Report says Israelis interrogate Palestinian minors violently

Sergei Shargorodsky, Associated Press, Jerusalem

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“JERUSALEM — Israeli police and the Shin Bet security service routinely use violence while interrogating Palestinian minors, an Israeli human rights group said in a report released Monday.

The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, known as Betselem, also cited other abuses, such as overcrowded cells, a lack of proper medical attention and delays in investigating complaints of police brutality. Police said in response that they were investigating every complaint of brutality.

A spokeswoman acknowledged that prison conditions need to be improved. ‘Police treat complaints of brutality by officers with special seriousness. An investigation has been launched into every complaint submitted to police,’ said Elinoar Mazoz, who deals with public complaints. Her statement was attached to the Betselem report.

National police spokesman Adi Gonen said Monday he had nothing to add. The report focused on the treatment of Palestinians ages 12 to 18 from Israeli-annexed Arab east Jerusalem and nearby villages, who were held at police headquarters in downtown Jerusalem.

All were detained during the 30-month Palestinian uprising on suspicion of stone-throwing, torching cars and anti-Israeli violence. Betselem said its report was not based on a representative survey, but that the findings indicated a ‘widespread phenomenon that should be viewed seriously.’ The report includes affidavits from nine minors.

They were not identified by name, in keeping with Israeli law. A 12-year-old said he was placed inside a bag by interrogators. ‘They put the lights out, and I felt it being closed above my head. Then they began to beat me with a stick,’ he said.

A 16-year-old said an interrogator ‘beat me with the end of a plastic ruler on the arms, the back and all parts of the body. Then he grabbed a metal bar and hit me on the head. I was handcuffed all the time.’ Another 16-year-old said he was pushed against a hot-water tank and suffered burns when water spilled on his right leg.

The report also described the interrogation methods of the Shin Bet, which deals with those over 16. Betselem said the Shin Bet used a square punishment cell measuring about 4½ feet a side. It described it as a ‘dark, smelly and suffocating room where prisoners are often kept for days.’

Shin Bet interrogators also handcuff prisoners in distorted poses or place them in the so-called ‘grave,’ a small underground cell in which prisoners can only crouch, it said.”

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The children are quoted and unnamed, and the paper says why: Israeli law. The police response is printed with them. The findings are an Israeli organization’s.

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"Report says Israelis interrogate Palestinian minors violently," Houston Chronicle, 26 June 1990, p. 1. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1990-008. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1990-008

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