From: abas@unix.cis.pitt.edu (The_Equalizer)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic,soc.culture.lebanon,talk.politics.mideast
Subject: Israelis Torture Arabs??????
Keywords: Torture
Date: 15 Apr 92 20:56:10 GMT
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh, Computing & Information Services




                Israelis Routinely Torture Arabs, Study Says.


 Jerusalem- Systematic torture has become so routine in Israeli jails that
Palestinian prisoners "hardly bother to complain about these methods anymore,"
a prominent Israeli human rights group said.

 Last year, a study by the same group detailing the government's use of torture
touched off an impassioned debate in the Jewish state.

 Was it acceptable to use "moderate physical pressure" against enemies of
the state? Where did one cross the line between "moderate physical pressure"
and torture? Were such measures ever justified against children?

 While few disputed the study's factual findings, some, like former Chief
Rabbi Shlomo Goren, argued that harsh measures were necessary in dealing
with Arabs, an they denounced the study's authors as traitors to the people
of Israel.

 Other voices demanded immediate reforms. Major investigations were announced
by the army, the Knesset (parliament), the Justice Ministry and Shin Bet,
Israel's secret police agency, which is responsible for most interrogations.

 In a follow-up report released yesterday, B'Tselem, the rights group that
produced the original study, concluded that in the last year "there has been
little change in the patterns of interrogation of Palestinian suspects."

 It alleged that Palestinian prisoners are still routinely beaten, deprived
of food and sleep for periods ranging up to 10 days, blindfolded or
"hooded" with a wet sack over their heads for hours and confined for long
periods in cramped cells with names like "the closet" or "the refrigerator."

 The report also documents recent cases in which prisoners were burned with
hot plates and raped with clubs.

 "The use of these methods is so common that they can be called standard
procedure for most prisoners who endure serious interrogation at the hands
of the (Shin Bet)," the report said.

 "We estimate that over the past year, at least 5,000 persons have been
interrogated using a combination of these methods," it said. "Detainees
hardly bother to complain about these methods anymore. We have interviewed
released detainees who tell us that 'nothing special' happened to them -
and then these methods."

 The highly publicized investigations triggered by B'Tselem's initial study
have produced little in the way of reform, said Stanley Cohen, a criminologist
at Hebrew University and co-author of the report.

 The army said yesterday that "any violence against suspects is absolutely
forbidden" and that all cases of alleged abuse would be investigated.
B'Tselem's report acknowledged that the army had made some improvements.

 Shin Bet has never replied to allegations of human-rights abuses.

 New attention was focused on Israel's human-rights practices earlier this
year when a 35-year-old Palestinian, Mustafa Akawi, suffered a heart attack
and died after 12 days of interrogation in an Israeli prison.


 [The Chicago Tribune/distributed by Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire.]
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+  The Equalizer          <*>  Dr. Jasem M. Alhumoud                          + 
+  abas@unix.cis.pitt.edu <*>  Civil Eng. Dept., University of Pittsburgh     +
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