From: ziad@eng.umd.edu (Ziad K. Cheiban)
Subject:  Torture in Israel
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 20:39:32 GMT
Organization: Project GLUE, University of Maryland, College Park

Cross-posted from misc.activism.progressive without permission.

<<< via P_news/p.news >>>
 The Other Israel #47
  Torture and the law 
 
  ...Bypassers on Jerusalem's crowded Jaffa Street 
encountered a group of young men and women with their heads 
covered with sacks and their hands tied. It was an action 
organised by the "Public Committee Against Torture" in order to 
show the public what is going on behind the walls of the nearby 
"Russian Compound" - headquarters of the Jerusalem Police and 
seat of the regional Shabak (security service) bureau. On 
different days, demonstrations against prison torture also took 
place in Haifa (organised there by "Peace Now") and at the 
Defence Ministry in Tel-Aviv (by "Women for Political 
Prisoners"). This year's "Israel Prize" ceremony was disrupted by 
hecklers and demonstrators. One of the recipients of the annual 
prize was former Supreme Court Judge Moshe Landau - who in 1987 
headed the "Landau Commission", which was supposed to investigate 
prison torture. This commission's report declared the use of 
"moderate physical pressure" to be a legitimate means in the 
interrogation of suspected terrorists. In a secret appendix - 
accessible only to a select group of high officials - the report 
also details the ways in which such physical pressure may be 
applied. The "Committee Against Torture" intends to lodge an 
appeal to the Supreme Court to declassify this appendix. 
 
  The "B'tzelem" human rights organisation's recent revelations 
about the practice of torture of Palestinian prisoners had 
brought the Landau report back into public attention. Landau 
responded by attacking "B'tzelem", as "an organisation blind to 
the needs of state security. The authorities couldn't just ignore 
the sudden public attention, inside and outside Israel. The three 
institutions involved in the use of torture - the army, the 
police and the security service - are now engaged in efforts to 
shift blame upon each other. The police commander of the Russian 
Compound welcomed a delegation of four Jerusalem municipal 
councillors (from Ratz and the religious parties Degel Hatora and 
Agudat Yisrael) to examine all parts of the facilities - all but 
the Shabak section, where interrogations take place. `There I 
can't enter myself, unless the Shabak invites me.' (Ha'aretz, May 
24). The army announced the formation of a commission of inquiry, 
headed by General Rafael Vardi, to investigate all evidence with 
regard to soldiers mistreating Palestinian prisoners. 
 
  The Shabak has disclosed that it has appointed an internal 
comptroller. Since his reports, and even his name - remain 
classified, it is difficult to evaluate the significance of this 
innovation. 
 
   The Knesset State Comptrollership Committee, headed by David 
Libai (Labor), formed a special subcommittee on the Shabak, and 
demanded that the Shabak will come to testify before it. 
Meanwhile, more reports of torture continue to arrive. "B'tzelem" 
researcher Bassam Id: "I visited in the East Jerusalem Musakad 
Hospital a guy from Gaza, who was arrested in good medical 
condition and came out half paralysed. He has reportedly been 
tied to a pipe and beaten while his face was covered with a sack. 
They continued beating him even after the prison doctor warned 
them that he is developing signs of paralysis." (Hadashot, May 
12). 
 
  Contact: B'tzelem, 18 Keren Hayesod St., Jerusalem 92149; 
phone: 02-667271; The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, 
POB 8588, Jerusalem 91083 
 
 
 TORTURE AT ANSAR-2
 by Ari Shavit
 
 The following few lines are translated from an extensive account 
by "Ha'aretz" journalist Ari Shavit, describing his recent term 
of reserve service as a guard in the Gaza detention camp, Ansar-
2. It was published in Ha'aretz, on May 3. 
  Ansar-2 has twelve guard towers, mine was Number 6. You sit on 
top of this tower the whole night. There is a projector, but it 
is rarely used, because the whole prisoner enclosure is, in any 
case, lighted by a strong yellow light. (...) You come off, after 
a night without any incident. You take the towel and the soap 
from your tent, and go off to the showers. On the way there, you 
have to pass the galvanised iron fence, marking off the 
interrogations section. And then, from the other side, you hear a 
scream, a hair-raising scream. What is going on there, five 
meters from you? You cannot see, you can only imagine it. You do 
know that from now on you will have no rest, because fifty meters 
from the bed where you try to sleep, eighty meters from the mess 
hall where you try to eat, human beings are screaming. They are 
screaming because other human beings - who wear the same uniform 
as you do - are making them scream. They are screaming because 
your country - your democratic country, your Jewish country - is 
making them scream, in a systematic and organised manner and in 
accordance with the law. 
 
  Shortly after the end of the Gulf War, 18-year old Lior Ovshani 
was conscripted. Soon, he was ordered to pass a course of basic 
training at a camp located in the Occupied Territories - and 
refused to obey this order. At first, the commanding officer sent 
him to another camp - also located in the Occupied Territories, 
but near to the pre-'67 border. When he refused this compromise, 
too, Ovshani was sentenced to 21 days' imprisonment, followed - 
on his continued refusal - by a further 28 days. According to his 
father, Lior decided not to serve in the Occupied Territories at 
the age of 17, after he worked as a construction worker together 
with Palestinian workers. At first it seemed that the military 
authorities intended to break his resistance in a harsh manner. 
 
  However, the affair got increasing public attention through an 
interview in "Hadashot" newspaper. Later, Israeli television 
picked up Lior Ovshani's parents at the Abie Nathan rally, 
holding a sign protesting the harassment of their son. The 
military authorities started to soften; Lior Ovshani's third term 
was for seven days only, and - so far - there was not a fourth. 
Letters of support to: Private Lior Ovshani, Military Personal 
Number 5045337, Israeli Defence Forces. 
 

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