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Partners for Peace

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PFP Request to Clinton and Albright

01 November 1999

PFP Request to Clinton and Albright

PARTNERS FOR PEACE REQUESTS THAT CLINTON AND ALBRIGHT SEEK THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF AMERICAN CITIZENS TORTURED IN ISRAEL

Partners for Peace is addressing letters to both President Clinton and Secretary of State Albright today. We are requesting that Secretary Albright must demand the immediate release of American citizens held on so-called security suspicions or charges, since she has agreed at the request of the Palestinian Authority to raise the issue of Palestinian political prisoners this week when she visits the area.

As President Clinton said in a letter to Partners for Peace dated January 12, 1999, “The fact that Israel is a close ally of the United States should not and does not affect our worldwide policy regarding the protection and well-being of American citizens.”

Again in a letter dated August 4, 1999, Clinton said, “…the annual State Department Human Rights Report has consistently documented Israeli human rights abuses.” And he continued, “I am hopeful that as we gein to see real movement on the peace process and as relations between Israelis and Palestinians improve, we will see a genuine change in Israel’s human rights practice.”

Meanwhile, at least five American citizens are being tortured for the purpose of extracting “confessions” in Hebrew, a language that they do not understand, and thereafter imprisoned without due process.

Anwar Mohamed, Yousif Marei and Bishar Saidi met with the Director of American Citizens Services and Crisis Management at the Department of State and members of his staff for 2 1/2 hours on Friday morning, August 27. Each man made a statement regarding his detainment and torture in Israel and presented his formal affidavit to the Department of State. Each of them also signed the privacy waiver allowing access by anyone to the information that the State Department has regarding his case. The following questions were raised:

1. Why is an Israeli citizen serving as an American Consul and visiting detained American citizens?

2. Will the State Department change its bureaucratic procedure of expecting a victim of torture to ask specifically for a note of protest to be sent, and instead take the initiative to use that diplomatic tool to protect US citizens?

3. Will the State Department persist in diplomatic protests and follow up such formalities with a public acknowledgment of the problem together with other concrete responses until the situation is remedied?

4. Will the State Department provide concrete evidence of a provision under the Wye Agreement that requires the invalidation of the US passport for Arab Americans and the use of a Palestinian passport?

5. Will the State Department require that every victim of detention be provided with the opportunity to sign a privacy waiver, including a review with the individual of the advantages of a general waiver?

6. Will the State Department provide the victims of torture with a legal opinion as to the avenues open to them for legal redress for their monetary losses and their pain and suffering?

The same questions were raised with the Aide to the President at the National Security Council Friday afternoon.

In a meeting at the State Department at ten o’clock Friday, August 27 the Director assured the three men that there would be a complete review of the present policies and procedures regarding American Citizens Services. Several specific requests were made by the three men and by the Partners for Peace representative and they include:

• Jonathan Friedland who identified himself as an American Consul and admitted that he is an Israeli citizen visited two of the three men in prison. Yousif Marei alleges that Mr. Friedland asked him if he was a member of Hamas. Such questions are hardly an appropriate action for an American Consul to take. During the meeting at the State Department Mr. Friedland was identified as a Consular Agent, and as such he does not have to be an American citizen. Mr. Friedland may well hold dual citizenship, but clearly it is inappropriate for an Israeli citizen to play any part in protection of the rights of American citizens in Israel.
• The State Department position is that only one of the three men asked that a diplomatic note of protest be lodged against Israel. Therefore, they claim, they were powerless. Partners for Peace contends that the method of protecting the human rights of the American citizen is the responsibility of the US government. When a US citizen alleges torture the Consul should be obliged to take the matter to the highest level. In these cases not only did the victims allege torture, but the Consul observed it. No individual should be expected to know what action should be taken on his behalf. (Example: Anwar Mohamed lost forty pounds in forty days. His condition was visible to “Consul Abdul Noor Zaibeck” who visited him. No protest was ever filed because he had not specifically requested it. Every consular officer should be required to ask all detainees if they want to make an official protest either about the conditions of their detention or about torture. Such a statement needs to be taken immediately and the protest lodged immediately in order to save the victim from further pain and suffering.
• When a protest is filed that should not be the end of the case. A protest was filed (at the urging of the Detroit Arab-American community and the pressure they put on The Hill) but in the Friday morning meeting none of the officers present knew whether there had ever been a reply. A “note of inquiry” was filed on behalf of Hashem Mufleh on September 1, 1998. At the end of February 1999 the Israeli government had not replied. When Partners for Peace suggested that this appeared to be an insult, the American Consul in Tel Aviv just said he was sure they would reply. In the meantime Hashem Mufleh, a seventeen-year-old, third generation American, had been sentenced by a military officer in a military court in a settlement on the West Bank. The court appearance did not provide any evidence and no witnesses. He was finally deported a few weeks ago (taken in his prison clothes to the airport and after a final interrogation session was placed on the plane). He had been imprisoned close to 11 months.
• The State Department agreed to provide documentation to explain the Israeli requirement (to which the American Consulate agreed) which basically invalidated Anwar Mohamed’s American passport and imposed on him the requirement that he obtain a Palestinian passport (which he did not want) before he could leave Israel. There is a difference of opinion between the Department of State, which states that the Wye Agreement requires this procedure, and the National Security Council, which denies that such an agreement is a part of Wye.
• The three men requested a legal opinion from the legal staff of the State Department regarding how they should proceed to initiate a suit against Israel for compensation for their monetary losses as a result of imprisonment, as well as compensation for pain and suffering. This request was accepted.

The use of torture invalidates any “confessions” extracted, and demonstrates that the violation of human rights, torture (made legal by the Israeli High Court) and lack of due process continue to be the official policy of the state of Israel.

The release of American and Palestinian political prisoners would be the most significant step to be taken in building confidence in the peace process.