A topic often ignored or scarcely written about is torture. Perhaps this is because most would rather deny that in our day and age such an atrocious word exists let alone practiced. Maybe it is because the topic is so overwhelming and quite frankly disgusting that not many can stomach writing about it. Of course there is also the fact that those who commit acts of torture make sure to cover their tracks, under such despicable interpretations of the law of necessity should a complaint ever be filed, or insuring the prosecutor's office simply ignores their illegal actions. If all else fails simply torture the victim to a state where s/he is unable to testify and should s/he die even better. Make no mistake though, these practices are in full use, and Palestinians have for long been the recipients of mind boggling inhumane and cruel treatment under the hands of the Israeli army and General Security Services (GSS).
In 1999 the number of complaints against Israel's use of torture forced the Israeli High Court to outlaw four methods of torture, namely the authority to 'shake' a man, hold him in the 'Shabach' position, force him into a 'frog crouch' position and deprive him of sleep in a manner other than that which is inherently required by the interrogation. Many mistook this ruling as abolishing the use of torture in Israel, but a closer look, by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel revealed that the ruling left many open breaches which make it possible for torture and ill treatment endured by hundreds of Palestinian detainees to continue in GSS and military intelligence interrogations. Moreover the ruling was silent on subjecting Palestinian prisoner to electric shocks administrated while the detainees are hooded or blindfolded and used on sensitive areas of the victims' bodies, among many other newly developed methods that aim to conceal outward evidence of what has been inflicted.
The most disturbing accounts of torture are those committed against children between the ages of 13 and 18. Since September 2000, the Defence for Children International - Palestine Section estimates that approximately 700 children have been arrested by the Israeli military, over 160 of which remain incarcerated. 95% of these children have been arrested for throwing stones and are tortured until they confess to throwing 150 stones and name others who took part in such activities. These children are continuously transferred from one detention center to the next, to give them the feeling they are alone and no one can help them. They are isolated from the outside world, the majority of whom have not been able to see their parents due to the curfews and closures, or as a result of prison policy for the past 10 months, in clear violation of international law. Child prisoners are placed in a dirty, foul smelling solitary confinement cell (200 cm by 150 cm) known as "zinzaneh, the floor of which may be wet or covered in human excrements. The cell may either be almost completely devoid of light, or have light on at all times. If the prisoner attempts to sleep, a guard will come and wake him or her. Moreover child prisoners are often deprived of food and not given access to toilets.
The DCI documented that during interrogations child prisoners are tied, blindfolded and severely beaten. Moreover the methods outlawed by the Israeli High Court are nevertheless used with children being violently shaken, severe cases can lead to brain damage, tied to a small chair in uncomfortable positions that force the body to cramp for extended periods of time and exposed to severe heat or cold, for example removing the prisoners clothes and locking him in a small cupboard whereupon the air conditioning system is switch on to produce extremely cold conditions. Furthermore there have been several documented cases where prison guards have attempted raping child prisoners, and if they fail to succeed the children are placed with the adult Israeli criminal population whereupon they are sexual assaulted and abused, under the watchful eye of the prison guards. The psychological pressure and physical abuse these children suffer while incarcerated by Israelis naturally have lasting and debilitating effect on the rest of their lives.
Torture is not restricted to those who are detained, as Israeli forces have on several occasions subjected Palestinian civilians to unfathomable treatment. In mid October, The Guardian reported about a case where an Israeli army commander, Lieutenant Colonel Geva Saguy ordering a Palestinian boy to strip naked, held a burning paper under his testicles, threatened to ram a bottle into his anus, beat him and terrified the child by saying he would shoot him. Surprisingly the military court relieved him of his post, however, in most cases torture is justified by the military court and the interrogator is immune from the law. According to the Washington Post, Israeli forces have also recently started applying a practice known as "The Lottery", where any violator of a curfew is ordered to pick from folded pieces of paper that have different punishments written on them -- such as "broken leg," "smashed hand" or "smashed head" - and the soldiers then administer the selected punishment. It is believed that this practice lead to the recent death of Amran Abu Hamediye, 18, who Palestinian witnesses said was beaten severely around his head.
The above description of the life of a Palestinian child prisoner is nothing short of horrific. Most of us would like to believe that these Israeli interrogators and committers of such acts are not human. While such people must be sadists they are nevertheless humans, who display the utter evil in our society. They are our fellow man, and to do their victims justice we must expose their atrocious actions rather then take comfort in the fact that such people must be abnormal and deny the frequency with which torture continues to be administered.
Believing in Jerusalem
Date posted: May 27, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
Last week, Israel barred a UNESCO fact-finding mission from entering the country, charging that the Palestinians had ‘politicized’ the mission before it had even arrived. The mission was tasked with looking into conditions of historical sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, something Israel apparently found to be very threatening.
Looking at the state of Jerusalem’s eastern sector today, it is understandable why Israel would not want UNESCO or anyone else walking around the Old City, especially the Palestinian-populated parts of it. Because anyone who does, will see the devastation that Israel and its settlers have wreaked on one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in the world.
Excavation works are being conducted in and around the Aqsa Mosque to make way for more Jewish construction at the place where Waqf authorities say Ottoman and Abbasid artifacts have long been tucked away. A Muslim graveyard is being dug up just outside the Old City’s Jaffa Gate, to build – ironically – a museum of tolerance. Today, two stores were forcefully taken over by Jewish settlers in Al Hakari, one of the neighborhoods in the Muslim quarter and every day, it seems that more and more homes are either being demolished by Israeli municipality authorities or being taken over by Jewish settlers.
The “Judiazation” of Jerusalem is a term many Palestinians and Arabs use for what Israel is doing in the city. In a nutshell, it is the long-term plan Israel is gradually carrying out to change the Arab Palestinian character of Jerusalem. This means demolishing old and historical structures, displacing Palestinians, handing over their homes to settlers and trying to erase the Palestinian or Arab history of the city.
The sad truth is that, on the surface, Israel has succeeded in this to a large extent. Pockets of Jewish settlers now live in the heart of Muslim quarters and aim to take over more and more. Sheikh Jarrah, one of the more affluent Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem, is now pierced with Jewish flags waving from homes that have been wrestled from their Palestinian owners, and Israel’s light rail train cuts right down through Palestinian neighborhoods outside of the city center. The train, of course, is not meant to service the Palestinian population but rather to connect Jewish neighborhoods and settlements in the city, but the area confiscated from Shufat and Beit Hanina for its construction simply fell into the plan.
What the UNESCO mission would not have seen even if they made it into the Old City is the overall humiliation that the Palestinian population of Jerusalem must endure on a daily basis because of Israel’s military occupation. Trips to the Israeli ministry of interior must be made just to prove that one lives in the city for fear that their residency rights may be revoked; young Palestinian men are stopped randomly by Israeli soldiers to check their ID cards or just to harass them, and settlers are always given the luxury of maximum security whenever they walk the streets. If settlers want to march through the city, the Palestinians are told to close their shops, are barred for hours from reaching their homes if they run along the path of the march and are always the ones blamed if any kind of confrontation between the two sides breaks out.
Jerusalem is being squeezed by these measures more and more each day. But there is always that glimmer of hope, that strength that shines through proving that all is not lost. On Shavuot, Israeli settlers and extremists poured into the Old City, singing loudly, banging on the shop doors and waving huge Israeli flags. The sight was disconcerting to say the least. However, the afternoon of that same day, at Damascus Gate, passersby were met with a completely different scene. Palestinian flags waved in determined Palestinian hands under the threatening eye of heavily armed Israeli police and soldiers. The youths were fearless, demanding freedom, with strong, unrelenting voices.
The sight of the Palestinian flag waving at the entrance to Damascus Gate was a breath of fresh air. All is not lost and never will be because hope is eternal and determination and strength come from a never-ending spring.
That day at Damascus Gate is what all Palestinians must keep in their minds’ eye in spite of the daily oppression of the occupation. No matter how many missions Israel bars from entering or how many houses it takes over, there will always be those brave souls who, despite the risks, will always raise Palestine’s flag.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
Let Mohammed rest in peace
Date posted: May 20, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
There is no point falling into the pit of countering the claims being made about the death of Mohammed Al Durra, the 12-year old boy from Gaza whose videotaped killing was seen around the world. The boy, crouching in fear behind is equally afraid father as bullets whizzed around them, was killed admittedly by the Israeli army. Later, the army recanted after investigating the tape, saying Durra was killed by Palestinian fire instead. Well now, Israel is changing its story altogether, saying he was not killed at all. In fact, he was probably not even wounded and the French channel that broadcast the footage and brought some pretty bad rap to Israel, had most likely filmed a charade.
The reason why I will not waste my time countering this claim is that even with the great lengths the Israeli government went to to prove that the boy was never killed, it could not provide any irrefutable proof that Mohammed Al Durra – who would be 25 now – is still alive. No pictures, no testimonies, no hospital or morgue officials giving statements to refute his death, have been provided. Only sketchy information about ‘poor quality footage’ and the fact that it seems as though the boy moved his arm after he had slumped over his father following the explosion.
My point is this: indeed, Mohammed Durra’s death was at least one of the catalysts that fueled the second Intifada, and thus, was an important event in the history of the Palestinians. However, more importantly – most importantly to me –is the fact that this is about a boy who died in sheer terror, with his distraught father futilely trying to shelter him from the barrage of bullets coming their way.
Mohammed Al Durra was a boy, with a life, a family and friends. He died a horrible death and now he is being made to die a second one. I did not know Mohammed or his family, but I can only imagine how awful it must be for them to read these claims now and feel the pain of losing their child all over again. If nothing else, this is disrespect for human life of the worst kind.
Some may postulate that the rehashing of the Durra case is a personal jab at the French cameraman who shot the footage, Charles Enderlin. Perhaps. But as a Palestinian who has seen the pain endured by numerous families who receive the horrible news that their sons or daughters have been killed by the Israeli army, my concern is for his family and for his memory. He should be left to rest in peace. If Israel has axes to grind with French journalists or with the international community for holding it accountable for its actions, then so be it. Israel is not lacking in the public relations department.
That being said, there is just one decent thing left to do. Leave Mohammed Al Durra and his memory alone.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
Recognition and justice is our demand
Date posted: May 13, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
This week Palestinians will commemorate Al Nakba, the catastrophe that befell the Palestinian people when Israel was founded. Every year, Palestinians hang placards pointing to the right of return, they carry keys symbolizing the homes they were forced to leave and could not return to and remember the Palestine that was lost to them 65 years ago.
This year will be no different. Every May 15, Palestinian recall their catastrophe and demand justice. They demand that they are granted the right of return for those who were made refugees virtually overnight and were then relegate to a life they did not choose. But more than anything, they demand recognition of the tragedy that befell them rather than a denial that it ever happened, or worse, that it was of their own making.
It has been 65 years since Israel was established in 1948, which means those who were cast into exile are either very old or have long passed. Those who experienced the Nakba are now few and far between, clinging to those few precious memories of a small garden in front of their house in Jaffa or of the salty smell of the sea in their neighborhood in Haifa. The rest of us are either descendants of these refugees or ordinary Palestinians who feel their cause is our cause because we are one people.
But the Palestinians have made one thing clear. The refugee issue will not die with the last refugee. It is felt nationwide, the loss, the injustice and the fact that those who were forced from their homes have mostly passed, longing for their beloved homes.
We cannot turn back time. What was lost has been altered, destroyed, changed or taken over by Israel’s newcomers. What we can do is hold on to the right to be recognized, for the injustice to be rectified in word and deed and for Palestine to never be lost in our minds or hearts.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
