Torture by Israel, the U.S., and other countries is unacceptable
05 March 2003
Torture by Israel, the U.S., and other countries is unacceptable
On Wednesday, March 5, 2003 Partners for Peace came across two troubling documents pertaining to torture. The first is from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights regarding reported use of torture by Israel against Palestinians from the Taha family. For further information on their arrest, though before the press release reporting torture of the family, we include here a link to an article by Molly Moore in the Washington Postfrom Tuesday, March 4, 2003. The other document was an ugly defense of torture by Jack Wheeler in the op-ed section of the Washington Timesof March 5, 2003.
We urge supporters of Partners for Peace to read the relevant articles and information below and then take the suggested actions.
Press Release from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Palestinians, detained during the al-Boreij raid, have been subjected to torture and inhuman treatment
Ref: 31/2003
Date: 5 March 2003
Information available to PCHR suggests that the six Palestinians detained by Israeli occupying forces during the onslaught on al-Boreij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Monday, 3 March 2003, have been subjected to beating, torture and inhuman treatment by Israeli soldiers.
During the onslaught on al-Boreij refugee camp, Israeli soldiers detained Mohammed Saleh Taha, 64, his son: Ayman, 33; ‘Abdullah, 26; and ‘Abdul Rahman, 19, Sami Abu Humaisa, 33, and Ibrahim al-’Abeed, 22. According to information available to PCHR, Israeli forces have detained Mohammed Saleh Taha and his son Ayman, under strict escort, in Soroka Hospital in Beer al-Saba’. The two were injured during the Israeli onslaught on their area. The other detainees have been held in Erez detention center.
Lawyer Tamim Younis, authorized by PCHR to follow up the case of detention of these civilians, visited the six detainees in Soroka Hospital and Erez detention center on 3 March 2003. He asserted that there were signs of beating on the bodies of five of the detainees. The five had told him that they had been subjected to beating, insulting and inhuman treatment by the Israeli forces since they were detained.
During his meeting with the lawyer, Mohammed Saleh Taha said that he was injured in the head when Israeli forces destroyed the door of his house and that he didn’t gain consciousness until he was at the hospital. Israeli forces raided Taha’s house and destroyed it. Ayman Mohammed Taha, detained in Soroka Hospital told the lawyer that he was wounded by a live bullet in the right hand while he attempted to escape during the Israeli raid of his house. He told the lawyer, that Israeli soldiers let dogs attack him after he was wounded, which caused him additional serious injuries. He was also beaten and insulted by Israeli soldiers on the way to hospital, even through he was injured.
The other detainees, who have been held in Erez detention center, stated that they were subjected to beating and cruel and degrading treatment by the Israeli soldiers who had transferred them from al-Boreij refugee camp to Erez detention center. They all sustained bruises and injuries. They have not been offered appropriate medical care; they were only checked by the physician of the detention center.
PCHR is deeply concerned about health conditions of six Palestinian detainees as it fears that they are subjected to persistent torture and inhuman conditions of detention. PCHR calls upon the international community and concerned international organizations to immediately intervene to protect these detainees and ensure their immediate release as well as the release of other Palestinian civilians, who have been detained during arbitrary detaining campaigns by Israeli forces. These campaigns have been escalated throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories in recent months.
Go to Palestinian Centre for Human Rights press release
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Further details on the arrest of the Taha family are in the following article from the Washington Post’s Molly Moore — one of the few American journalists reporting regularly from the Gaza Strip.
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Published on the same day as the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights press release was a reprehensible op-ed in the Washington Times by Jack Wheeler. He writes that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who reportedly contributed at a high level to the massacre of September 11, should be subjected to torture by suffocation. He then adds that “After all the useful information has been extracted from his brain, KSM (Khalid Shaikh Mohammed) should be informed that he will now be killed after his body is smeared with pig fat, that his dead body will be handled by women, and all other actions taken that prevent a Muslim from entering heaven upon death so that he dies believing he will never get the heavenly wine and virgins, but will burn in Hell instead…Then, the word can be spread. All members of al Qaeda must know that once captured, their terrorist brethren will betray their comrades and that their fate will be ashes and Hell. The only way to win the war against terrorism is to terrorize the terrorists into giving up their evil jihad.”
Partners for Peace can think of no better way than the carrying out of Wheeler’s inflammatory article to jumpstart a religious war. The Washington Times certainly has the right to publish such vulgarity, but the argument laid out should be seen as self-defeating and as vile religious bigotry. We do not win by violating principles we hold dear. And we most certainly do not make our world a safer place by engaging in practices that will revolt people around the world and lead hundreds of millions of Muslims to conclude that the United States harbors great hatred for Islam.
We encourage those of you troubled by attempts to make torture a legitimate practice to write a letter to the editor of the Washington Times at letters@washingtontimes.com.
While we do not think that American political officials will put in place all of Wheeler’s ideas, it has been clear for weeks now that the United States is engaging in torture and turning over alleged terrorists to countries known to torture. The expectation in rendering them to these other countries is that they will be subjected to torture.
We urge telephone calls to your members of Congress (202-225-3121), the White House (202-456-1111), and State Department (202-647-5291). Callers to the State Department should be to the point as not much time is allowed for messages. The following three points can be raised in your calls:
1. The United States should condemn Israel’s practice of torture. Aid to Israel should be cut off, partly because of this practice. Torture by Israel or any other country is unacceptable.
2. The practice of the United States of “rendering” (turning over to other countries) detainees to countries where torture is used is unacceptable.
3. The United States should not engage in the practice of torture as it violates our principles and international law.
