Vermonters
for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel
Prisoners Archive - February 2007
Treatment of Prisoners and Detainees by Israel and Others
Prisoners Archive - February 2007
Treatment of Prisoners and Detainees by Israel and Others
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Vermonters
for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel Prisoners Archive - February 2007 Treatment of Prisoners and Detainees by Israel and Others |
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Five year old girl terrified to death after Israeli forces arrest her father International Middle East Media Center 2/25/2007 Late last night a five year old girl died in a southern West Bank hospital after weeks of struggling with her condition. The Palestinian Prisoner Society’s Hebron branch issued the details on Saturday that cite the cause of her death as terror. As is a common occurrence during arrest campaigns, Israeli forces raided the family home as they slept. The soldiers were loud and violent, tearing through personal belongings, throwing furniture, shoving family members, holding them all at gunpoint. PPS reports that during arrests Israeli forces generally use jeeps or tanks, break down doors, fire tear gas and bullets, bring in dogs and beat people. The Director of PPS in Hebron, Amjad Najjar, is following the case. “The conduct of occupation soldiers is that of pirates.." .. The young girl went into an apparent state of shock and was taken to the hospital. She never recovered. Mandela Institute: "Detainees in solitary describe their life as slow death" International Middle East Media Center 3/1/2007 Lawyer of Mandela Institute for Human Rights – Palestine, Botheina Doqmaq, stated that detainees living in solitary confinement in Israeli prisons are facing harsh living conditions and that they are subjected to bad treatment, lacking food and water. Doqmaq met on Tuesday with several detainees who are confined to solitary. They complained that the Prison Administration is keeping several detainees in solitary confinement since many years and are only allowed out for a few minutes each day. She added that the number of detainees who are confined to solitary is gradually increasing. Doqmaq reported the following cases; Detainee Hasan Salama, from Khan Younis in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, has been confined to solitary since ten years. Detainee Mahmoud Issa from Jerusalem has been in solitary confinement since five years. Qaraqi’ calls for return of deceased Palestinians held by Israeli authorities Ma’an News Agency 2/28/2007 Bethlehem - Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) deputy and head of the detainees and martyrs committee in the PLC, Issa Qaraqi’, said that the Israeli authorities have been holding the remains of 18 Palestinians from Bethlehem for many years. Qaraqi’ said that the total number of Palestinian corpses held by the Israeli forces is 150 and are all in cemeteries in the Jordan Valley and northern Israel. He noted that this holding of the remains of Palestinians who were killed in confrontations with the Israeli forces during the ongoing years of occupation is against all religious and human rights, as well as international law and the Geneva agreement. Qaraqi’ called on the Palestinian government to form a committee to take legal action against the Israeli government and to return dead Palestinians to their homeland in order to allow them to be buried with dignity. Irish bishops: Israel has turned Gaza Strip into a ’large prison’ Ha’aretz 2/27/2007 A group of Irish Roman Catholic bishops on Tuesday called into question Ireland’s commercial ties with Israel, saying Israel has made the Gaza Strip "little more than a large prison" for Palestinians. "Where there is evidence of systematic abuse of human rights on a large scale, as in the Occupied Territories, there are questions that must be asked concerning the appropriateness of maintaining close business, cultural and commercial links with Israel," said auxiliary Bishop of Dublin Raymond Field. There is a long history of support for Palestinians in Ireland, particularly among nationalist parties such as Sinn Fein, which equate their own fight to end British rule in Ireland with the desire by Palestinians for their own state. Field, chairman of the Irish Commission for Justice and Social Affairs (ICJSA)... described travel restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza as an "injustice." Palestinians in Israeli jails hunger strike in solidarity with Al Jazeera cameraman Palestine News Network 2/23/2007 Palestinian political prisoners in the Israeli Damon Prison are on nonviolent hunger strike in solidarity with the Al Jazeera cameraman, Sami Al Hajj, imprisoned by the United States in Guantanamo. The prisoners movement says it hopes to bring attention to the urgency of Al Hajj’s plight. In a statement issued through the local prisoner support system, the Palestinians are asking that the international community take an active role in upholding human rights law and put pressure on the Americans to abide by the law. The prisoners accused the US of “disdain for international norms. ”The Palestinians in Israeli prisons announced their solidarity with Al Hajj and their condemnation of the US policy that is keeping the Al Jazeera cameraman in military prison. Report issued by PLC deputy Issa Qaraqa’: Israeli school curriculum promotes racism Palestine News Network 2/23/2007 The Israeli educational curricula promotes racism and killing, while ignoring the principles of international human rights, states a scathing report prepared by Legislative Council deputy Issa Qaraqa’. The PLC member is the former Director of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, a lawyer, and the deputy in charge of the prisoners file in the parliament. He said that students in Israeli schools are not taught humanitarian conventions, international resolutions or human rights law as a matter of course. The report issued on Friday indicates that Israel’s educational system focuses on ideological and nationalistic pursuits, raising generations to believe in erasing Arab identity. The spirit of the military is nurtured as the education system is an important tool in fostering the mindset that Palestinians are inferior. PFLP leader bouncing between Israeli civil and military courts Palestine News Network 2/23/2007 Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmed Sa’adat, could be released from Israeli prison. The leftist leader was accused of organizing the killing of Israeli Tourism Minister Ze’evi who was known for openly advocating ethnic cleansing. But his case is bouncing between civil and military courts. One judge said there was not sufficient evidence to link Sa’adat to the killing. For that he could be considered as a candidate for the exchange of some of the Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails for the captured Israeli soldier. But if Israeli forces can find Sa’adat guilty within the confines of their own laws then he can be left out of an exchange as having “blood on his hands. ”The Central Court in Jerusalem may issue a decision to try the four members of the PFLP accused of killing Ze’evi. Sa’adat to be tried in a military court, and not on murder charges Ma’an News Agency 2/23/2007 Bethlehem - The Israeli attorney general, Menachem Mazuz, has decided to transfer the case of the secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahmad Sa’adat, and the Fatah financial aide, Fuad Al-Shobaki, to an Israeli military court and not a civil court. The military court has not charged Sa’adat with involvement in the murder of the former Israeli tourism minister, Rehavam Ze’evi, because it has not found enough evidence. This change in legal court facilitates the possibility of the two men’s release, especially Sa’adat, in any deal to exchange prisoners. Not charging Sa’adat with murder also makes it easier to release him due to the fact that Israel is determined not to release prisoners "with blood on their hands". Al Mezan condemns the escalation of the state of insecurity Al Mezan Center for Human Rights 2/21/2007 The state of insecurity saw a new escalation in Gaza as clashes, armed robberies, kidnappings, threatening, and the targeting of public facilities continue. According to Al Mezan fieldwork information, at app. 1. 40am on 20 February 2007, gunmen stopped a car at the Al Shohada junction south of Gaza City. They beat the men in the car, stole US$1400 and a cell phone and seized the car belonging to the Director of the Rafah branch of the Detainees Society. On the same day, at app. 11am, gunmen kidnapped Anas Alhessi, aged 33, and released him after one-and-a-half hours. Further, at app. 2. 30am, gunmen threw two Molotov cocktails at the Youth House for Culture and Arts Society, located in Jabalia town, causing massive damage to the theatre hall, the library, computers and loudspeakers. Physicians for Human Rights appeals to Lebanese peers for info on kidnapped soldiers Ha’aretz 2/22/2007 Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has appealed to human rights organizations in Lebanon with a request to obtain information about the three Israeli soldiers who were abducted last summer. Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser are being held by Hezbollah, while Gilad Shalit is being held by Palestinians. The appeal is unusual, since PHR usually acts on behalf of Palestinians in the territories in general and Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel in particular. The move followed criticism of PHR by the families of the soldiers on these grounds. The PHR addressed its concerns to the Institute of Human Rights in Lebanon, which is part of the Beirut Bar Association, the Foundation for Human and Humanitarian Rights (Lebanon) and the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation, among others. Imprisoned twice on suspicion of stone throwing, 16 year old tells his story Palestine News Network 2/20/2007 A teenaged boy stood perplexed yesterday, unsure of where to go. This was his first time out in the world on his own. He had no money and no mobile phone. What he did have was his birth certificate and the clothes he wore when he was arrested on 22 December of last year. Sixteen year old Omar Sabah had just been released from Israeli prison and dropped off near a military checkpoint in the central West Bank’s Ramallah. As soon as the boy told a passerby of his predicament, he was put in taxi and his fare paid. Bumping along the side roads enroute from Ramallah to his southern Bethlehem home in Taqua’ Village, Omar wanted to talk. The birth certificate he held in his hand was brought to the Israeli military court. “They told me to admit that I had been throwing stones, but I had nothing to confess..." Palestinian legislator accuses Israel of testing dangerous drugs on Palestinian inmates Ma’an News Agency 2/16/2007 Bethlehem - A member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) has claimed that the Israeli prison authorities are testing dangerous drugs on Palestinian detainees, often without their knowledge. Referring to the apparent increase in the number of Palestinian prisoners whose health severely deteriorated while in Israeli jail, Issa Qaraqi’, a PLC member from the Bethlehem area, said that many prisoners have shown signs of collective poisoning. He accused the Israeli government of carrying out medical experiments on Palestinian prisoners, with the compliance of the prison authorities, and called for an investigation into the issue. In a statement, Qaraqi’ said that 14 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli jails in the last seven years due to a deterioration in the health conditions in Israeli jails. Prisons Ministry denounces Israeli policy of targeting family members of the wanted and imprisoned Palestine News Network 2/16/2007 The Ministry of Detainees and Ex Detainees Affairs is denouncing a 2006 deportation of a Palestinian woman to Jordan. The Ministry is drawing attention to the case at this particular time as Israeli arrests of political prisoners’ family members and those of the so-called wanted are on the rise. The Israeli government arrested the wife of political prisoner Samir Fahmi Taher, Roidah, during the summer of 2006. A statement released today by the Ministry gives the date as 8 August. By early September the Israeli government was deporting the severely ill woman, sending her from her home, child and husband. For his part, Roidah’s husband Samir could do little to help his wife. He is a political prisoner in the Israeli Mejido Prison. The tactic of targeting family members, says the Ministry, is intended to pressure confessions by those already imprisoned or surrender by those being hunted. Palestinian prisoners to receive overdue allowances next week Ma’an News Agency 2/16/2007 Bethlehem - The undersecretary in the Palestinian ministry of prisoner affairs, Ziad Abu Ain, has assured that two months’ worth of overdue stipends and allowances intended for Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails, will be paid in the coming week. Speaking to Ma’an News Agency via telephone, Abu Ain said that, in light of the complaints and sufferings of the Palestinian prisoners, and the difficult conditions they face, the presidency has decided to grant in the region of NIS 5 million (~US $1. 19m) to the prisoners. He mentioned that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is trying to lift the financial restrictions imposed on the prisoners, which currently prevent them from receiving the money. He added that the prisoners are owed approximately US $40 million in canteen money and stipends from the finance ministry. Palestinian prisoners protest over ongoing detention of Al-Jazeera photographer in Guantánamo Ma’an News Agency 2/15/2007 Nablus - Salfit - Arab and Palestinian prisoners detained in the Beer Sheva prison in the Israeli Negev desert have expressed their solidarity with the Al-Jazeera photographer, Sami Al-Hajj, who has been held in the US-controlled Guantánamo prison in Cuba for 5 years. According to information from Al-Jazeera, Sami Al-Hajj, a Sudanese national, was detained by the US authorities in late 2001 while traveling for work to Afghanistan. The US accuses him of running a website that supports terrorism, trafficking arms and entering Afghanistan illegally. His lawyer, Clive Stafford-Smith, has completely denied these charges." He is completely innocent. He is about as much of a terrorist as my granddad. The only reason he has been treated like he has is because he is an Aljazeera journalist..." High Court: State must supply all jailed prisoners with beds Ha’aretz 2/12/2007 The High Court of Justice ruled Monday that as of July 1, the state will be required to supply a bed to each and every prisoner in the jail system. The ruling was based on a petition submitted by Physicians for Human Rights and the Association for Civil Rights, which claimed that prisoners - many of whom sleep on mattresses on prison floors - should receive the same treatment afforded to detainees, who are legally entitled to beds. Justices Ayala Procaccia, Salim Jubran, and David Cheshin approved the petition and stated that "starting on the day of July 1 the state will fully implement the principle according to which it will supply a bed to each prisoner held in Israel’s jails. This obligation will be present at all times and deviation from it will be allowed only in rare and irregular." MK Livnat: Release Barghouti only with approval of 80 MKs Ha’aretz 2/12/2007 MK Limor Livnat on Monday proposed a bill according to which security prisoners could only be released upon approval by 80 members of Knesset. The bill was intended to increase the difficulty of releasing jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti as part of a prisoner swap. The bill would amend Basic Law on the President, which dictates that the president has the authority to release a life prisoner convicted of murder who acted from national or terrorist motives. If approved, the release of such a prisoner would require a majority in Knesset. The goal of the bill, which 24 MKs from right-wing parties have already signed, is to give the Knesset authority to supervise pardons given to criminals from nationalist or terrorist backgrounds, and whose release harms the deterrence element against terrorist activity. Just like life under Pinochet Ha’aretz 2/12/2007 "The Palestinians’ lives under the occupation are reminiscent of the lives of Chile’s citizens under the dictatorship," says Chilean Judge Juan Guzman, who is visiting Israel, last week. "There, too, people who thought differently were considered enemies: They were imprisoned, tortured and killed. There, too, people couldn’t move from place to place, they didn’t have freedom and they didn’t have equality before the law. But here it’s harder. It has been going on for longer," he added. Guzman, 68, became known at the end of the 1990s as an investigative judge pursuing Augusto Pinochet.... Guzman came to Israel as a guest of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and the Alternative Information Center (AIC) to examine indicting Israelis responsible for house demolitions in European courts. Committee of prisoners in Hebron organise a demonstration against the non-payment of prisoners’ salaries Ma’an News Agency 2/12/2007 Hebron - The committee of prisoners in the Hebron governorate have organised a sit-in demonstation in condemnation of the non-payment prisoners salaries. It is to be held on Saturday the 17th of February in front of the office of prisoners’ affairs. The committee reported, in a statement for Ma’an, that the strike seeks to affirm that the struggle of prisoners is a struggle for the homeland and prisoners’ salaries are a holy right that should not be subjected to chance, or circumstance. [end] Bil’in villager still in prison despite judge’s condemnation of IOF violence International Solidarity Movement 2/12/2007 Farhat Burnat, the Bil’in peace activist beaten and arrested at a demo 10 days ago remains in Ofer military detention centre tonight. After viewing video evidence last week the military judge ordered Farhat’s release but the IOF was given until Sunday to appeal this. This was then extended until today at 9am. Just after 9am an appeal was filed by the IOF but this wasn’t heard today and no future date was set. Despite recognising the “ugly face” of the IOF the judge still wanted to release Farhat under conditions and NIS 5000 bail. The most Palestinians can hope for when there is no evidence against them, is to be released within a few weeks with a large bail amount and restrictions on their movement. Last October Bil’in cameraman Emad Burnat spent almost 3 weeks in prison on the trumped up charges of throwing stones at the IOF... Israeli policy of Administrative Detention targets Palestinian intellectuals & journalists Palestine News Network 2/7/2007 The Israeli Supreme Court rejected a petition to release Jamal Farag from prison. The Palestinian journalist has been held for three years under Administrative Detention, meaning without charge or trial. His lawyer, Saher Francis, again attempted to garner his release on Wednesday. After the sixth renewal of his Administrative Detention sentence, Farag is suffering from high blood pressure requiring medical treatment. Israeli forces will not allow it. And the court rejected the appeal for release based on its claim of “secret evidence. ” Palestinians and their lawyers are not historically allowed to see the evidence against them in the Israeli military court and prison system. The Israelis say that the journalist poses a “regional security threat” and therefore cannot be released. Young man denied medical treatment in Israeli prison, family appeals to MSF Palestine News Network 2/3/2007 Four years after his arrest the health of political prisoner Qasim Ghalib Ayad is worsening due to negligence on the part of the Israeli administration. The 22 year old is being refused medical treatment with two years left to go on his six year sentence, imposed for membership in Islamic Jihad. When Qasim Ayad was arrested, explains his father, Israeli forces shot him in several places including his head, side, back and foot. Despite the deterioration of his health, Israeli forces continued to use torture during interrogations in Jalameh Prison, situated in a military installation near Jenin. Lawyers petitioned the Israeli courts in order to procure medical treatment, but with little success. Palestinian lawyers visit prisoners in Israeli jails, describe conditions as "miserable" Ma’an News Agency 2/5/2007 Bethlehem - Lawyers from the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) have said that the conditions of the Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails are "miserable". In a statement, the PPS said that lawyers from their organisation were able to visit some Israeli jails and meet with many prisoners who complained that the conditions in the jails are worsening. The lawyers visited the Jalama, Negev and Gilboa prisons and detention centres. They met many of the prisoners who told them that they have not been allowed to see their families for a long time. Many of them also complained about the way they were treated during interrogation by the Israeli intelligence. Some of the prisoners claimed that they were fiercely tortured by the Israeli interrogators. Others said they were left outside in the cold weather for many long hours, the lawyers said. Prisoner Society: Palestinians in Israeli jails fear violence and isolation from families Palestine News Network 2/5/2007 Conditions for Palestinians in Israeli prisons run in discord with international humanitarian standards, the Palestinian Prisoner Society reported Monday. Several PPS lawyers sat down for interviews with Palestinians in three Israeli prisons this week and learned that the prison administration at large is applying increasingly harsh measures against political prisoners. In his first meeting in Jalameh Prison with anyone since his arrest 10 days ago, 21 year old Qalqilia resident Mohammad Atta Zahran reported to a PPS lawyer that he is being kept away from fellow prisoners. He is taken for interrogations that last from the morning until evening on a daily basis. Zahran said that during the interrogation he has been punched in the face and stomach, screamed at and insulted.  Articles
The Experience of Mohammad, 11-year-old in US Prison By Greg Moses, Electronic Intifada 2/13/2007 During the day Friday, the words of 11-year-old Mohammad Hazahza have filled him up and weighed him down. On Friday night, he pours the words back out, as if wanting to be lifted back up. "Mohammad is so protective of his mother," says Ralph Isenberg in a weary and reverent voice, recalling the day’s visits to Dallas reporters. "I watched as he got her chair and made her comfortable. And that’s what he did in jail. He protected her from forced labor. When she was ordered to clean the common area, he did that work for her. He really understands family and duty." For mother Juma, jail was a very difficult time. Because of her food allergies, she has come to rely on some foods. Tomatoes for example. Family supporter Riad Hamad of the Palestine Children’s Welfare Fund says Juma asked her jailers for tomatoes, but they never gave her any. Not one tomato in a hundred days. She lost 12 pounds. "I was shocked at what the jail has done to her physically," says Isenberg. "There were times when I thought she would pass out. They are both very traumatized. And all I can say is we’re cranking up real hard for the release of the rest of the Hazahza family." Like two other families of Palestinian heritage who were abducted by USA immigration authorities in early November, the Hazahza family had been split up. Juma and Mohammad were jailed at T. Don Hutto prison in Taylor, Texas, while father Radi was locked up at Haskell, Texas along with his four adult children. The mother and son recall a hard knock at the door and then a crash as men with guns filled their apartment in a pre-dawn raid on November 2. Mohammad describes the guns as AK-47s. If that’s not the model number, he was definitely looking down barrels of semi-automatic assault rifles. The family of seven were ordered out of the house. No time to change out of bed clothes. Psychosocial Causes for Palestinian Infighting By Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj, Palestine Chronicle 2/15/2007 The formation of those political, partisan and religious identities and the view that ultimate force is the model of heroism are the major cause of the status quo of Palestinian armed conflict which finds its fuel in many causes such as division. Many questions even after Mecca meeting remain … what has become of us? Our people have suffered for 59 years from displacement, homelessness, discrimination, impoverishment and expatriation, but they withstood that suffering and never killed each other; so what happened to us? The late Arafat rejected a plan to kill Abu Nidal, who had already killed a number of Palestinian leaders, and said, “If we start this series of killings, we will never stop.” So what happened? I have heard stories about new forms of cold-blooded and callous murder, and about Palestinians denigrating and holding as infidel other Palestinians or accusing them of heresy and bigotry as a prelude to ostracizing or murdering them. I have also heard numerous stories about children who have been horrified and traumatized and have fallen victims to nightmares, loss of appetite, insomnia and fear of street-walking. What is happening to us? How could things amount to assaulting homes, mosques and universities? Politics and political difference alone do not provide the answer. There are several additional social and psychological factors for what is befalling this society. A safe and stable environment is one that produces normal children, while the environment we have been living in since the occupation is one in which violence proliferates and becomes rampant. I: Torture After the 1967 Israeli occupation, a legitimate national armed resistance movement emerged involving multitudes of freedom fighters. I can recall that, while I was working at Al-Shifa hospital in the early seventies, we received several murdered and injured freedom fighters every day. Reacting to that resistance and in order to contain and destroy it, Israeli forces arrested tens of thousands of Palestinians and subjected them to systematic and various forms of torture as documented by research teams of both Palestinian and Israeli institutions acting in the area of defending human rights. The source of Gaza fighting By Daoud Kuttab, Palestine News Network 2/9/2007 Ever since the outbreak of internal Palestinian fighting, that resulted in the death and injury of hundreds, two different points of view have surfaced. One simply put this shameful period on the front steps of the Palestinians. Those who think this way insist that it is impossible to blame the Israelis for it. They say that Palestinians need inner reflection and to stop blaming others for their fate. On the other hand, while calling for an end to brother-killing-brother some insist that the infighting, particularly in Gaza, is a direct result of living inside the prison that the Israelis have created for Palestinians. Israeli journalist Amira Hass writes bluntly in the liberal Israeli daily Ha’aretz that the Israelis are responsible. “The experiment was a success: The Palestinians are killing each other. They are behaving as expected at the end of the extended experiment called ‘what happens when you imprison 1.3 million human beings in an enclosed space like battery hens’.” There is also a feeling that the 39 years of forced military occupation has desensitized Palestinians; one killed here, one university burnt there is all in a day’s acceptable news. Senior Hamas adviser and Government Spokesperson, Ghazi Hamad, wrote a strong article a few months ago in a Palestinian newspaper talking about the culture of violence that has become prevalent in Palestine. It is no wonder then that 20-year-old Hamas or Fateh fighters try to solve their problems using violence. A quick look at the daily attempts by international and regional powers to solve their problems militarily makes it difficult to blame the Palestinians for doing the same. For years, learned Palestinians have been warning that it is difficult to expect that a community’s violent rebellion against an outside occupier will not translate, sooner or later, into a legitimization of rebellion against one’s own people. When a youth starts questioning authority and in fact rebels against it (and is honored for it) it is very difficult to put a stop when this rebellion takes an inward look. When a young Palestinian youth is hailed as a hero for confronting a military occupier, it is hard to expect this hero to respect his teacher, parent or boss at work. Fatal Kiss By Uri Avnery, Gush Shalom 2/3/2007 IT SOUNDS like a promo for a second rate soap opera: a 21- year old woman appears with a much older celebrity, who grabs her, forces a kiss on her and pushes his tongue into her mouth. This scene has been occupying the attention of the Israeli public for months now, more than any other topic, except perhaps the allegation that the President of the State sexually assaulted several of his employees. The war and its consequences have been pushed aside. The interest stems, of course, from the identity of kisser and kissee: Haim Ramon was at the time Minister of Justice and a central figure in the government; the young woman, who was identified only as H., was a lieutenant in the office of the "military secretary" of the Prime Minister, an important military-political liaison point. The fatal encounter took place at the Prime Minister’s office, shortly before a cabinet meeting. This week, three judges - two female, one male - unanimously found Ramon guilty of an indecent act. It seems that the prosecution will not call for the maximum penalty - three years in prison - but the political career of Ramon has, so it seems, come to an end. This might have been nothing more than a juicy piece of gossip, except for one small detail, which has hardly been mentioned: the fateful kiss took place in the room adjacent to that where a cabinet meeting was due to start, and in which it was decided to start the war in Lebanon. A short time before that, the Chief-of-Staff, Dan Halutz, also found the time and energy for an un-warlike act: he called his broker and instructed him to sell his shares. Putting Words in Ahmadinejad’s Mouth By VIRGINIA TILLEY, CounterPunch 8/28/2006 Is Iran’s President Really a Jew-hating, Holocaust-denying Islamo-fascist who has threatened to "wipe Israel off the map"? In this frightening mess in the Middle East, let’s get one thing straight. Iran is not threatening Israel with destruction. Iran’s president has not threatened any action against Israel. Over and over, we hear that Iran is clearly "committed to annihilating Israel" because the "mad" or "reckless" or "hard-line" President Ahmadinejad has repeatedly threatened to destroy Israel But every supposed quote, every supposed instance of his doing so, is wrong. The most infamous quote, "Israel must be wiped off the map", is the most glaringly wrong. In his October 2005 speech, Mr. Ahmadinejad never used the word "map" or the term "wiped off". According to Farsi-language experts like Juan Cole and even right-wing services like MEMRI, what he actually said was "this regime that is occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time." What did he mean? In this speech to an annual anti-Zionist conference, Mr. Ahmadinejad was being prophetic, not threatening. He was citing Imam Khomeini, who said this line in the 1980s (a period when Israel was actually selling arms to Iran, so apparently it was not viewed as so ghastly then). Mr. Ahmadinejad had just reminded his audience that the Shah’s regime, the Soviet Union, and Saddam Hussein had all seemed enormously powerful and immovable, yet the first two had vanished almost beyond recall and the third now languished in prison. So, too, the "occupying regime" in Jerusalem would someday be gone. His message was, in essence, "This too shall pass." But what about his other "threats" against Israel? The blathersphere made great hay from his supposed comment later in the same speech, "There is no doubt: the new wave of assaults in Palestine will erase the stigma in [the] countenance of the Islamic world." "Stigma" was interpreted as "Israel" and "wave of assaults" was ominous. But what he actually said was, "I have no doubt that the new movement taking place in our dear Palestine is a wave of morality which is spanning the entire Islamic world and which will soon remove this stain of disgrace from the Islamic world." "Wave of morality" is not "wave of assaults." The preceding sentence had made clear that the "stain of disgrace" was the Muslim world’s failure to eliminate the "occupying regime." The Twilight Zone / By the book By Gideon Levy, Ha’aretz 2/5/2007 There’s no question about it - everything was done by the book. The gate was locked at 7 P.M. and 16,000 people, residents of the villages of Beit Furik and Beit Dajan, were imprisoned behind it until 6 A.M. That’s the procedure. A woman who wants to cross the checkpoint at night has to go on foot, to wait until a female soldier comes to do a body check, even if she is about to give birth; that, too, is procedure. And only cars with permits are allowed to enter Nablus, even if dying people are sitting inside them; that is also according to procedure. No soldier deviated from the procedure, everything was done by the book, the book of the occupation. That is how it happened that a cancer patient was delayed for about an hour and a half at the Hawara checkpoint, until he died in a taxi that was not allowed to enter Nablus, a taxi in which he was trying to get from the hospital to his home, his final request. That is also what happened when the young woman in labor was forced to stand in the cold and the rain for about half an hour and to make her way on foot for several hundred meters while in labor. That’s the procedure. The death of cancer patient Taysir Kaisi was inevitable, but why in such pain, waiting endlessly in a "non-permitted" taxi at the checkpoint? And the young woman from Beit Furik who was about to give birth, Roba Hanani, finally arrived at the hospital in Nablus and successfully gave birth there to her first child, but why with such torture? Why did they deserve it? What would we think if our loved ones were to die or suffer labor pains at a checkpoint separating the city and the village? Life and death are in the hands of the checkpoint: The story of the death of Taysir Kaisi and the birth of Raghad Hanani, between the Hawara checkpoint and the Beit Furik checkpoint, during an easing of restrictions at the checkpoints, less than an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv, is a story that should disturb our equanimity. 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 Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories 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. Occupation Prisoners News stories and reports about Palestinian prisoners from International Press Center, of the Palestinian National Authority’s State Information Service. Palestinian Centre 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.
The Treatment of Prisoners and Detainees: Home page
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