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Israel and Torture Source: Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Summer, 1977), Pp 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 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. University of California Press and Institute for Palestine Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Palestine Studies. http://www.jstor.org 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 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 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 192 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES 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 firmly in 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. 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 193 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
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