: All thepeople mentioned were convicted World, we examined the political back- terrorists. ground. We cited "Arab resistanceex- Insight:Not true. Many were never char- pressedsometimes through terrorism," and ged, let alone convicted,of anything.In its showed how thathad come in waves. We repeatedassertions of thispoint, moreover,

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Israelseems to us to comeperilously close to State's evidence. But for acceptanceof a implyingthat if the complainants were ter- confession,all that is needed is "some- roriststhen ill-treatment or torturewould thing" in Hebrew dvar-ma and the be justified. militarycourts have reducedthis to a min- But our maincriticism was ofthe military imum. courts runby soldiersand notby Israel's In mostcases before them, it now consists judiciary whichdeal withsecurity offen- of a "reconstructionreport" by police who ces in the occupied territories.We said: have photographedthe defendantat places "Most convictionsin thosecourts are based mentionedin his confession. The police on confessionsby the accused; most of then say thatthe picturewas taken as the those confessions,the lawyers are con- defendantpointed out to themwhat he did. vinced,are extracted by ill-treatment or tor- Or the"something" may be thefinding that ture; almostwithout exception, the courts a thirdparty named in a confessiondoes rejectthat contention." exist. Militarycourts do notrequire truly Israel: "During1975, 216 ofthe persons from independentevidence. theterritories brought before military tribunals Israel: Insightdoes not discuss the "well-known weregiven full acquittals;and in 1976, 408 of caseof Zoher Wlasef Zaki Amira" who,it says, suchpersons were given full acquittals." admittedkilling a policemanbut was nevertheless Insight:Not true. The Israelishave added in acquittedby the military court in Hebron"solely acquittalsin all the non-securitycases that on theground that therewas no corroborative go beforethe ordinarycourts and there evidence."Israel adds that "after being kept in were 9,070 of those cases last year. (The administrativedetention" Amira was "released Israeliforeign ministry admitted this to us toJordan" last week. last week.) So what are the truefigures for Insight:We did not mention Amira, but acquittalsby militarycourts? They were sinceIsrael has, theseare thefacts, rather at "not available." odds withIsrael's version. Amira was arres- We inviteIsrael to producethese figures. ted on February21, 1971 and tried at Incidentally,we do regardthis mistakeas Nablus,not Hebron on May 28, 1972. In curious: the figureswere omittedfrom the the intervening15 months,Amira claims, version of the Israeli statementissued in he was tortured,mainly through falanga, Jerusalemwhere their inaccuracywould beating on the feet. He confessedto two have been readilyspotted. charges: possessing two bombs and the Israel: Insight"grudgingly admits that even the murderof a policeman. (He now sayshe was Arab lawyer... knewof five cases where military guiltyof the bomb charge,but not of the courtshad refused to receiveconfessions..." murder.) Insight:Far fromour being"grudging," we He was given a three-yearsentence for took that to show how rarelyit happens, the bombs, and the real reason he was ac- sincethose five were the lawyer'sonly suc- quittedof the murderwas thatothers tried cesses in well over a thousand cases. We with him confessedto it themselvesbut find Israel's use of the word "even" in- exoneratedhim. They got life sentences, teresting.The lawyerwas, as we said,Wasfi and the court did not inquirehow, in that 0. Masri, a senior judge under Jordanian case, Amira had been induced to make a rule before1967, and a respectedfigure. falseconfession. After his sentence,Amira Israel: "It is impossibleto obtaina conviction was stillheld as a detaineeand deportedon basedon a confessionalone." June26 thisyear. Insight:Technically correct, but in practice Ghassan Harb. In Section Three, the not true. Israel admits two sorts of cor- storyof Ghassan Harb, Insightdealt with roboration. Truly independent cor- the case of a Palestinian communistin- roborationis needed in cases like rape or tellectualdetained without trial from April whenone of a group of accused has turned 1974 to lastJanuary. We recountedhis alle-

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gations of torture at an unknown in- afterhis release33 monthslater told us that terrogationcentre jocularly called "the the operationwas long overdue. So much Palace of the End." We demonstratedthat for the doctorsattached to the Israeli sec- four othersapparently at the same centre urityforces. gave corroborativeaccounts of what hap- As to Harb's wife, we think that she pened, and we considered whetherthey exaggeratedhis state after interrogation, could have colluded. "Taking theevidence and we quoted a witnessto thateffect: "He as a whole," we said, "we conclude thatit didn't seem as bad as I had heard..." We amounts at least to a strong prima facie also thinkthat, for equally understandable case.... reasons,she exaggeratedhis illness on ar- Israel: Insight'sarticle concealed the West Bank rest.He was, in fact,an activeman, holding CommunistParty's part in "physicaland brutal down a responsiblejob. terror." Israel: "A formidablelist of medicalcerti- Insight:On the contrary,we devoted five ficates"of Harb's examinations in custody"dis- paragraphsto the party'salliance with the provethe allegations." "No attemptto bring any PLO. We pointedout, however,that none conflictingmedical report was made." And Harb of thefive witnesses in thissection was ever did notcomplain of tortureto thedoctors. chargedwith any offence.We thenadded: Insight:How could Harb provide conflict- "That does not of course prove thatnone ing medical evidence? He was in Israeli had committedan offence."But the issue, custody,out of reach of independentdoc- we said, was: "Even if Harb and his com- tors. The most nearly independentwit- rades were guilty, how were they trea- nesses- thetwo menwe citedwho visited ted... ?" Harb in prison- boththought he had been Israel: "The fact,for instance,that prisoners ill-treated.Israel, we note, does not chal- wereat such-and-sucha prison together and both lenge our demonstrationthat its am- describeit, is indeedevidence, but it is evidenceas to bassador to the United Nations publicly factsthat are notin question." gave an untrueaccount of thosemen's find- Insight:This appearsto admita crucialpart ings. of our witnesses'testimony. The onlytime Harb did in factcomplain of torture at the we compareddescriptions in thatway was time. He made a formalcomplaint to the in thecase of theinterrogation centre where InternationalRed Cross- a copy of which Harb and his compatriots,among others, the Red Cross sent to the Israeli military were taken. We did it because theywere authoritiesin the usual way. held separately,not "together,"and it was As forthe medical examinations - Israel not a "prison" but a secretinterrogation cites six, but two were dental it is clear camp. And the keypoint on whichthey all from their dates that three came before agreedwas to assertthe existenceof a tiny Harb's interrogation.The only relevant cell a "frigidaire"- withconcrete spikes examinationwas on 4 July,1974, 18 days set into the floor. Israel thus appears to afterthe end of his intensiveinterrogation concede the point thatprisoners were held and that came about because two days in theseconditions. before, on July 2, Harb's lawyer Felicia Israel: Harb sufferedfrom piles and his wife Langer had claimed to see bruiseson him calledhim "a sickperson." and othersand demandedan inquiry. Insight:Israel is unwise to raise thispoint. In our articlewe quoted Harb's allegation Harb was indeed due to have an operation thatthe July 4 examinationwas in fact"per- forpiles, but was arrestedthree days before functory." And not even the Supreme his appointment.Despite repeatedrequests Court - whose handlingof the case was by, among others,the InternationalRed criticized- found that Harb had no in- Cross,Israel then refusedto operate. The juries. In a curiousphrase, the court found surgeonwho did at last operate on Harb no signsof "intentionallyinflicted injuries"

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- whichtaken literally can onlymean that, daughter,Rasmiah, was viciouslysexually sittingin camera,the court chose to believe assaultedin frontof him. the authorities'account of how Harb came Israel: makesno commenton theaccount of the by the injuriesthat were recorded. "trouble-maker."It saysof Odeh'stestimony: The Centres.In our Section Four, Where " Thearticle fails topoint out that Uosel] Odeh Does It Happen, we tried to locate this himselfwas triedforparticipating in thebomb mysterious'Palace of the End.' We con- outrages,foundguiltybythe court after hearing of cludedthat it was probablyat Sarafandout- evidenceand witnessesand sentencedto lifeim- side Tel Aviv but added: "There is some prisonment." evidencetoo that,at least fora time,there Insight:Not true. Odeh was, as we said, was a second such [interrogation]camp released after20 days' interrogation.The somewherenear Gaza." Israeli embassy in London admittedlast Israelmakes no comment. week that its Governmenthad confused Insight:Israel last week admittedto Reuters him with anotherman. that there indeed was an interrogation Israel: The RussianCompound is merely"the centrein Gaza. It would not let a Reuters Jerusalemlocalpolice station." Israel disputes the reportergo there. trivialpoint that drivinglicences and identity cardsare issued there; but says that lost property The Red Cross. In our Section Five, is collectedinone of the "barracks" we mentioned. Limits on the Red Cross, we detailed,at Insight:The local police stationis only one length,the problemsand restrictionsthat buildingin thecompound. The barracks,as the Israeliauthorities put in the way of the we said, house militaryand civilian in- Red Cross. "The Red Cross," we said, telligenceagencies. On the trivia,we are "has filedhundreds of noticesto the Israeli righton identitycards, wrong on driving Government"recording allegations of ill- licences,but the Israelis are wrong about the treatmentor torture.Israel devotesjust two lost propertyoffice, which shiftedits sentencestothis crucial section: "Israel reports to site fromthe barracks to anotherbuilding in the theRed Crosson everysingle prisoner from the two territories.The details oftheprisoner arelisted on a compound yearsago. AhmedDahdoul. In our Section Seven computerrun by the Red Cross." Israel's UN explanation- we tackledthe Insight:The second sentenceis irrelevant. question of how convincinglyIsrael had The loose wordingof the first wholly fails to dealt with previous allegations of ill- meetany of the allegationswe made. treatmentor torture. We quoted Israel's TheCompound. In our SectionSix - An ambassadorto theUN as sayingIsrael made Assertionof Power - we dealt with the a "candid admissionof any mistakes." We RussianCompound in Jerusalem.We cited thenexamined the case of AhmedDahdoul, interlockingevidence from several wit- beatento deathlast yearby Israelisoldiers, nessesthat one young "troublemaker"had and pointedout how reluctantlyIsrael had been beatenthere, and possiblygiven elec- concededanything, and how unsatisfactory tric shocks. We then recountedthe tes- the positionstill was in thataffair. timonyof JosefOdeh, who claimedthat his Israel'sreply makes no referenceto this.

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