According to recent publications, US and British soldiers routinely beat, ill treated, degraded, sexually abused and sodomize Iraqi detainees. Unfortunately, the American and British soldiers are not alone. The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) receives numerous complaints regarding the abuse of Palestinian detainees by IDF soldiers and Border Policemen during their arrest and in detention facilities. The picture painted by these complaints is that of the ill-treatment of prisoners as standard procedure, of violence and humiliation as an inseparable part of the Palestinians’ detention experience, and of incarceration in inhuman conditions.

The forms of ill treatment described in the detainees’ complaints include beatings, slapping and kicking, shackling with “azikonim”, disposable plastic shackles that often cause swelling, cuts in the skin and intense pain, forcing the detainee to run blindfolded and tripping him, sripping, intimidation and threats.The detaines are held in deplorable conditions, often completely in the open or in a “cage”, exposed to heat, cold or rain. The complaints include descriptions of incrceration in crowded, airless cells without beds, sheets or enough blankets and without basic hygienic facilitiess. In addition the detainees report denial of regular access to toilets, denial of showers and a change of clothes for weeks, food of poor quality and insufficient quantity, and the lack of medical treatment.

Such is the story of Khader Rais, who was arrested on January 11, 2004. In an affidavit collected by Attorney Labib Habib, Rais claims that the soldiers who arrested him pushed him down a flight of stairs several stories high, while his hands were cuffed behind his back and his eyes covered. Rais was then taken to Russian Compound Detention Center in Jerusalem, the soldiers kicking him on his legs all the way there. Rais’ ‘treatment’ was not an exception to the rule. Abdullah Jamal Se’ara, who was arrested on June 18, 2004, gave a sworn statement to Attorney Louie Ouka claiming that a soldier deliberately broke his eyeglasses, during his arrest. Later, when he arrived at the IDF Etzion Detention Center, Se’ara reports that he was badly beaten by the soldiers there, mainly on his head. After they beat him, the soldiers left him in the camp yard for close to 24 hours, with no food or water.

Another incident was reported by Ahmed Atallah, who was arrested by Border Policemen on August 27, 2003. In his affidavit collected by Attorney Inas Younes, Atallah states that the policemen took him inside their vehicle, where they beat him severely, with his hands cuffed and his face covered by his shirt. A month prior to his arrest, Atallah had suffered a gun shot to his shoulder, and the wound has not yet healed. He told this to the policemen, but they would not stop hitting him. Moreover, one of them placed his rifle on Atallah’s wounded shoulder and fired it, aiming outside the vehicle. Atallah, who could no longer stand the pain, fainted. The Border policemen shook him until he regained consciousness and then tried to force him to sing: “one humus one ful I love you ‘Mishmar Hagvul’ [Border Police]”. When he refused, they beat him further.

The policeman brought him to an IDF detention Center in the Binyamin Brigade, where he claims the abuse continued. Three soldiers, who Atallah recognizes by their names as Erez, Oz and Kruz, made a habit of cursing, shouting and hitting the detainees without provocation.

In all three cases a complaint was submitted to IDF Judge Advocate General, Major General Menachem Finkelstein.

The information on the behavior of the American and British soldiers caused an uproar in their homelands and was widely publicized in the media. Countless claims regarding similar acts carried out by IDF soldiers, however, are met by the Israeli public and media by indifference and silence.

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel again calls, as it has many times in the past, on the Israeli authorities:

1. To investigate these horrifying complaints immediately

2. To punish the soldiers and their commanding officers, both direct and senior, who allowed these practices to continue and grow.

3. To act decisively for the elimination of the phenomena of the ill treatment of Palestinian detainees by IDF soldiers and other security personell, not only through punishment but also through educating the security forces and deepening their understanding of the meaning and importance of human dignity and values.

For further details please call:
Ze’ev Zamir: 02-6426275, 051-968187