Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel
Prisoners Archive - January 2007
Treatment of Prisoners and Detainees by Israel and Others
Prisoners Archive - January 2007
Treatment of Prisoners and Detainees by Israel and Others
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Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel Prisoners Archive - January 2007 Treatment of Prisoners and Detainees by Israel and Others |
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Sundance-winning director urges massive prisoner release Ha’aretz 1/29/2007 Shimon Dotan, director of "Hot House," the first Israeli film to win a special jury prize in the Sundance Film Festival’s documentary film competition, said in remarks broadcast Monday that Israel should initiate a mass release of Palestinian prisoners. "Hot House" features interviews with Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. The film examines the prisoners’ political positions, airs confessions by people who planned and implemented terror attacks, and reflects the deepening schism between Fatah and Hamas prior to Hamas’ rise to power a year ago. "Just as Israel exploits the prisoner issue negatively, there is also the potential to take advantage of it in a positive sense, that is, to massively release prisoners as part of a more comprehensive move," Dotan told Israel Radio. Governor of Jenin hosts freed female prisoners’ delegation Ma’an News Agency 1/27/2007 Jenin - The governor of Jenin, Qaddora Mousa, has on Saturday met with a delegation of freed female Palestinian prisoners, in order to offer them material and other support to enable them to assimilate with local social activities. Mousa applauded the struggle of the prisoners and their sacrifices in Israeli jail cells. He said "all that [suffering] aims to enhance the Palestinian cause, and help it triumph over the Israeli occupation". He also declared his intention to offer the needed support to freed female prisoners, who stood side by side with Palestinian men. In their speech, the female prisoners stated that they need programs and activities to rehabilitate them into local society and help them obtain job opportunities. [end] Jericho’s conference on journalism calls on the presidency and the government to protect journalists Ma’an News Agency 1/27/2007 Bethlehem - On Saturday the 27th of January ’Jericho’s first conference on journalism,’ which continued over the last 3 days, came to an end. 80 Palestinian journalists participated in the conference which concentrated on providing journalists with the opportunity to discuss topics within their sphere of reference and to decide how to tackle the domestic crisis which has an influence on their performance, especially when some of them are either abducted, murdered or tortured. The conference endorsed several recommendations, including the continuity of the conference annually and the formation of a follow-up committee to organise the conference and implement its recommendations. The conference also called for the foundation of a higher press council, which will organise the work of the media... Family of injured prisoner appeal for release of their son Ma’an News Agency 1/27/2007 Salfit - The family of prisoner Rabi’ Harb have appealed to local and international institutions to pressure the occupying Israeli authority to release their son, so they can supply him with treatment suitable to his medical condition. Rabi’ Harb, 25, from Iskaka village, west of Salfit, in the northern West Bank, suffers from poor health, due to medical negligence and the absence of proper healthcare available in the hospital of Al-Ramleh prison. Harb was arrested from Ramallah, and was injured by several bullets to his body during the arrest operation. [end] Fatah calls for interior minister to open an investigation into the suspicious death of Hisham Hammad Ma’an News Agency 1/26/2007 Bethlehem - Fatah has demanded that the minister of interior, Sa’id Siyam, open an investigation into the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of Hisham Hammad. Hisham Hammad, a 58-year old resident of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, died on 24 January after having been arrested three days previously by the Executive Force, an armed security wing affiliated to Hamas and the ministry of interior. Various groups, such as the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, have expressed their concern that Hammad was tortured and subject to other ill-treatment during his detention. Sources in the hospital where his body was brought, the Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, have indicated that there were signs of torture on his body. Shin Bet releases Muslim cleric detained for aiding Islamic Jihad Ha’aretz 1/25/2007 A military court on Sunday released Fawaz Damra, the former imam of Ohio’s largest mosque, who was detained earlier this month on suspicion of fundraising for Islamic Jihad. The decision to release the suspect was made after the Shin Bet came to the conclusion that there were not sufficient grounds for an indictment. Damra, originally from the West Bank city of Nablus, had his American citizenship revoked due to suspicions that he raised funds for the militant group 15 years ago. Following his release from Kishon prison, Damra traveled to visit relatives in Nablus. Damra, the imam of the Cleveland mosque for several years, was detained in a joint operation between the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Israeli security forces. He was taken to Jordan on a "secret flight" and from there transferred to Israel. Israeli settlers torture a Palestinian boy near Jerusalem Ma’an News Agency 1/24/2007 Jerusalem - Israeli settlers have, on Tuesday evening, abducted a Palestinian boy from the town of Hizma, north east of Jerusalem. They beat him and attacked him with knives, before he was released, unconscious. Ma’an’s correspondent quoted eyewitnesses as saying that "three Israeli settlers had abducted Raefat Samih al-Khateeb, 16, on his way home after visiting a relative of his. The incident took place on the main street between Jericho and Hizma. The abductors took the boy to a deserted area near the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adummim. There they beat the boy and tortured him using knives, before they brought him back at night unconscious." The boy has been taken to Hadassah hospital in Ein Karem for treatment. [end] After 3 years in Israeli prison without charge or trial, northern West Bank journalist returns home Palestine News Network 1/26/2007 Journalist Mohammad Fayyad is once again with his family after spending three years in Israeli prison. The Jenin Refugee Camp man was never charged with a crime, nor afforded a trial. Israeli authorities released him from Administrative Detention on Thursday. Fayyad’s family and friends gathered in the northern West Bank to greet the 39 year old upon his arrival home. Dozens of neighbors and well-wishers are stopping by to welcome him. The journalist’s lawyer attempted several times to understand the charges against Fayyad and appealed for his release, however the Israeli authorities said a secret file existed. This is the common claim in the Israeli judicial system when dealing with Palestinians. Neither lawyers nor the accused are allowed to see the evidence against them. Over 17,000 Palestinians visited detained relatives in December thanks to the ICRC, report states Ma’an News Agency 1/25/2007 Amongst many other admirable activities, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) works tirelessly to monitor conditions for prisoners, particularly, in this region, the conditions of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli military detention. Specifically, the ICRC facilitates prison visits for relatives of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. According to their December report, in December 2006, the ICRC enabled 17,767 Palestinians to travel to 23 Israeli detention centres to visit some 7,447 relatives held in Israeli detention. This was down from 18,948 visitors in November 2006. In the same month, for those detainees and their relatives unable or prohibited from seeing each other, the ICRC facilitated 2,560 messages to be exchanged. The ICRC also made several hundred phone calls to family members... PPS: "900 detainees require immediate medical treatment" International Middle East Media Center 1/24/2007 The Palestinian Prisoners Society, PPS, reported that there are 900 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons and detention facilities who require immediate medical attention and treatment. Some of the detainees were shot and injured as the army was attempting to abduct them. Recently, two detainees died on medical neglect; one of them is Morad Abu Sakout, who was only released from Israeli prisons after a sharp deterioration of his health condition and died at a Jordanian hospital. The second detainee, Jamal Al Saraheen, died of medical neglect at an Israeli prison. The PPS reported that sick and injured detainees are facing harsh conditions, and deprived from the needed medical attention and treatment. A total of 14 detainees died in Israeli prisons since the outbreak of the Al Aqsa Intifada late September 2000. PLC condemns attack on Al Arabiya, DFLP member says it represents an attack on freedom of the press Ma’an News Agency 1/23/2007 Bethlehem - Ramallah - The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) has issued a strong condemnation of the attack on the Al-Arabiya satellite channel in Gaza City on Monday night. Ahmed Bahar, the acting speaker of the PLC, said in a statement, "We in the presidency of the Legislative Council highly appreciate the role of the Palestinian media in exposing the practices of the occupation and in portraying the image of the Palestinian people who have sacrificed martyrs, wounded and prisoners." The Al-Arabiya TV network in Gaza was attacked in response to revealing comments made by the Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, on a candid microphone that was placed in his office before a press conference. Earlier, the delegate Qais ’Abed Al-Karim Abu Laila, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council... Two Palestinians, including a 16-year-old boy, released from Israeli imprisonment Ma’an News Agency 1/23/2007 Hebron - Tulkarem - Two Palestinians were released from Israeli prison on Tuesday after completing their sentences. Muhammad Ameer, 21, from Bal’ah, north east of Tulkarem, was released after 12 months’ imprisonment in Israeli jails. He spent most of his sentence in Nafha detention center located in the Israeli Negev desert. Another Palestinian, 16-year-old Faris Khalil, from the southern West Bank city of Hebron, was released on Tuesday after spending 4 months in the Israeli detention centre of Ofer. The charges against them are not known. [end] Symbol of Jenin’s Islamic movement back in prison Palestine News Network 1/23/2007 A symbol of the Islamic movement in the Jenin District is being interrogated today. Israeli forces arrested Sheikh Ibrahim Taher Nowahadh at a northern West Bank checkpoint on Tuesday. While riding from Ramallah to his northern Jenin town of Yamoun, the car stopped at a checkpoint. Israeli forces approached, asked questions and checked identification, which is routine. However upon seeing the name of the Sheikh, they immediately took him from the car. Israeli soldiers restrained the 42 year old and transported him to Ofar, a prison in an Israeli military installation in the Ramallah District, where they said he would undergo three days of interrogation. The Sheikh was released from Israeli prison in 2003 after spending 10 years as a political prisoner accused of involvement in capturing an Israeli soldier. [end] Nonviolent protest in Mascobia Detention Center Palestine News Network 1/19/2007 Hayam Al Baydah is on hunger strike in Israeli prison. The nonviolent protest is against the conditions in the Israeli Mascobia Detention Center. He is adding to the hundreds of documented reports that interrogation techniques contravene international laws and conventions. The Al Baydah family told PNN that Israeli forces stormed Jalazone Refugee Camp at the beginning of the month and arrested Hayam. They said he was taken to Mascobia in West Jerusalem and put into isolation, only to be taken out for investigative methods that are “internationally banned. ” The Israeli government does not hide the fact that it uses physical and psychological torture in its interrogation of Palestinians. Hayam is suffering from several health problems, including down to his feet. Detainee on Hunger Strike after prison administration refused to provide him with medical treatment International Middle East Media Center 1/19/2007 Detainee Ahmad Ismail Safi, 22, from the West Bank city of Jericho, declared an open-ended hunger strike after the Israeli Prison Administration at the Negev Detention Facility refused to provide him with the neccessary medical treatment. Safi suffers paralysis in his left foot, and needs to have the bullet that has been embedded in it for more than six years surgically removed. He recieved the initial wound when he was shot by the Israeli army on October 16 2001. He has been receiving treatment and therapy since then, but needs surgery to avoid further complications. In a phone interview, Eid Barahma, head of the Jericho Office of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, told the Maan News Agency that Safi was transferred recently to administrative detention after he served a 17-month sentence. Palestinian human rights group demand a probe into the death of two Nablus residents International Middle East Media Center 1/19/2007 The Palestinian Prisoner Committee demanded international human rights organizations to conduct an immediate investigation into the death of a Palestinian fighter in Nablus, and a sick resident who died at a military checkpoint near the city. The society issued a press release stating that the Israeli army deliberately shot and killed Mohannad Al Ghandour, 28, member of the Al Awda brigades, one of the armed wings of Fateh movement. The society stated that soldiers topped several houses and a sharpshooter fired at him, and shot injured several other residents. Al Ghandour had been wanted to the Israeli security for his resistance activities. Dr. Ghasan Hamdan, director of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, said that Al Ghandour was extra-judicially assassinated. Hamdan added that Al Ghandour was shot by several rounds of live ammunition... A Palestinian Prisoner Dies in an Israeli Prison Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 1/17/2007 On Tuesday, 16 January 2007, Jamal Hasan ‘Abdullah al-Sarahin, 37, from Beit Oula village north of Hebron, a father of a child, died in the Negev Prison (Ansar 3) inside Israel. PCHR is concerned that he might have died as a result medical negligence and delay in offering him medical treatment. Al-Sarahin when he was suffering from a blood disease. His health condition deteriorated approximately a week ago, but the administration of the prison procrastinated his transfer to the hospital. On Tuesday morning, his health condition further deteriorated. At approximately 10:00, the administration of the prison took him out of his cell to transfer him to the hospital. At approximately 15:00, the administration of the prison informed the representative of prisoners that he died 4 hours after he had been admitted into Soroka Hospital. Human Rights Report 284: Israeli army arrests a Palestinian man International Womens’ Peace Service 1/17/2007 Date of incident : Friday Jan 12, 2007 -- 10. 15 am - Kufr’Ein - Witnesses : Villagers of Kufr ‘Ein... At about 10. 15 am the Israeli Occupation Forces invaded the village of Kufr ‘Ein again, with dogs and jeeps. According to one eyewitness, soldiers entered the village in about twelve jeeps, forced their way into one home and destroyed a lot of furniture and belongings of the family. They arrested a farmer whose brother was also arrested during an army raid in June, 2006, and is still in prison. The arrested man’s family has had no contact with him as yet. This village has reported several prior incursions. Refer also to IWPS Human Rights Reports 250 (June 28 2006) and 283 (January 5 2007). [end] Hunger strike in Israeli prisons to protest and mourn the death of Jamal Al Srahin Palestine News Network 1/17/2007 All political prisoners in Israeli prisons began a day long hunger strike this morning in protest of the death of Jamal Al Srahin. The southern West Bank Hebron resident died in an Israeli prison hospital in Beer Aseeba on Tuesday due to medical neglect. In consistent reports from several human rights organizations, it was emphasized that Palestinian political prisoners decided to take several steps in protest of what is referred to as the Israeli Prisons Department’s “death policy. ”The Palestinian Prisoner Society issued a report indicating that political prisoners in Al Naqab (Negev) Prison, where Al Srahin was held, spread the word to all departments to strike and began returning meals.... the Prisons Department and Israeli Security Service knew that his health was in serious danger and that he was suffering from heart disease and lung problems... -- See also: Countless reports documenting medical neglect in Israeli prisons go unheeded, Hebron man dies and Palestinian detainee dies in detention as a result of medical neglect Under-cover forces attack detainees in Be’er Shiva prison International Middle East Media Center 1/18/2007 Parents of dozens of Palestinian detainees imprisoned in Be’er Shiva Israeli prison reported that under-cover forces of the Israeli army broke on Sunday into the rooms of the detainees in the facility, and attacked several detainees. The attack took place late on Sunday at night as the under-cover forces broke into section 4, and fired rubber-coated bullets and gas bombs at the detainees. The families informed the Mandela Institute that several detainees were injured; some of the injured detainees were identified as Abdul-Mo’ty Haniyya, Mohammad Srour, Mohammad Dukhan, Abdullah Al Sharabaty, and Yahia Al Shinwar. Following the attack, the detainees launched a hunger strike in protest to the continuous attacks carried against them. Mandela institute issued a press release slamming the attack and the illegal practices... Countless reports documenting medical neglect in Israeli prisons go unheeded, Hebron man dies Palestine News Network 1/17/2007 Jamal Hassan Abdullah Al Srahin died in his mid thirties of medical neglect while being held without charge or trial under Administrative Detention. Thousands of Palestinian political prisoners’ cases have been documented by organizations such as the Palestinian Prisoner Society and the Mandela Institute. Prisoners and their families have issued pleas to international humanitarian institutions to intervene in medical cases. Fellow political prisoners have called out for help, as was the case with Al Srahin. Countless testimonies of serious illness being treated by a single pill commonly used for a headache have been documented via lawyers speaking to prisoners and then reported by an organization such as the PPS. Al Srahin is not the first Palestinian who died in an Israeli prison due to medical neglect. -- See also: Palestinian detainee dies in detention as a result of medical neglect and Hunger strike in Israeli prisons to protest and mourn the death of Jamal Al Srahin Hamas: Death of prisoner crime against humanity Palestinian Information Center 1/17/2007 Gaza - The Hamas Movement on Wednesday denounced in the strongest words the death of Palestinian prisoner Jamal Al-Sarahin in Israeli occupation jails, describing his death due to medical neglect as a crime against humanity. Hamas, in a statement, said that the Israeli medical neglect is a crime against all human and legal values and doctrines that protect prisoners and grant them all human rights while in captivity. It charged that delaying treatment of Sarahin pointed to the "Nazi-like treatment of the Israeli prisons authority of our heroic prisoners", and proved the huge oppression they experience in occupation "humiliation jails". The Movement held the Israeli occupation fully accountable for any danger or harm done to the Palestinian prisoners, affirming that the policy of medical neglect was affecting the lives of more than 1,000 sick inmates in occupation jails. -- See also: Palestinian detainee dies in detention as a result of medical neglect and Countless reports documenting medical neglect in Israeli prisons go unheeded, Hebron man dies Fatah prisoners’ support in Tulkarem threaten to sue the director of the Negev prison Ma’an News Agency 1/17/2007 Tulkarem - Secretary of the Fatah prisoners’ office in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, ’Asim Haydar, has on Wednesday called for pursuing legal action against the director of the Israeli Negev prison, on the charge of refusing to offer appropriate medical treatment for the Palestinian detainee Saraheen, resulting in his death. Haydar said that the lack of medical treatment was part of a "predetermined genocide." In a statement received by Ma’an, Haydar declared that the Israeli prison service carrying out a policy of systematic murder against Palestinian prisoners, through subjecting them to brutal torture and neglecting their medical care. Since the year 2000, said Haydar, 14 Palestinian prisoners had died in Israeli prisons. -- See also: Palestinian detainee dies in detention as a result of medical neglect and Countless reports documenting medical neglect in Israeli prisons go unheeded, Hebron man dies The humiliation torture in the zionist jails Ezzedeen AlQassam Brigades 1/15/2007 In the Zionist country reports, the State Department wrote that Israeli human rights groups reported that Zionist defense forces continued to use methods of interrogation prohibited by a 1999 decision by Zionist’s High Court. Prior to this decision, security officers were permitted to use "moderate and physical and psychological pressure" during questioning. One example of the "pressure" used was violent shaking. The State Department stated that these practices "often led to excesses." Linked Files: Drawings of Zionist Torture Techniques / TECHNIQUES OF ABUSE / Torture definition. Palestinian detainee dies in detention as a result of medical neglect International Middle East Media Center 1/16/2007 Palestinian sources reported on Tuesday that detainee Jamal al Saraheen, 37, died due severe sickness in his lungs as prison administration refrained from providing him with the needed medial care and attention. Al Saraheen married and a father to one child girl, was confined to administrative detention, without charges or trial, for six months. Prison administration only moved him to prison hospital this morning after he suffered a sharp deterioration in his health condition; he died shortly after he was admitted to the prison hospital. The administration informed his mates of his death on Tuesday afternoon, and the detainees decided to protest against the prison administration for not providing Al Saraheen with the urgent medical care he needed. Detainees on 1-day Hunger strike, protesting death of a fellow detainee International Middle East Media Center 1/17/2007 Issa Qaraqe’, Palestinian Legislator and previous head of the Palestinian Prisoner Society stated on Tuesday that all Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons and detention facilities announced a one-day hunger strike after a detainee died of medical neglect. The detainees will strike on Wednesday after holding the Israeli Prison Administration responsible for the death of Jamal Al Saraheen, who died at the Negev prison, of medical neglect. Qaraqe’ stated that clashes took place between dozens of detainees at the Negev detention camp and the soldiers after they heard the news of the death of Al Saraheen. Head of the Hebron office of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Amjad Al Najjar, stated that the prison administration at the Negev detention camp cancelled all visitations until further notice. PPS: Israeli Investigators Harass Two Palestinian Prisoners International Middle East Media Center 1/16/2007 Palestinian prisoners at Al-Jalama detention facility are constantly being harassed at Al-Jalama detention center by jail staff, two prisoners told the Palestinian Prisoners Society. Palestinian prisoners at Al-Jalama detention facility are constantly being harassed at Al-Jalama detention center by jail staff, two prisoners told the Palestinian Prisoners Society. The PPS reported that Anas Sabah, of Tulkarem city and Hafez Sawafta, of the northern West Bank town of Tubass, suffered physical and psychological abuse by the Israeli investigators. One investigator served candy to Anas Sabbah informing him of the news of the killing of his brother by Israeli troops, said the PPS. “The investigator entered my cell and served me some candy, while laughing then said to me ‘eat candy for the killing of your brother’”, the PPS quoted Sabah as saying. After losing his hands and his wife, Palestinian political prisoner sentenced in military court Palestine News Network 1/15/2007 Although his wife died leaving his children without a parent, Israeli forces refused to release Sadiq Abdul Rahman Basharat from prison where he has been for three years as a member of Islamic Jihad. The northern West Bank man’s health is seriously deteriorating as well as he lives handicapped under the difficult conditions of the prison. Basharat’s lawyer demanded that he be released for three years served after several postponements of a trial in an Israeli military court. His mother said, “These are the darkest days of my life. After several meetings and the postponement of a trial for my son several times, the last meeting was held where the lawyer demanded his release because he has already been in prison so long. He was injured which led to the amputation of his hands and is in urgent need of treatment that the prison administration refused to provide. 11,000 political prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails protesting internal strife Palestine News Network 1/14/2007 Since dawn Sunday, the approximate 11,000 political prisoners in Israeli jails began a hunger strike that will last through the evening today in protest and condemnation of the internal fighting between Fateh and Hamas. Palestinian Legislative Council member and former Director of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Issa Qaraqa’, has received updates on the strike since the early morning. The prisoners decided to take this step in order to deliver a “clear and specific message that infighting is rejected as it not only serves the interests of the enemies of the Palestinian people, it endangers their goals and rights. ”The political prisoners also demanded that the Palestinian leadership in the both “the presidency and the government, and the leadership of Fateh, Hamas and other factions, return to dialogue in order to reach a unity government..." Israeli forces imprison deaf – mute man accused of involement with Islamic Jihad Palestine News Network 1/14/2007 Israeli soldiers did not believe that Farid Mahmoud Suleiman son was deaf – mute. Despite the protestations of fellow passengers in the car at the Nablus area checkpoint, he was bound, arrested, and taken to several detention centers before Jalameh Prison. Israeli forces tried to make Suleiman read a statement aloud saying that he was a part of Islamic Jihad and involved in “endangering the security of Israel. ” He refused to sign anything either, and is still in prison. Suleiman is a married farmer with children and no particular political ties, and none at all to the armed resistance. Israeli investigators did not believe he was deaf – mute and hooked him up to a polygraph. They then brought in an officer with the ability to sign. During interrogation the Israelis accused him of affiliation with Islamic Jihad giving him a pre-written statement confessing... Nonviolent Palestinian protest in solidarity with political prisoners on hunger strike Palestine News Network 1/12/2007 Dozens of families and friends of political prisoners in Israeli Jalameh Prison conducted a sit-in Friday after the Palestinians inside held a two-day nonviolent hunger strike. The demonstrators wanted to ensure the hunger strikers that they were not forgotten and not alone. The political prisoners inside the Israeli prison in a military installation in northern Jenin began the strike in protest of deteriorating conditions and the inhumane circumstances of their arrests. Holding a banner denouncing the Israeli Department of Prisons, father of prisoner Munir Khalid said that staging the sit-in is a “cry of protest to tell the Israelis to stop isolating and torturing our sons while keeping them in inhuman conditions. ” After the Israelis refused to accept their “just and legitimate demands, we had no choice than to demonstrate. ” Researcher Betawi: Israelis targeting academics with Administrative Detention prison sentences Palestine News Network 1/12/2007 Mustafa Ahmed’s prison sentence was completed yesterday. Although he had never been charged with a crime or been afforded a trial, the northern West Bank man spent six months in Israeli prison. Today Ahmed is still in prison. He waited 11 hours after his scheduled release from “Administrative Detention,” the renewable Israeli prison sentence imposed without charge or trial. But instead of letting Ahmed go, Israeli forces renewed the sentence for another six months. Ahmed is a professor of sociology at Nablus’ An Najah University. He specializes in political sociology and as such has conducted political research. Although his points of view are described as “purely academic” by his colleagues, some believe that his job is the reason the Israelis have imprisoned him. There is no evidence against Ahmed... EU Should Fill Leadership Void on Human Rights Human Rights Watch 1/11/2007 Human Rights Watch Launches World Report 2007 on Guantanamo Anniversary -- With US credibility undermined by the Bush administration’s use of torture and detention without trial, the European Union must fill the leadership void on human rights, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its World Report 2007. Today marks five years since the United States first sent detainees to Guantanamo. The Bush administration has proven largely incapable of providing leadership on human rights, while China and Russia are embracing tyrants in their quest for resources and influence. But rather than assuming the leadership mantle, the European Union’s approach is mired in procedures that emphasize internal unanimity and rotation over the effective projection of EU influence to protect human rights, said the 556-page volume’s introductory essay. -- See also: HRW World Report 2007 After midnight raid, Palestinian prisoners in Negev begin hunger strike International Middle East Media Center 1/11/2007 In a late-night raid on Palestinian political prisoners in Negev prison Wednesday night, Israeli forces beat Palestinian prisoners and destroyed their belongings, according to the prisoners. Following the raid, hundreds of prisoners began a hunger strike Thursday morning to protest the conditions in the prison and the raid. The prisoners gathered in the yard for a press conference Thursday morning, in which they criticized the prison administration for the brutal raid, which focused on seizing materials used by the Palestinian prisoners for cooking their food. The prisoners revoked their representatives to the prison administration, and stated that they are considering further action. Of the 2,400 Palestinian prisoners of war being held in the Negev detention facility, 700 are being held in ’administrative detention’ without ever being charged with a crime. Palestinian political prisoners begin nonviolent action: Al Naqab on hunger strike Palestine News Network 1/11/2007 Hundreds of Palestinian political prisoners stood in the yard of Al Naqab (Negev) Israeli Prison during the early morning hours reading statements. They had all been quickly penned after Israeli forces attacked their kitchen facilities as the Palestinians slept. Regardless of being hastily written, the sentiment was clear and consistent. The prisoners are on hunger strike and they have withdrawn their representatives, therefore no one will be communicating with the prison administration. All sections in Al Naqab are considering additional action in response to the grave breach of the delicate balance that is struck between the occupied and occupier in a prison that operates in direct contravention to international law.... The Palestinians were asleep when the Israeli forces tore through the kitchens. Midnight attack on Al Naqab cells Palestine News Network 1/11/2007 In the middle of last night dozens of Israeli soldiers tore through sections in Al Naqab (the Negev) Israeli Prison and destroyed belongings. Via telephone several Palestinian political prisoners confirmed that the operation began in the middle of the night in violation of a prior agreement between prisoner representatives and the prison administration, which stipulates no inspection. As reported by the prisoners, soldiers deal with them brutally and last night left devastation in the the prison cells, destroying contents and creating an atmosphere of fear. Immediately after, the Palestinians broadcast a joint statement on behalf of the movement of political prisoners, appealing to human rights organizations to intervene and stop the prison administration. [end] Israeli soldiers use tear gas on Palestinian prisoners in Negev jail Ma’an News Agency 1/11/2007 Nablus - Palestinian prisoners’ sources from the Ketziot (or Ansar III) prison, located in the Negev desert in southern Israel, have reported that Israeli soldiers broke into the main kitchens of the prison on Wednesday, causing a state of tension amongst the prisoners. The sources told Ma’an that the soldiers broke in with tear gas and police dogs. In response, the prisoners took up position in the prison’s yards to protest against the incursion. The leadership of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails has decided to launch a hunger strike on Thursday in protest against the assault. The leaders also vowed to escalate their response if the Israeli prison administration continues to confiscate the prisoners’ handicrafts and personal property. [end] Shin Bet questions ex-American suspected of aiding Islamic Jihad Ha’aretz 1/11/2007 Israeli authorities who arrested the former imam of Ohio’s largest mosque after he was deported have questioned him about the militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, his attorney said Wednesday. Fawaz Damra, a Palestinian whose American citizenship was revoked over suspicions of raising funds for Islamic Jihad 15 years ago, has admitted to raising money for the Palestinian cause, according to his attorney Smadar Ben-Natan. Damra was transferred to Israeli custody on a "secret flight" following cooperation between the FBI and Israeli security services. On Wednesday Ben-Natan met with Damra, whom she is representing at his family’s request, at Kishon prison.... Damra said he had changed his world view since 1993, attended university and begun working in organizations that promote dialogue between religions. How does Islam require POWs to be treated? Jerusalem Post 1/10/2007 What did the Palestinian Resistance Committee (PRC) mean when it stated that kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, "is being treated according to Islamic standards of dealing with prisoners of war?" According to Sheikh Abdala Darvish, the spiritual head of the southern faction of the Islamic Movement in Israel and a respected Islamic authority, the Sha’aria (Islamic law) has detailed directives governing the treatment of prisoners of war. Shalit’s captors were obligated, according to Sha’aria, to keep the soldier alive and healthy, said Darvish. "They must give him the food that he likes at the times he likes eating," said Darvish. Islamic law also prohibits degrading or scaring a prisoner of war. "The captors are even obligated to give their prisoner a feeling of friendship," added Darvish, who said it was legitimate to hold a prisoner of war until the hostilities were resolved. Shin Bet confirms it detained Muslim cleric deported by U.S. Ha’aretz 1/10/2007 Israel arrested the former imam of Ohio’s largest mosque after he was deported from the United States last week, the Shin Bet internal security service confirmed. Fawaz Damra, 46, was arrested because of his ties to Islamic Jihad, a militant Palestinian group classified by Israel and the U.S. as a terrorist organization, Shin Bet told The Associated Press on Tuesday. It gave no other details. Smadar Ben-Natan, an Israeli lawyer retained by Damra’s family to represent him, said Damra was being held at the Kishon prison and she planned to meet with her client Wednesday. Damra’s family, friends and members of the Islamic community in Ohio reacted with outrage Tuesday and demanded that the U.S. government be held accountable for Damra ending up in Israeli custody. He didn’t have a lawyer, he didn’t know he was going to jail Ha’aretz 1/9/2007 Itzik used to own a small shop in Kfar Sava. He was convicted of failing to file value-added tax returns and sentenced to 10 months in prison - almost certainly because he lacked the money to hire a lawyer. At the last minute, thanks to the efforts of the Public Defender’s Office, the Supreme Court overturned his sentence. But hundreds of other people are jailed every year due to a lack of legal representation. A new law that took effect on January 1, however, is supposed to prevent such situations: It states that no one can be jailed who was not represented by a lawyer. Currently, according to the Public Defender’s Office, about 40 percent of all criminal defendants do not have legal representation, most because they cannot afford it. And every year, about 400 such people are sentenced to prison. Father and son meet for the first time in 20 years in Israeli prison Palestine News Network 1/9/2007 The first time Ahmed Abu Sa’ud met his son was in Israeli Prison. The elder’s daughter, 30 year old Sawsan Al Abu Sa’ud, told PNN, “My father became a prisoner in the year 1987. It was after midnight and I was awoken to violent beatings on the door. The Jews came in and took my father. I did not realize at the time that I would not see him for years; that 20 years would pass and he still would not come home. ”Abu Sa’ud is the father of five. His wife kept him alive in the hearts and minds of his children by reading them letters and showing them photos everyday. “We lost so much. There were days on end of sadness, bitterness, feelings of deprivation. ” Israeli forces arrested him before he saw his youngest son Ahmed. Twenty years later the two met when Ahmed also become a political prisoner. Jailed Jenin legislators appeal factions to end violent clashes International Middle East Media Center 1/9/2007 Abducted Palestinian Legislators from Jenin District, imprisoned by Israel, voiced an appeal to Fateh and Hamas gunmen, engaging in armed clashes, to stop the violence and maintain unity national unity. The legislators, imprisoned in Nafha Israeli detention facility, managed to leak an appeal from prison expressing their sorrow for the unfortunate clashes in several Palestinian areas, and appealed all parties to stop these attacks immediately. The legislators; Khalid Suleiman, Khalid Sa’id and Ibrahim Dahbour slammed the clashes and attacks against public and private facilities, homes and residents, and called on the conflicting parties to review their stances and stop the attacks. They also said called for stopping incitement and for incriminating all persons involved in escalating the conflict and carrying attacks. 8 rights groups ask High Court to rescind West Bank driving ban Ha’aretz 1/8/2007 Eight human rights groups petitioned the High Court of Justice on Sunday against a military order prohibiting Israelis from driving Palestinians in private vehicles in the West Bank. Attorney Michael Sfard, who filed the motion for Yesh Din, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Gisha, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and others, criticized GOC Central Command Yair Naveh’s order, slated to take effect January 19. Sfard said the order will "lead to a rift between Israelis and Palestinians who have legitimate social, political and commercial ties." The groups call the order reminiscent of apartheid, as it "implements an ideology of separation by creating criminal sanctions on different peoples." Separately, a human rights advocacy group has charged that Israel did not relinquish control of the Gaza Strip in the disengagement. Families of Palestinian prisoners condemn domestic fighting Ma’an News Agency 1/8/2007 Gaza - Families of Palestinian prisoners have portrayed the inter-Palestinian fighting as, "Insulting the principles for which their sons were struggling in Israeli jails." They also said that the continuation of these clashes will gradually result in forgetting the prisoners issue and encourage the Israeli occupation to escalate their assaults against prisoners. In their weekly strike in front of the headquarters of the Red Cross in Gaza on Monday, the families appealed to the Palestinian Presidency and government to endeavor to save Palestinian blood and provide recognition to their sons’ cause. Director of the public relations at the Red Cross delivered a speech appealing to Palestinian officials to protect the people and condemning the inter-Palestinian fighting. Medical Committee disallowed visit with injured political prisoner in Israeli jail Palestine News Network 1/5/2007 The Israeli prison administration prevented a medical team from visiting with imprisoned Al Aqsa Brigades leader, Adeeb, in Mejido Prison. In a statement issued by the Medical Committee several serious charges are levied against the Israeli prison administration. “Israeli authorities refuse treatment or neglect treatment despite the dire need for it. This patient was shot several times by Israeli forces prior to his arrest and was then exposed to harsh interrogation, leading to the further deterioration of his health. The prison administration has refused to allow any medical treatment since the time of his arrest. ”The Committee presented a formal request to the Israeli Department of Prisons to allow a specialized medical visit for health screening, an exam, and possible treatment, however the prison administration refused under the pretext of “security measures. 6 Hezbollah militants detained during war seek POW status Occupation Magazine/Ha’aretz 1/3/2007 Six Hezbollah detainees being held by Israel since the second Lebanon war will petition the High Court of Justice on Wednesday, asking that they be recognized as prisoners of war. Attorneys for the six, Semadar Ben-Nati and Itai Hermalin, who were appointed by the Public Defender`s Office, are also to ask the court to allow their clients to be visited by the International Red Cross. Israel has blocked such visits after Red Cross representatives saw the men only twice. Israel`s attitude in this case contradicts its policy, which allows the Red Cross to visit foreign nationals imprisoned in Israel, including terrorists, whom Israel does not recognize as prisoners of war.... Meanwhile, various official bodies are placing responsibility for the issue of the Hezbollah prisoners at each other`s doors. -- See also: Ha'aretz Parents in prison are strangers to their children Palestine News Network 1/3/2007 "One of the well wishers told me to buy a toy with several shekels so that my daughter would not cry when she approached me. ” These are the words of Mohammad Salama from the northwestern West Bank city of Qalqilia. He was held under Administrative Detention, meaning without charge or trial, in the Israeli Al Naqab (Negev) Prison for 22 months. “I did not think that my daughter knew me. She was trying to stay away from me. I couldn’t process this very easily, but I know it is because she came into her life while I was behind bars. ” Parents are strangers to their children who are born, or grow up, without knowing them. Salama had only been married for two months when Israeli forces arrested him. They never charged him with a crime, or afforded him a trial. But still his daughter was born..." Israeli jailed for holding contacts with militants gets early parole Ha’aretz 1/3/2007 Tali Fahima, who was convicted of aiding Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades militants, including the group’s Jenin head Zakariya Zubeidi, was released Wednesday from Neve Tirzah Prison." I don’t regret anything, and I will continue to work against the occupation and for peace," Fahima said following her release. Fahima said, however, that she would not meet with Zubeidi due to the restrictions placed on her. According to a statement released by Prisons Authority spokeswoman Orit Shtelzer, Fahima is "banned from leaving the country in the coming year, contacting a foreign agent or entering unauthorized territories," the statement read. Roughly one hundred supporters waited for Fahima outside the prison, along with her attorney Smadar Ben-Natan. "I am very happy," said Ben-Natan. "I don’t think she needed to sit [in prison] at all..." Three Hezbollah detainees held in Israel seek POW status Ha’aretz 1/3/2007 Three of six Hezbollah detainees being held by Israel are to petition the High Court of Justice Wednesday, asking that they be recognized as prisoners of war. Attorneys for the three, Semadar Ben-Nati and Itai Hermalin, who were appointed by the Public Defender’s Office, are also to ask the court to allow their clients to be visited by the International Red Cross. Israel has blocked such visits after Red Cross representatives saw the men only twice. Israel’s attitude in this case contradicts its policy, which allows the Red Cross to visit foreign nationals imprisoned in Israel, including terrorists, whom Israel does not recognize as prisoners of war. The stance in this case is a response to Hezbollah’s refusal to allow Red Cross representatives to meet with the two Israel Defense Forces soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah... Fahima might go free after hearing Jerusalem Post 1/3/2007 Tali Fahima, the Tel Aviv woman who befriended Jenin’s Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades head Zakariya Zubeidi, is due to appear before a parole board at Ma’asiyahu Prison on Wednesday and could leave jail the same day if she is granted an early release. Fahima, whose case became a cause celebre throughout the country, was sentenced to three years imprisonment on charges of providing information to the enemy in order to assist him, contact with a foreign agent and violation of a legal order. This will mark Fahima’s second appearance before the parole board. Her first request was denied on the grounds that she had acted "crassly and impudently" towards prison guards during her incarceration. However, the board, headed by retired judge Nora Lidski, noted that Fahima’s behavior had improved during the last three months... Interrogators torture and attack a detainee with metal chains International Middle East Media Center 12/30/2006 Palestinian human rights organizations reported on Saturday that Israeli interrogators at the Maali Adumim interrogation center, near Jerusalem, tortured a Palestinian detainee and hit him with metal chains. The center is in Maali Adumim settlement block near the occupied Jerusalem and extends on vast areas that were annexed and seized from the Palestinians. Media sources reported that Hakam Abu Roomy, 18, from Al Ezariyya town near Jerusalem, was moved to the interrogation center in Maali Adumim and there he was violently beaten with iron chains after the interrogators forced him to undress and kept him under the rain. The Detainees Media Center, which belongs to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, reported that Abu Roomy was taken prisoner three days ago... Leftist women’s nonviolent resistance for Eid Al Adha International Middle East Media Center 12/30/2006 All Palestinians participate in the resistance in some form or another, even if it means going to the market or refusing to leave their home under threat of demolition. Children going to school are participating in the resistance, and any celebrations are certainly acts of resistance to occupation. The women photographed are holding portraits of their sons, fathers, and husbands imprisoned in Israeli jails. In Jenin this year on the occasion of the Eid Al Adha holiday, a group of women is distributing wool blankets to the families of political prisoners and those who have been killed. The group is from the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The coordinator of the campaign said the aim is to “emphasize the adherence to the sanctity of Palestinian blood and the remembrance of suffering." ’2,700 Palestinians held without trial’ Jerusalem Post 12/26/2006 A top IDF judge disclosed on Tuesday that 2,700 Palestinians have been detained without trial this year, criticizing the military prosecution for not filing charges against some of them. Col. Shaul Gordon, chief justice of the army’s West Bank appeals court, told the soldiers’ weekly Bamahane that 2,000 of the detainees filed appeals, and their detention was shortened in many cases. He said even the ones who do not file appeals are reviewed. The practice of administrative detention has been harshly criticized by Palestinians and human rights groups, who say that if the IDF has evidence against suspects, it should put them on trial. The IDF has responded that sometimes evidence is too sensitive to submit to a trial. Gordon, who is leaving his post after six years, backed the critics in some cases.  Articles
Canada Meets the Zionist Right By Jim Miles, Palestine Chronicle 1/24/2007 Canada, as represented by Harper’s current minority government, is following the American path of nationalistic hubris, of championing the ‘rights’ of one people to trample over the lives and rights of another. Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Mackay completed a visit to Israel recently, reinforcing Canada’s growing militant support of a government that continues to deny the basic essentials of human democracy to its own people and especially to the people of the occupied territories of Palestine. Apparently, Canada’s relations with Israel are “particularly warm” and “bilateral and diplomatic ties are currently at their peak.” [1] The minority Steven Harper government, currently standing at 33 per cent in public opinion polls, was the first to deny the validity of the democratically elected Hamas government, before the Americans and before the British. The emphasis of this point in MacKay’s recent visit would indicate that Harper and MacKay choose to remain ignorant of the atrocities perpetrated by the Israeli’s against the Palestinian people. The government, Mackay in particular, puts itself into a contradictory position. When speaking to a UN meeting on the effects of warfare on children, MacKay says, “progress has been made on the wider protection of civilians in armed conflict agenda, where leaders have confirmed their commitment to the legal and physical protection of civilians.” For Harper and MacKay, this rhetoric is wonderful if applied to Uganda or Nigeria or Sri Lanka, but there is no connection with the children of generations who have suffered in Palestine under Israeli military occupation, nor any connection to “wider protection of civilians,” and their “legal and physical protection” that his speech espouses. In the same speech, MacKay adds more fluff to his rhetoric, indicating there is a “gap between words and deeds” using as an example “Recent events in the Middle East saw hundreds of thousands of people displaced obviously a large number of them children and it can happen virtually overnight. The size and scope of these conflicts and the speed of these erupted is stagger at times [sic].” [2] Is not Palestine a part of the Middle East? Have not enough generations of Palestinian children suffered under the occupation of the IDF, living lives destroyed by murder, torture, fear, humiliation, degradation, starvation and the lack of all the things that Canadian children take for granted? Yes, there is a gap between words and deeds, a credibility gap between what MacKay says in one situation and the ideological politics - of Christian Zionism sucking up to the Canadian Jewish-Zionist community - it plays in another. Never Forget the Prisoners By Joharah Baker, MIFTAH 1/18/2007 While the Palestinians have unfortunately become all too familiar with unnecessary deaths, they will never come to accept them hands down. On January 16, 38-year-old Jamal Sarahin from the Hebron-area village of Tarqumiya died in an Israeli hospital apparently from complications resulting from pneumonia. Sarahin had been under Israeli administrative detention for the past eight months in the Negev Detention Center. According to Fateh prisoner representative in the Legislative Council Issa Qaraqe, Sarahin passed away in the Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva after his health severely deteriorated that morning. Qaraqe said Israeli prison authorities refused to offer immediate medical attention to the prisoner and only heeded repeated calls to have him transferred to the prison clinic and later to the hospital after his condition took a dangerous plunge for the worse. Naturally, the prisoners and people at large are holding the Israeli prison authorities at the Negev Detention Center responsible for Sarahin’s death. Irate prisoners have clashed with prison guards in the desert penitentiary and all Palestinian prisoners have declared a hunger strike as of this morning in protest of Sarahin’s death. Sarahin is certainly not the only Palestinian prisoner to perish in Israeli jails. Throughout the six years of the Aqsa Intifada alone, the Palestinian Prisoners Club has documented the deaths of 14 men behind Israeli bars. A voice from Gitmo’s darkness By Jumah al-Dossari, Information Clearing House/Los Angeles Times 1/11/2007 A current detainee speaks of the torture and humiliation he has experienced at Guantanamo since 2002. JUMAH AL-DOSSARI is a 33-year-old citizen of Bahrain. This article was excerpted from letters he wrote to his attorneys. Its contents have been deemed unclassified by the Department of Defense. Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba — I AM WRITING from the darkness of the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo in the hope that I can make our voices heard by the world. My hand quivers as I hold the pen. In January 2002, I was picked up in Pakistan, blindfolded, shackled, drugged and loaded onto a plane flown to Cuba. When we got off the plane in Guantanamo, we did not know where we were. They took us to Camp X-Ray and locked us in cages with two buckets — one empty and one filled with water. We were to urinate in one and wash in the other. At Guantanamo, soldiers have assaulted me, placed me in solitary confinement, threatened to kill me, threatened to kill my daughter and told me I will stay in Cuba for the rest of my life. They have deprived me of sleep, forced me to listen to extremely loud music and shined intense lights in my face. They have placed me in cold rooms for hours without food, drink or the ability to go to the bathroom or wash for prayers. They have wrapped me in the Israeli flag and told me there is a holy war between the Cross and the Star of David on one hand and the Crescent on the other. They have beaten me unconscious. What I write here is not what my imagination fancies or my insanity dictates. These are verifiable facts witnessed by other detainees, representatives of the Red Cross, interrogators and translators. Engineered clashes between Fateh and Hamas rage on in Gaza By Rashid Hilal, Palestine News Network 1/4/2007 Ramallah -- Renewed clashes in the Gaza Strip left five Palestinians dead Wednesday evening. Not surprising is the return of the Fateh-Hamas fight. Once it was engineered by the boycott and then exploited by the blame-game, it can not get itself under control. The respite was brief and hopeful leading up to the Eid and through its first days. Calls made by the Supreme National and Islamic Forces to refrain from incitement and factional military shows were heeded for a time, but then the statements themselves seemed instead to add fuel to the fire. Gaza conditions are prison-like; that is well-known with the Israeli closures and attacks that leave no where to get out of harms way, and poverty continues to rise. It is the perfect place to engineer a civil war. Invitations to even talk about the meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniya in this Arab country or that, are still under discussion in the press. The agenda of this meeting is not in the hands of the President or the Prime Minister. Everyone is awaiting word from Hamas to relaunch the national dialogue on forming the national unity government, which has become the anecdotal talk of the elderly on cold winter nights. The sense in the Palestinian citizen is simple; this government will not come and the path to it is blocked. The end of the Eid Al Adha holiday and the simultaneous expected return of the Hamas government from its pilgrimage to Mecca, signals an expected return to diaglogue. Hamas is determined to keep Ismail Haniya as Prime Minister. But that is not to forget that they did try to replace him during earlier unity government talks but President Abbas refused the Hamas party member choice and the independent choice. Freed lawmaker says Israel is maltreating prisoners Palestine Times 1/1/2007 On Friday, 15 December, the Israeli occupation authorities freed Palestinian legislative council member Hatem Qafisha after more than 19 months of incarceration without charge or trial, otherwise known as “administrative detention.” Qafisha said the impression in the West and much of the world that Israel is a democracy is false to a very large extent. He pointed out that Israeli prison personnel were routinely “beating, humiliating and systematically persecuting” Palestinian detainees, including detained cabinet ministers and lawmakers, in ways unbefitting any democracy worthy of the name. Palestine Times spoke with Qafisha hours after his release. The following are excerpts of the interview. Palestine Times: How long have you been in prison and why? Answer: I have spent 19 months of internment without charge or trial. I really don’t know and don’t understand the specific reason or reasons for this punishment. My lawyer and I strove to know the charges, but to no avail. And every time we would appeal for ending this farce, we were told that there was a secret file that couldn’t be disclosed. PT: Yes, but there ought to be a specific reason, otherwise why would they arrest you? Answer: As I told you, there is no specific reason. I guess the reason was that they didn’t like my political ideas, because I am a member of the Change and Reform bloc. I honestly can’t think of any other reasons for this unjust imprisonment. PT: How much time have you spent in Israeli jails and detention camps? Answer: All in all, about 90 months. PT: Is it true that the Israeli treatment (or rather mistreatment) of Palestinian political and resistance prisoners has worsened markedly since the advent of the Hamas-led government? Answer: Yes, this is true. Now, prisoners are subjected to harsh treatment, including physical beating and kicking. For example, I know that Israeli security personnel beat and mistreated Finance Minister Omar Abdul Razzaq and Prisoner Affairs Minister Wasfi Qabaha. And they did so without any justification; it is only sheer sadism, sheer barbarianism. Israel’s dominance may be going into slow reversal By Rami G. Khouri, Daily Star 12/30/2006 By most measures, it would seem the Israelis are winning the Palestinian-Israeli war. They control and colonize Arab lands, enjoy military superiority and total American support, and unilaterally define most diplomatic parameters of the conflict. Yet this may be a mistaken assessment: The Palestinians and Arabs are perhaps starting to win some battles, while Israel is losing some of its dominance. Seven events in the past five months seem to lend credence to this view. The first was Hizbullah’s ability to fight Israel for 34 days this summer, and on the 34th day to keep firing hundreds of rockets into Israeli territory. Morality and political consequences aside, this reflected a truly historic combination of political will, technical military proficiency, and a capacity to remain shielded from Israeli, Western and Arab spies and infiltrators. No Arab party had ever crossed this threshold in the century-long conflict with Zionism and Israel. The second event was Israel’s (and Washington’s) having to accept the August cease-fire resolution at the United Nations, after the United States had given Israel weeks of extra warfare to hit Hizbullah. A determined Arab group forced Israel and the US to accept a political resolution instead of military victory, and the cease-fire resolution included measures that Israel had previously always rejected - addressing the occupied Shebaa Farms area in the context of the Israel-Lebanon conflict, rather than as occupied Syrian land, and specifying the return or exchange of Israeli and Lebanese prisoners. Israel quietly dropped its previous position that the two Israeli soldiers snatched by Hizbullah on July 12 had to be returned unconditionally. The stationing of over 20,000 Lebanese and international troops in Southern Lebanon has long been an Israeli demand, but also came at a price: limiting Israel’s scope of action in Lebanon and its overflights. LinksAdalah Adalah (Justice in Arabic) is the first non-profit, non-sectarian Palestinian-run legal center in Israel. The main goal of Adalah’s work is to achieve equal rights and minority rights protections for Palestinian citizens of Israel. Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Organization: Addameer (conscience) is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution which focuses on human rights issues. Supports Palestinian prisoners, advocates for rights of political prisoners, works to end torture. Amnesty International Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights. AI’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. Amnesty International USA Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights. AI’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. Arab Association for Human Rights - HRA The HRA was founded in 1988 to promote and protect the political, civil, economic, and cultural rights of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel and to further the domestic implementation of international human rights principles. It is an independent non-governmental organisation registered in Israel. Association for Civil Rights in Israel - ACRI In Hebrew - The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) was founded in 1972 as a non-political and independent body, with the goal of protecting human and civil rights in Israel and in the territories under Israeli control. B’tselem The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. It endeavors to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel. Boycott Israeli Medical Association UK: The Medical Committee for Boycott of the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) will document the systematic torture of Palestinian people by agents of Israel. It will publicise the practice in order to bring world opinion to bear on Israel. And it will challenge the Israeli Medical Association which has repeatedly failed to issue advice to doctors who are involved in any way with torture. Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. Palestinian Center for Human Rights The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is an independent legal body based in Gaza City dedicated to protecting human rights, promoting the rule of law, and upholding democratic principles in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Palestinian Prisoners Society The Palestinian Prisoner Society is a social and human institution and its members are prisoners inside prisons and released prisoners. Membership is open to every Palestinian prisoner inside and outside prisons who meets the conditions of membership. Physicians for Human Rights - Israel Physicians for Human Rights - Israel (PHR-Israel) was established in 1988 as a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, dedicated to promoting and protecting the medical human rights of all residents of Israel and the Occupied Territories. Public Committee Against Torture in Israel - PCATI An independent human rights organization founded that monitors the implementation conditions in detention centers and continues the struggle against the use of torture in interrogation in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine The main collection contains the texts of current and historical United Nations material concerning the question of Palestine and other issues related to the Middle East situation and the search for peace. World Organisation Against Torture OMCT is today the largest international coalition of NGOs fighting against torture,summary executions, forced disappearances and all other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in order to preserve Human Rights. It has at its disposal a network, SOS Torture, consisting of some 240 non-governmental organisations which act as sources of information.
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