Israel accused of torturing Palestinians

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BISMARCK TRIBUNE NATIONMAHMOUD ILLEAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS Israeli police push a man during a protest Oct. 1 outside a hospital in Jerusalem where Samir Arbeed, a Palestinian suspect in a deadly West Bank bombing, was being treated.

MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH AND The Public Committee Against Torture in JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press Israel says more than 1,200 complaints RAMALLAH, West Bank against the Shin Bet have been filed since - One of the men was hos2001, without a single case going to trial. pitalized with kidney failure and 11 broken ribs.

Another Only one criminal investigation has been was nearly unrecognizable to launched, over a 2017 case involving his wife when he was wheeled into a courtroom.

A third was alleged rape, and it is still open. stitched up after being atthrough. tacked by a security dog. plucked from several places The Then the three Palestinians Shin Bet launched and his eyes were deep inside manhunt after his head. He was not himself, were returned to their Israeli a massive the Aug. 23 bombing killed she said. interrogators.

They had been swept up in a sprawling man17-year-old Rina Shnerb. Such Francis shared photos of hunt launched after a roadside Hanatsheh she said were taken bombings have been rare in rebomb killed a 17-year-old Iscent years. 10 days after his interrogation.

They appeared to show large Authorities blamed the atraeli girl and wounded her father and brother as they hiked tack on the Popular Front for red bruises on his legs, feet down to a spring last August in the Liberation of Palestine, or and shoulders. the occupied West Bank.

Barghouti was bitten in PFIP, a leftist political party The attack raised fears of a that has an armed wing.

In his genitals by a security dog sophisticated militant cell that the following weeks, security when authorities raided his might strike again, and Israeli forces arrested dozens of its home near the West Bank city interrogators appear to have of Ramallah, Francis said. members - suspected militants as well as politicians and treated it as a ticking time"When he was brought back from the hospital for interrobomb scenario. student leaders.

Lawyers and family memThe Shin Bet identified gation, the interrogators hit bers of the three main suspects 44-year-old Samer Arbeed him on his wounds," she said. say they were tortured to the as the bombmaker. It said Rachel Stroumsa, the executive director of the Public Qassem Barghouti, 22, took point of being hospitalized.

Several other Palestinians part in the bombing and other Committee Against Torture swept up by Israel's Shin Bet in Israel, said the allegations attacks, and that Walid Hanatsheh, 51, was a senior cominternal security agency say are "very credible" and line they were threatened, beaten, mander in the group's armed up with other testimony her group has gathered. wing. forced into painful stress posiThe Shin Bet said the intertions and denied sleep. says Addameer several other suspects were subjected The allegations against Isrogations helped foil attacks planned for the "near future" rael are the most serious to to less severe forms of abuse and led authorities to weapons come to light in years, and that the human rights comcaches. munity widely views as torrights groups say they point to a loosening of constraints after The agency declined to adture.

It said a total of around 50 Palestinians were subjected the Israeli Supreme Court outdress specific allegations of torture, saying only that "into some form of torture in the lawed most forms of torture in a landmark 1999 ruling. terrogations are conducted in wake of the bombing.

George Abu Ghazaleh, 29, accordance with the law and The law allows interrogators to defend the use of force was arrested at his home on are aimed at protecting the when there is fear of an immiState of Israel and its citizens Nov. ll and taken away in his from terror attacks?" nent attack. Rights groups say pajamas and slippers.

He said that for weeks he was isolated interrogators routinely exploit In September, days after his in a filthy cell, beaten and arrest, Arbeed was taken to a the loophole, knowing they screamed at. hospital in critical condition. will face tew consequences, He said he was held for sevif any.

Sahar Francis, the head of the Palestinian Addameer eral hours at a time with his The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel says arms and legs cuffed to a chair rights group and a lawyer for more than 1,200 complaints the suspects, said Arbeed's in the so-called Shabach posiinterrogators beat him for 36 against the Shin Bet have tion -a practice outlawed by been filed since 2001, withhours, leaving him with kidney the Supreme Court. out a single case going to trial. failure and 11 broken ribs.

He He was released after 40 Only one criminal investigawas released from the hospital days without being charged. tion has been launched, over after three weeks and returned "This kind of experience a 2017 case involving alleged never leaves you," he said. He to Shin Bet custody.

The Shin Bet said at the rape, and it is still open. describes feeling distracted time that Arbeed "did not feel much of the time and says The allegations come at a he wakes up at night to the sensitive time following the well" during interrogation and release of President Donald was taken to a hospital, withslightest sound outside his out elaborating.

Israeli media Trump's Mideast initiative, window. which heavily favors Israel. said the Justice Ministry was The Palestinians have rejected investigating. The ministry the plan, and sporadic clashes did not respond to requests She's ready for for comment. have erupted across the West kindergarten. Bank in recent days.

Francis said Barghouti and Hanatsheh were also severely The Western-backed PalAre you?! estinian Authority, which has beaten. also been accused of torturHanatsheh's wife, Bayan, ing prisoners, has responded said she hardly recognized him when she saw him 60 to the plan by threatening to end its longtime security codays after his arrest.

The "He was brought into court ordination with Israel. torture allegations could add in a wheelchair," she said. "He to the pressure on it to follow looked very old, his beard was

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"Israel accused of torturing Palestinians," The Bismarck Tribune, 11 February 2020. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2020-011. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2020-011