I. Executive Summary

As of the beginning of June 2004, over 7000 Palestinians from the Occupied Palestinian Territories were being held as political prisoners by the Israeli army or police. This figure includes 370 Palestinian children (defined as those under the age of 18 in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) and 103 Palestinian women (including girls). Their conditions of detention are extremely poor, and in some cases, life-threatening. The majority of these detainees are being held in violation of the IV Geneva Convention in prisons outside of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In addition to the over 7000 political prisoners held by Israel, thousands of other Palestinians have been detained and released since the beginning of the current Intifada in September 2000.

Israel continues to practice torture and other forms of mistreatment against Palestinian detainees including severe beatings, being tied in painful and contorted positions for long periods of time, psychological abuse, long periods of solitary confinement, and pressure to collaborate with the occupying forces. These abuses are not restricted to Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip; two Palestinians with Israeli citizenship recently launched a hunger strike following 54 days of detention in inhuman conditions in an Israeli detention center.

Of particular concern are reports from Facility 1391, a secret detention center reportedly in the North of Israel where prisoners report being raped and sodomized by interrogators.

Inside Israeli prisons, Palestinian prisoners frequently report attacks by prison guards including the firing of tear gas inside prisoner’s cells, beatings, denial of food and medical treatment and long periods of solitary confinement. Women prisoners report that they have been stripped naked by prison guards and shackled spread-eagled to prison beds in solitary confinement.

A large number of Palestinian prisoners are in urgent need of medical treatment and yet receive little more than basic pain relievers. Prisoners report that provision of medical treatment is often used as another form of coercion against them by the prison authorities.

Increasing attention has been given towards Israel’s detention of Palestinian children. In 2002 the UN Committee On the Rights of the Child publicly raised the treatment of Palestinian child prisoners by Israel. Nevertheless, Israel continues to arrest and torture Palestinian children at an unprecedented rate.

Family visits to Palestinian prisoners have been almost impossible since the beginning of the Intifada. When these visits have occurred, family members are forced to undergo a series of humiliating and invasive checks prior to their admittance to the prison where their relative is being held. Furthermore, prisoners are prevented from communicating with their families by phone. Letters are permitted but cannot be sealed and can be read by the administration at any time.

II Distribution of Prisoners and Detention Conditions

There are approximately 7036 Palestinian political prisoners currently held by Israel. This figure includes 370 Palestinian children and 103 Palestinian women.

Approximately 700 of these prisoners are being held in administrative detention. This means they have not been charged with any offence and have not faced trial. Administrative detention orders can be given for up to a 6-month period, and are renewable at the expiration of this time. Some prisoners will be kept for years under administrative detention.

Seven hundred Palestinians in detention are suffering from severe medical problems for which Israel refuses to provide treatment. At least 110 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons since 1967 due to torture or medical negligence.

In many cases Israeli medical professionals are complicit in the practice of torture and mistreatment. On 20 February 2003, 15-year old Palestinian girl Riham Musa was shot three times at an Israeli checkpoint near Tulkarem. She was taken to an Israeli hospital where she was operated on and part of her large intestine removed. She had both her hands and legs shackled to a hospital bed for two weeks, prevented from seeing any visitors and guarded 24 hours a day by Israeli soldiers during this period. She was to spend 7 months in prison.

The notoriously poor sanitary conditions within Israeli prisons and denial of adequate medical treatment are also used to pressure detainees into collaboration. In a series of interviews with 60 ex-prisoners from the Bethlehem area in 1994, 90 percent of those interviewed claimed that the administration used the denial of medical treatment as a way of recruiting collaborators. One former child prisoner said that prisoners were so well aware that prison hospitals used the threat of withholding treatment to force detainees to collaborate that detainees were reluctant to seek medical treatment for fear of being suspected a collaborator.

There are 24 detention centers in which Palestinian political prisoners are held by Israel. This figures includes 14 prisons and military camps, five detention and holding centers and five interrogation centers. Nineteen of these facilities are located outside of the OPT, meaning that prisoners are illegally transferred outside of the occupied territory.

Prisoners who have been sentenced or who have received administrative detention orders are generally held in a prison. Those who are awaiting trial or interrogation are held in a detention center. Interrogation takes place in the detention center or in one of the five interrogation centers.

Some of these facilities are buildings, while others are merely tents erected within military camps, such as the Ketziot Military Prison Camp in the Negev desert which was re-opened in 2002. Old, threadbare tents have been set up within this detention camp, exposing detainees to extreme weather conditions. Zinc huts house rudimentary hygiene facilities. At Ofer Military Detention Camp, located south of Ramallah, oil soiled hangars formerly used for military vehicles serve as holding areas for hundreds of Palestinian detainees. Negev, Ofer and Megiddo are all infested with flies, parasites, rats and other vermin.

In addition to these 24 facitlities, a secret prison known as Facility 1391 is also used by Israel. Facility 1391 is renowned for particular severe methods of torture. The exact location of this prison is unknown; lawyers and the International Committee of the Red Cross have no access to this facility. A Lebanese prisoner, Mustafa Dirani, who was recently released from Israeli detention and spent 8 years in Facility 1391, is suing the Israeli state for two cases of sexual abuse while under interrogation there.

All detention centers are extremely overcrowded. Detainees often sleep on wooden planks covered by thin mattresses. Blankets distributed are insufficient to meet the needs of each detainee, and are often torn and filthy. Food is inadequate and not sufficient for the number of detainees. Access to toilets is restricted and prisoners are often forced to urinate in bottles inside their cells.

III. Arrest, Torture and Maltreatment

Upon arrest, detainees are usually tightly handcuffed with plastic cuffs and blindfolded. They are not informed of the reason for their arrest, nor are they told where they will be taken. Physical abuse and humiliation of the detainee by Israeli forces is common following arrest and during transfer to the interrogation or detention center.

Around 30 soldiers invaded my home at 2:30 a.m. on 17 August 2001. They searched the home and messed up our belongings, breaking the windows and confiscating our telephone agenda. They took me to the roof of the house for two hours and asked me about people they wanted. After that they took me to the street, blindfolded me and tied my hands with plastic ties behind my back …When we reached the jeep they pushed me inside and I hit my head on the roof. My brother Abed was inside the jeep. They forced us both to sit on the floor of the jeep … There were four soldiers who beat us while the jeep drove for about half an hour. They swore and insulted us throughout the journey and threatened to sexually assault us. After that we reached the Military Camp where they took us to the clinic. Then they put us in a yard where we were tied and blindfolded. We spent the whole night outside without food or drink.

Since April 2002 mass arbitrary detentions have become a common practice during curfew. Addameer estimates that over 15,000 Palestinians were detained in this manner during April 2002 alone. Israeli jeeps fitted with loudspeakers drive through Palestinian areas during curfews and call on male residents between a certain age (usually 15-60) to leave their houses and gather in a location for interrogation. Those detained may be kept for days, exposed to the elements, denied adequate food and drink or permission to go to the toilet, beaten and abused. The use of mass arrests has continued into 2004, including in the Gaza Strip.

“ We were all handcuffed and we sat on a pebbly ground. We weren’t given any food, and when we asked for water they poured it over us. The handcuffs were tight and when the blindfolds were taken off on our arrival I saw some people with hands black and swollen. We told the soldiers that they were cutting into us and they said there was no alternative. We started to shout and cry, begging them to ease the handuffs. It was very cold and some of us had T-shirts and no shoes. We weren’t allowed to go the toilet and had to relieve ourselves there. By 3:30am we were starting to shake and our teeth were chattering with cold.”

Once arrested, Palestinians are taken to a detention or holding center before undergoing interrogation. Based on numerous sworn affidavits, detainees have reported that they have been subjected to attempted murder and rape, and thrown down stairs while blindfolded, amongst many other forms of physical abuse and torture. Common methods include:

• Severe beating, punching and kicking of detainees.
• Being handcuffed for long periods of time in contorted positions. Examples include being cuffed to a small chair or to a pipe hanging from the ceiling.
• Exposure to very loud music, sounds of screaming.
• Sleep deprivation
• Denial of food, water, use of toilet.
• Psychological threats and pressure to collaborate.
• Hooded with a heavy, dirty sack sometimes covered in urine or faeces.
• Sexual abuse or threats of sexual abuse.
• Solitary confinement
• Denial of medical treatment for injuries received during arrest (such as bullet wounds)

IV. Torture Affidavits and Case Studies

1. Mohammed Yassin, 25 April 2004

They took me to the police station and told me to kneel on the floor facing the wall with my hands shackled above my head. Whenever I tried to rest my head against the wall they would prevent me from doing so. I was kept in this position for two hours. After two hours, a soldier brought two pieces of wood and started hitting me on my face and back for an hour and then after that they took me to the interrogation room. When I entered the officer kicked me with his foot on my right thigh and hit me on my face… He told me, “Do you want me to treat you like an animal or human being.” I told him, like a human being of course.” He sat on the chair and threatened to take his trousers off.

2. Mohammed Abu Rish, 25 April 2004.

When I entered the police station they led me to the second floor, my eyes were covered and I was handcuffed. Haim and another officer told me to kneel and arch my back. My hands were tied above my head and I was forced to face the wall. Each time I lost my balance they would hit my head on the wall or the door. I was kept like that for several hours and then taken to interrogation where one of the interrogators hit me with a cane on the right hand side of my neck. I felt unbalanced and he hit me another time after they asked a question and I didn’t answer. I felt that I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t see well... The officer took me to interrogation twice - each time 1 ½ hours. The same interrogator punched me frequently and threatened me with the cane that was placed on the desk. I felt as though I was going to faint the whole time I was being hit on the head…During the interrogation, the interrogator wrote a confession in Hebrew, and forced me to sign it without providing a translation. At the end of the confession he had written in Arabic that I had not been beaten. Following that, I was taken by jeep to Etzion. During the transfer, the soldier instructed me to raise my hands. When I dropped them I was beaten severely on his body. This continued the whole journey to Etzion.

3. Adel Jamil Al Hidmeh 8 November 2002

For the first five days of his interrogation, 'Adel was interrogated in 8-10 hour sessions, with a break during lunch time for no longer than half an hour, and in the mornings for approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Throughout his interrogation, 'Adel was prevented from sleeping, punched and slapped forcefully on the face, hands cuffed and placed in front of his body. He was forced to lie on the floor, placing his legs across the seat of a chair and through the back of the chair, with his legs shackled to the side of the seat back for several hours at a time. He was forced to squat ('gambaz') with his hands cuffed behind his back for several consecutive hours. He was also made to sit on a chair with his hands shackled and raised behind the back of the seat and placed on a table behind him for 8 hours. On other occasions, his interrogators shackled his arms just below his elbows and squeezed the cuffs until the circulation to his lower arms was cut off. On numerous occasions, 'Adel would pass out as a result of the strain to his body, only to be punched and slapped in the face while on the ground and at the same time being told by his interrogators they would remove the cuffs only when he would start talking about the accusations against him and work with his interrogators. At one point, 'Adel lost the ability to move his left eye.

For several days after, 'Adel's interrogators began to psychologically torture him, threatening that they would deport him, arrest his wife, seal and demolish his home, revoke his Jerusalem ID card, destroy his academic career at Hebrew University and that of his other Arab colleagues, then inform them that their lives had been destroyed because of him. Throughout his interrogation he was told that he would be placed in administrative detention unless he confessed to what they wanted. One of the interrogators threatened that he would personally be responsible for working towards the destruction of his life and the lives of his wife and children, personally ensuring that his reputation would be tarnished to the point that he would want to commit suicide. On another occasion, 'Adel was informed that his wife had been arrested and that she was being held in a prison amongst criminals. He was taken passed a room where his wife was being held in order for him to believe that she had been arrested. (His wife had been detained on two occasions during his interrogation, but was not held overnight.)

4. Anwar Mohammed June 2002.

I spent 40 days in hell. There are no words to describe what I went through. All kinds of torture was practiced on me, from food and sleep deprivation, beatings, inhuman confinement in a concrete box of 6-by-4-feet, isolated for 19 days with no windows and a hole in the floor as a toilet; with disgusting odors, spiders and roaches [crawling] over my face. This box is known as ‘The Coffin.’ Threats of death, deprivation of clean, warm clothing and my medicine (I have a chronic ear condition), psychological mistreatment and torture. The chair where I was handcuffed and chained with my head covered with a filthy bag, stretched into a contorted position for days at a time, caused my hands to swell as a balloon and they lost all sense of feeling. I lost 40 pounds. I was in agony. All of this was going on while the American consulate was located just a few blocks away from me, and our American flag was flying high in the sky on top of it!

V. Trial and Sentencing

Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip are tried under Israeli military law, in place since 1967. There are 1,500 military regulations governing the West Bank and over 1,400 governing the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military commander of each region issues military orders. These orders often remain unknown and only become apparent when they are implemented.

Under Israeli military regulations a Palestinian can be detained for up to 8 days without the Israeli military informing the detainee of the reason for his/her arrest and without being brought before a judge. Lawyers are prevented from seeing their clients during the first 2 days of arrest. The army is also not obliged to inform the detainee's family of their arrest or the location of their detention. Military Order 1500, issued on 5 April 2002, increased this period of time to 18 days. In August 2002, the time period was shortened to 12 days, and on 4 August 2003, Military Order 1531 returned the number of days to 8, and allowed for the detention of an individual for 2 days without access to a lawyer. Military Orders change frequently, and are issued by the military commander of the region to serve the objectives of its military occupation.

Palestinians appear before Israeli military courts which are presided over by judges and prosecutors appointed by the Israeli military. This is in contrast to Israeli citizens (including Israeli settlers living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip) who are tried under a different legal system (Israeli civil law).

VI. Lawyers' Visits to Central Prisons

Palestinian lawyers face many difficulties when they visit Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. There is no automatic right to visit a prisoner. Instead, visits must be coordinated with the prison administration and a list of prisoners’ names and power of attorney must be sent beforehand. The lawyer must then wait one or two days to receive a response.

Once arriving at the prison, Palestinian lawyers are not allowed to wait inside the prison building. They must submit the names of the prisoners they intend to visit and wait outside the prison for long hours. On 24 June 2004, Addameer's lawyer Mahmoud Hassan had to wait over three hours before being allowed to enter Shatta Prison. Before entering the prison, lawyers are subjected to a personal search, which is sometimes carried out in humiliating manner. They are forced to take off their shoes to be checked electronically.

Recently, lawyers have not been allowed to bring their briefcases with them into some of the prisons such as Askelan Prison. Visits are carried out in special rooms that are restrictive - the prisoner and the lawyer are separated by a physical barrier. They cannot communicate easily and directly but must use an internal telephone. A prison guard who understands Arabic is usually present in the room. The guard often takes notes, despite several decisions by the Israeli High Court stating that this procedure is illegal and that guards must stand at a distance where they can see the prisoner but cannot hear the conversation between the prisoner and the lawyer. However, if a lawyer informs a prison guard of this requirement, a fight usually erupts, and the guard argues that they have received orders from the prison administration to monitor the conversation, with the intention to restrict the prisoner's and lawyer's freedom to speak and argue freely.

Many protests have been submitted to the prison administration regarding these conditions. Recently, a petition was submitted to the Attorney General and the Israeli Prisons Authority regarding the presence and behaviour of prison guards in the visitation room. The officials responded that the guards believed that they were performing their duty but that they would have them stop such behaviour. On 24 June 2004, Addameer's lawyer, during a visit to a prisoner in Shatta, had to interrupt his conversation with his client many times to ask the guard to move away. The guard went away but then returned to listen to the conversation.

VII. Child Prisoners

Three hundred and seventy Palestinian children are currently detained by Israel and over 2500 have been arrested since the beginning of the Intifada in September 2000.

The youngest Palestinian detained in 2003-2004 was 12-year-old Rakan Ayad Nasrat from Jericho who spent several months in prison. He was arrested on 29 September 2003 at a checkpoint in Bethlehem and taken to an Israeli settlement where he was threatened with electric shocks while under interrogation and then placed for 12 days in solitary confinement in a small room measuring 2m by 2m. He was beaten and sexually assaulted. He tried to commit suicide four times including once when he was hospitalized for two days. In an affidavit to Defence for Children International/Palestine Section, Rakan stated:

“because there was no one I could talk to and I felt incredible frightened and scared I tried to commit suicide while being in solitary confinement. On October 12th I was moved to Ofer military prison camp. When I arrived the soldiers asked me to take off my clothes and I was standing in my underwear. Then one of the soldiers took off even my underwear and started to use the metal detector on my naked body. While he was doing that he used his other hand to touch my body concentrating mainly on my back and bottom. This continued for a while and I was crying being terrified that something would happen.”

Before and during interrogation, Palestinian children face extreme physical and psychological pressure to confess and are often pressured to provide information on the political activities of other Palestinians. Seventeen year old Murad Abu Judeh recounts the abuse to which he was subjected prior to his interrogation in December 2000:

[A masked soldier wearing civilian clothes] took me outside, handcuffed me and put a sack on my head. It was raining. A group of soldiers began punching me and they were telling each other to beat me; speaking in Arabic so that I could understand them. Following that two soldiers carried me and threw me inside a jeep. I fell on someone else in the jeep- another prisoner - and hurt him. The jeep began moving and one of the soldiers started beating us and swearing at us until we reached the Etzion Interrogation Center … Before I entered interrogation, one of the soldiers threatened that he would return back to my house and destroy it if I didn't confess.

Another 17-year old boy arrested for stone-throwing recounted to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization:

Three more people in masks came into the room. They blindfolded me, put a hood over my head…. They kicked and slapped me. They beat me with a plastic pipe and whatever they could get their hands on. I couldn’t see anything because I was blindfolded. I just felt the blows. That lasted ten to fifteen minutes… later they stood me on a chair and handcuffed me to a pipe that was fixed to the wall. They removed the chair from under me and left me hanging in the air, with my handcuffed hands holding onto the pipe and the weight of my body, hanging in the air, pulling my hands downwards. They left the room.

Given the climate of fear and exposure to physical mistreatment and intimidation, most children tend to confess relatively quickly, even if they are innocent. In many cases children sign confessions without a clear idea of what they contain, especially as the confessions are written in Hebrew, a language most Palestinian children do not understand. Indeed, there are many examples of children confessing to an offence in order to escape torture or other forms of maltreatment.

Another particularly disturbing element in this type of coercion, is the attempt to obtain information from children about other activists within their community or even to recruit children as collaborators with the occupying force in exchange for lighter sentences or early release. Child political prisoners are particularly vulnerable to such coercion. Although this aim of Israel’s detention of children is recognized within the occupied territories it is rarely discussed publicly. One child described his experience of torture in 1998 as linked with attempts to recruit him as a collaborator:

The interrogators would say, 'If you work with us we’ll give you money and let you go otherwise you’ll be given a very long sentence.' When I refused they tied me to a small chair with 15-cm legs (kindergarten chair) and tied my hands behind my back and my feet to the chair. They put a filthy sack (with no ventilation) on my head. I was placed in this position for 6-12 hours. Other times I was placed in solitary confinement.

Length of sentencing has also increased for Palestinian child detainees since the beginning of the Intifada. Some examples of sentences given in 2002 are as follows:

• A 17-year old boy convicted of throwing stones, sentenced to 20 months in prison plus 24 months if he should commit the offense again, and a US$1000 fine.
• A 14-year old boy convicted of throwing stones, sentenced to six and a half months in prison and a US$500 fine.
• A 16-year old boy convicted of making - not throwing- a Molotov cocktail sentenced to 53 months in prison plus an extra 18 months if he should do it again within the next 5 years.
• A 17-year old boy who threw stones and a Molotov cocktail sentenced to six years in prison.

VIII. Women Prisoners

103 Palestinian women are being held by Israeli authorities as of June 2004. The number has steadily increased over the years of the Intifada. This is the largest number of female detainees held by Israel in two-decades.

Eighteen of these women are mothers, two of them (Mirvat Amin and Manal Ghanem) gave birth inside while in detention and continue to live with their children inside the prison. There are eight girls inside Israeli jails in addition to a number of women who turned 18 while they were imprisoned.

Israeli prison guards regularly burst into the prisoners' rooms, cut the electricity, shoot tear gas, shut the windows and attack the prisoners. Papers, books and other belongings are confiscated. Female detainees are often placed for long periods in solitary confinement, in some cases for more than 30 days. They are regularly deprived of recreation time outside of their cells. Individual punishments such as restriction on family visits and imposition of monetary fines are also used.

On 13 September 2001, prison guards stormed the cells of the three girl prisoners in Ramle and demanded their belongings for no reason. They took all of the prisoners except adult female prisoner Amne Muna from the room. According to Amne's affidavit, she heard the other girls screaming as they were subject to severe beating. Amne herself was placed in an isolation cell and beaten so severely that the prison nurse described her situation as very dangerous and requiring immediate treatment. Her face was also sprayed with tear gas.

During raids on prisoners’ cells, female detainees are often stripped naked and their belongings destroyed.

On the morning of Saturday 25 October 2003, [Amne] Mounah was transferred from her cell at Ramleh Prison to an isolation cell within the same prison. After an hour of being in isolation, a number of prison guards came to her cell and told her to strip in order for them to search her. According to testimony given by Mounah, the prison guards gave her a choice, either she removed her clothes of her own free will, or they would bring a large force of guards to strip her. She refused to strip, particularly as there were male prison guards in the cell. The prison guard told her that they would make the male guards stand behind the door while she stripped, but she again refused.

The prison guards then left, but after an hour returned with a larger force of soldiers and prison guards, headed by “Asher”, and began to physically assault Mounah, also forcing her to strip and attacking her with tear gas in the isolation cell. She suffered forceful blows to the waist, back and hands. According to Mounah’s testimony, one of the guards, “Shabi”, grabbed her by the throat and began to strangle her, at the same time screaming at her “You are a terrorist!” She began to lose consciousness, and also began to bleed from her mouth. At that point, Mounah felt someone pull “Shabi” away from her.

Three hours later, she was transferred to another isolation cell and given a sedative. She received no other medical attention. The prison director visited her in the isolation cell, informing her that she was to remain in isolation for 7 days, charging her that she had attacked 3 prison guards… The isolation cell in which she is being held at Ramleh hospital does not have a toilet, and in order for her to use the toilet or to bathe she must be taken out of the isolation cell in shackles.

Many Palestinian prisoners, including women, are denied adequate medical treatment as punishment for protesting the conditions in which they are being held. Some examples of women prisoners who as of mid-2004 needed urgent medical attention included:

• `Amneh Muna: (27 years old): suffering from ulcer and backache.
• Souna ar-Ra'y: (34 years old): sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment and
• suffering from a severe case of psychological illness.
• Asma' Abu el-Hayja: (40 years old); an administrative detainee (held without trial or charge) who suffers from brain cancer.
• Abeer Amr: (22 years old) suffers from painful backache and has not received medication for the past two years.
• Manal Ghanem: (28 years old) suffers from Thalasimya
• Ilham Mughraby: has cancer.

Some Palestinian female prisoners have been arrested as a means of placing pressure on their husbands. Asma' Abu el-Hayja, for example, who is 40 years old and is suffering from brain cancer, is being held in an administrative detention in order to pressure her husband who is also under detention. Mrs. Ablaa’ Saadat was arrested on 21 January 2003 as she travelled as a Palestinian representative to the World Social Forum in Brazil. Saadat is the wife of the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). She was give four months administrative detention following her arrest. She was told by an interrogator that her arrest was merely a demonstration that ‘they’ can do whatever they want. She was also told that if her husband had ‘blood on his hands’ they would kill her children.

To protest against their living conditions and continued abuse from prison guards, Palestinian women political prisoners have regularly organized hunger strikes and demonstrations. Their main demands have been: improvement in their living conditions inside jails; adequate medical treatment; allowing books and newspapers; receiving letters from their families; allowing their families to bring clothes to the jails and the end to invasive body searches.

Appendix I: Selection of Case Studies

1. TYPE OF CASE: Abuse at time of arrest (Palestinian girl child)

Su’ad Ghazal, from Sebastia village, near Nablus in the northern West Bank

Arrested on December 13, 1998
Date of Birth: September 23, 1983
Age at time of Arrest: 15 years old
Current Age: 20 years
Sentenced on: January 21, 2001
Sentence and charge: Su'ad was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison, for stabbing an illegal Israeli settler.
Background: On the same day Su’ad was sentenced, the Jerusalem District Court sentenced 37 year old Nahum Korman, an illegal Israeli settler, to 6 months of community service for the brutal killing of 11 year old Palestinian child, Hilmi Shawasheh, in 1996.
Source: Based on affidavit given by Su’ad to Defence for Children International/Palestine Section
Available online at: http://www.dci-pal.org/prisonweb/suad2.html

On the morning of Sunday, 13 December 1998, I was arrested at the entrance of Tsvi Shemron settlement. When I tried to leave the place, two settlers in civilian clothes got out of the two cars, which cornered me there, assaulted me and took off my head-cover. They beat me all over my body with their hands and feet. They held me by the hands and pulled me for about 10 meters, until they placed me inside the settlement. There, a crowd of settlers and soldiers started to beat me with rifle butts and boots, as well as with their hands and feet, and all this was accompanied with swearing and spitting. This lasted for about 15 minutes through which I suffered in my joints and head, and from which I still suffer.

Later, they took me in a patrol jeep, where the soldiers put me in their midst, with my hands tied behind me and my eyes covered. When I was in the jeep, I heard people shouting and threatening that they would beat me, but others in the jeep prevented them. They took me to a place unknown to me because of my covered eyes. Then, they moved me to another car. I realized, at that point, that the people in this car were interrogators. Meanwhile, they kept shouting at me to make me feel intimidated, while asking me some questions. Later, I arrived at a place, which I recognized as Kedumim settlement. There, they took me to an interrogation room, which is a soldier's office. As I entered, and as a result of my previous beating, I vomited. Two women searched me thoroughly. In that office, they started interrogating me with my hands tied behind me and my eyes covered. I answered their questions. My handcuffs were so tight that I bled, so I asked the interrogators to stop interrogating me and to release my hands. They refused. So, I didn't answer their questions. Then one of them took the cover off my eyes, but I refused to answer questions until they would untie my hands. The marks of the handcuffs remained on my hands for more than four months. The interrogation lasted from 9:00 am till 7:00 pm. Meanwhile, they would move me from one room into another. The interrogators provoked me by swearing on Palestinian people and their leaders; Arafat, Yassin, and Habash.

I spent the first 17 days of my arrest in an isolation cell about 1 meter square. My isolation was spent without radio, nor TV, nor clothes. During the first week, in fact the first 10 days, I couldn't take a shower and only when I was moved to another room, was I able to do so. In the cell there was a toilet and I had to spend 23 hours in it. I didn't have any contact with anyone, and was completely isolated from the outside world. The first time my mother visited me was after more than one month of my arrest. In spite of the fact that my father tried more than once to visit me, he was able to so only after 7 months of my arrest.

2. TYPE OF CASE: Prison guards attack (adult Palestinian female prisoner)

Amneh Muna, affidavit describing September 13, 2001 attack by prison guards. Taken on September 16, 2001 by Attorney A. Pacheco in Ramle - Neve Tirtza prison.
Source: http://www.ppsmo.org/e-website/Reports-Lawyers/16-9-2001.htm

“At 9:30 p.m., I was in a separate isolation cell and I heard the other women screaming for me and crying for help that the wardens were about to beat them. I screamed back to them not to worry. I then heard that male wardens had entered their cells while they were handcuffed to the bed. I started to scream and shout. No one answered me. I was so scared for the women. But it’s my right to shout. I was all alone, and no was coming to help. I threw the stool at the door and it broke. After an hour, they removed the 2 criminal prisoners who were in the cell next door and left me alone in the section.

Then dozens of fully armed wardens from Ayalaon and wardens from Neve Tirtza – like Yehudit Bafley, the head of the section, Miri Weitzman, the Security officer, the head of the prison, Ofer Malka, Limor and others – opened the door. They tried to attack me with their plastic shields. I tried to protect myself. Next thing I knew, I was on the floor, protecting my head - three men were beating me on my head and on my body.

They sprayed gas on my face. I thought I was going to die. Miri Weitzman sprayed it. I couldn’t breathe and I was screaming. One of the policeman started stomping his boot on my hand and I was bleeding and begging him to stop. They put my face to the floor and continued to beat me. Then they grabbed me by my arms and legs and dragged me to the other room. My head was knocking o the floor. My hand was bleeding. Then Miri sprayed me again. I thought I was going to die.

Then they put me on the bed, they tied my hands and legs to the bed – all the while beating me – holding my head and neck in a choking position. I heard one officer say, “It’s not necessary to beat her so much – enough.” The plastic handcuffs were so tight and I was put in such a humiliating position. Yehudit Bafley saw my bleeding hand and she hit it again. I screamed in pain. The medic told the wardens that I was bleeding and she has to take care of me. Miri Weizman told the medic to make sure that she reports my injury as a result of the broken chair and to cover up that it was from their beating me.

The beatings and assault lasted for 20 minutes. After a ½ hour, the head of the prison and an officer came. I was crying and I told her my finger was broken and that I needed a doctor … The medic did not treat me. The officer tried to clean the blood. My finger was very swollen, blue and bleeding all night. They examined me while I was chained to the bed. From then on until today, three days, I haven’t been outside. I’ve been totally locked up in the cell. Last night was the first time they brought me clean clothes. … She said that I am in isolation for 7 days because according to her, I told the women prisoners not to stand during the counting even though I myself stood for all the counting…

I am afraid of what will happen next. I am scared for my life. After what they did to me, it is clear that they have a larger agenda against me. I tried for so long to cooperate and to improve the conditions. They have yet to respect us.”

3. TYPE OF CASE: Arbitrary detention (adult Palestinian male)
Source: Amnesty International report: “Israel and the Occupied Territories: Mass detention in cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions,” May 2002. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE150742002?open&of=ENG-ISR

Ahmar Muhammad 'Abd al-Karim, aged 25, arrested in Jenin refugee camp on 9 April 2002, told how all those sheltering in a house with him came out when they saw that houses were being bulldozed around them:

“There were 60 people in the same building, there were three women, a new-born baby, about seven children and five or so old men... the shelling began again and the house next door was being bulldozed. The people in the house decided to leave rather than face the bulldozer. When they left, they gave the sign of surrender. The IDF told them to sit on the ground and place their hands behind their back, their hands were bound with plastic ties. Men were separated from women and taken 10 by 10 and told to strip to their underwear. They were then told to parade around in a circle. We were not blindfolded. We then were marched for about 20 metres and then separated from one another. When we were marching I saw an injured woman who had just one leg. We asked the IDF to help her and get an ambulance. They refused and said not to fear. At that time, I heard shooting coming from the left which lasted about 10 minutes. During this period, the Israeli soldiers were using people as human shields. The soldiers would have us walk in front of them, sometimes with them resting their rifles on our shoulders. At times they were exchanging gunfire and shooting from people's shoulders. After about 10 minutes, we were blindfolded and then taken to a big area. I tried to take off my blindfold to see if friends were with me. I asked about the injured woman and was told that they left the woman there. We were then bound together in groups of five by the hands. We then went about 30 minutes... we were made to then sit on the ground for about 5 minutes. I heard a soldier say to put 20 into four columns. There was a tank in front and one behind, I heard it. It was now late at night. We were gathered in one area and sat in a row. I tried to get off my blindfold with my leg. I was worried I was going to be run over by a tank... they started to beat us on the body and chest with rifle butts... after beating we were seated with our head on our knees with our arms behind our back. We all gathered in a large area near Bir al- Sa'adeh forest, near Jenin outpost. We were all gathered there in our underwear. It was cold. When we asked for blankets, we were beaten. We were not given any water. We were there from about midnight to about 10am. We were then taken to Salem by a bus or something like a truck with chairs. We were taken off the bus one by one and asked for ID and names. They started gathering information then -- names and personal details. One soldier asked who knew Hebrew. I put my hand up. They took off the blindfold. I was given a gallon or so of water which was hot and told to give to the thirsty. There were about 30 or so men there. Because I knew Hebrew, I was asked to tell the soldiers that some people were injured. I was told by the soldiers that they would deal with it later. The water ran out before everyone had a drink. One soldier told me to tell the others that ''you fighters don't deserve to live -- you should die''. I told him that ''we came to you for surrender, we are ordinary people''. It was quite hot and some of them tried to lie on the ground but the soldiers told us to put our heads between our legs. There was a man about 68 years old who would not do it so the soldiers beat him with their rifle butts and their boots. We stayed in this squatting position from about 10am until nighttime. We did not have a break. Only when I was pouring water was I allowed to be in a different position. We were at Salem from Tuesday night until Wednesday night. There was one man with us who had diabetes but there was no medical help provided during this time. I was released at a gas station. I was still blindfolded but with my hands cuffed in the front. When I left the bus I was told not to enter back into Jenin or the camp.

4. TYPE OF CASE: Administrative detention (adult Palestinian male)

Daoud Dirawi, from the Bethlehem area village of Nu’am. Daoud is a child rights lawyer and coordinator of the Juvenile Justice Program of Defence for Children International/Palestine Section.

Date of birth: August 23, 1975
Date of arrest: February 21, 2003
Date of release: January 29, 2004, as part of Hizbullah – Israel prisoner exchange
Daoud was never charged or tried. He was held for almost a year under an administrative detention order. Daoud’s first 6 month order was due to expire in August 2003, but was renewed for another six months.

Testimony below is compilation of two documents: Daoud’s affidavit provided to the Defence for Children International/Palestine Section (http://www.dci-pal.org/free/affidavits.html) attorney and a piece Daoud wrote while in prison (http://www.dci-pal.org/free/diaries.html)

I was born on August 23, 1974 in a small village east of Bethlehem. The village is called Nu’man, after the small white flower that grows throughout Palestine in springtime.

On 10 August 2001, as I was returning from a vacation in Jordan with my family, I was arrested by the Israeli authorities and taken to Askalan detention centre. In the two months that I was held there for interrogation, I was repeatedly forced into poses of positional torture, threatened with death and deprived of sleep. One day, as a result of the abuses, I fell very heavily, seriously injuring my spine. I was taken to Al-Afula hospital and then relocated to Magiddo detention centre nearby where, without trial or specific charges, I was given a six-month administrative detention order. Memories of my time in prison continue to haunt me to this day. But the scars are not only in my mind, the pain in my back is an ever-present reminder of the maltreatment I experienced and doctors tell me I will suffer from the pain for the rest of my life.

I was released from Magiddo prison in May 2002 when my administrative detention order expired, and I began working in defence of children's rights. On Friday 21 February 2003, I was in Jerusalem staying at my mother-in-law’s home. At 7:30pm I went to buy some medicine for my daughter, Mira, who is two years old. The Border Guards stopped me by Bab al-Zafira and told me that I had entered Jerusalem without permission. They took me to al-Qishle police station at Hebron Gate. On the way to the police station, one of the border guards started verbally abusing me.

When I got to the police station, I was put under 24-hour arrest. At this point I showed them my "family reunification" documents. The police then told me that they had cancelled my arrest order, but that the secret police had decided to arrest me for 12 days. During this time, I also told the police captain how the border guards had treated me and he talked to them officially and stopped them from abusing me.

After this, the border guards took me to the jeep. My legs and hands were tied. They took me to the tunnel checkpoint, southwest of Jerusalem. In the jeep were a driver and two border guards, one called Eyal. The soldier beside the driver continued to assault me verbally. When we reached the tunnel checkpoint, he told the soldiers at the checkpoint that I was a major terrorist who had been arrested in Jerusalem. After that one of the soldiers came from the checkpoint, he was around 40 years old and he hit me on my head. Then the jeep to take me to Atziun detentioin center arrived and they took off my handcuffs because the police wanted them back.

There was one soldier called Strovosky and he pulled me hard out of the jeep and I fell on the ground. He then brought a rope and tied my hands behind my back so tightly it was very painful. Then he pushed me into a pool of water and I fell on my face and he brought a piece of cloth and blindfolded me. I could still see a little bit from under the blindfold. Then the soldiers hit me with their fists and kicked me and one of them poured cold water on me. After 20 minutes, one of the border guards came and kicked me in the stomach and back. Then they carried me and threw me onto the floor of the jeep. Strovosky came and laid me on my back with my hands underneath me. Then he put his feet on my face and the others put their feet on my abdomen. After about 2 km, Strovosky told me in English to hold tight as he wanted to open the door and I might fall. He was laughing. Then he opened the door and I pushed myself to the back so that I wouldn't fall.

After we reached Atziun, I was left outside for about an hour. Then they took me for a medical check in a big car. During the check I was soaking wet because of the rain. My blood pressure was 140/100. They mentioned in the report that I was suffering from a pain in my back. After that they took me to the high car with my hands tied and my blindfold on. I tried to climb into the car, but it was too high. The soldiers pushed me hard and my face struck the corner of the seat. My jaw was dislocated. Then they took me back to the clinic and I stayed there for an hour until they relocated my jaw. When I was taken to the prison compound in Atziun prison, I was supposed to take medicine, but they didn't give me any.

My hands were tied and I was blindfolded from 1.30am to 10.30pm. They untied me twice in order to go to the bathroom and to eat two cucumbers. During this period I was kept in an outside cell. It was raining hard and the cell was not covered. When they changed the soldiers, a soldier called Ashraf took me inside without the captain knowing. He told me that this was the procedure for every new inmate. When the captain came, his name was Mike, I was blindfolded and he put me back into the outside cell and my face struck one of the bars. He insulted me badly, particularly once he knew I was a lawyer.

After that he put me in a cell with 21 other detainees. It was about 5m x 3m. There were mattresses on the ground, and each one was shared by two prisoners. The ground was sopping wet and there weren't enough blankets. The food provided would have fed two people, but it had to suffice for 21. We were treated very badly. One of the orders was that when they opened the window, the detainee must turn to the wall. If he didn't they would take him to the outside cell while he was tied up and blindfolded and beat him for around four hours. I went onto hunger strike as a protest about the situation and the men in two other rooms also went on hunger strike.

I was transported from Atziun to Ofer with 8 other prisoners. Our hands were tied and we were blindfolded and humiliated and insulted by the soldiers. En route, the soldiers had a camera, and they aimed the guns at our heads while another one photographed us.

Today, my village is facing a crisis; it lies in the path of Israel's separation wall. As construction of the wall continues, Nu'man will become completely isolated from surrounding areas and resident of the village will have no option but to leave if they are to make any livelihood.

5. TYPE OF CASE: Severe abuse (adult Palestinian male)

Ghassan Jarrar, aged 42, director of sales in a commercial company and a former administrative detainee, was arrested at his house in Ramallah at 11am on 4 April 2002.

Source: Amnesty International report: “Israel and the Occupied Territories: Mass detention in cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions,” May 2002. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE150742002?open&of=ENG-ISR

“At around 12 midnight they tied my hands and blindfolded me. I heard soldiers ask: ''What's his status?'' and the answer, ''There is blood on his hands''. One of them beat me on my left leg with a club. I felt as though my leg had broken and I started screaming and he began to beat me heavily with the club. After that the soldier left. After approximately 10 minutes, they began to hit me again. They repeated this around seven or eight times. Then one soldier arrived and began to strangle me with an old sheet while the other soldiers kicked me all over my body especially in the chest and the kidney area. They did this four or five times, and one time I passed out. When they hit me on the head I gained consciousness again. At one point another soldier came... this soldier began to beat me hysterically and loaded a gun he was carrying and pointed it at my head. One of the soldiers yelled, ''Don't do it'' and dragged him away by force. Then the soldier hit me on the head with the gun. He repeated this sequence several times. I was kept in this situation until approximately 8.15am... [I heard the soldiers discussing killing me] At this moment a bus arrived... The soldiers had to carry me so that I could get into the bus. The bus took me to Ofer detention camp next to Beitunia. ...”

6. TYPE OF CASE: Conditions of detention (adult Palestinian male)

Source: Amnesty International, Medical Concern/Detention Without Charge, AI INDEX: MDE 15/030/2003 17 March 2003

Dr 'Abd al-Fatah Labadeh who was arrested by the Israeli army on 11 March 2003 and detained without charge, described the conditions in Huwwara as follows:

“There are about nine cells in the prison. The one I was placed in measured approximately 3 m by 3 m, had no lights, no toilet and contained six other men. We had small, thin mattresses which were wet as the cell was very damp. There was no heating, and the cell was very cold. There were insufficient blankets to keep us all warm. The only form of daylight was through a window which measured no more than 50 cm by 50 cm. Whilst I was there, we were taken out of the cell three times, for about 10 or 15 minutes each. We were forced to urinate into bottles as there was no toilet, and the only source of water was a small bottle which was filled at meal times . . . The sanitary conditions were very poor. We were unable to clean the room, there were no drinking glasses and no water to wash with. Most of the men had stomach problems such as constipation, stomach cramps and stomach acid.”

Appendix II:

Number of Detainees and Prisoners in Israeli Prisons, Detention and Interrogation Centers (figures from Addameer accurate as of June 2004)

Israeli prisons, detention and interrogation centers	Number of Palestinian detainees	Remarks
Ofer Military Camp	780	--includes 150-170 administrative detainees --tents and hangars --under military administration
Ketziot (Ansar 3) Negev Desert	1200	-Includes 500 administrative detainees -tents -military administration
Megiddo	1175	- no administrative detainees (transferred to Ketziot) -tents and cells -military administration
Shatta	408	-Israeli prison authorities
Nafha	840	-Israeli prison authorities
Ha’sharon	70	- Male children under 16 in addition to other prisoners
Ayalon	87	-------------
Gilboa	650	--------------
Telmond	50	-Female detainees -Israeli prisons authorities
Bir Al Sabe’	259
Hadarim	360	-Israeli prisons authorities
Kfar Yuna	15	-Israeli prisons authorities
Neve Tertza	45	-Israeli prisons authorities -Female detainees
‘Askelan	400	-Israeli prisons authorities
Ramle Prison	180
Ramle Hospital	19	-Israeli prisons authorities
Qaddumim Detention Center	41-45	-collection and dispatching center, including a police station -military administration -lot of movement
Huwarra Interrogation Center	52	Numbers constantly fluctuate Detainees from North West Bank area are held in (Dotan, Salem, Qadummim, Huwwara)
Etzion Detention Center	57	Numbers constantly fluctuate
Erez Detention Center	24	Numbers constantly fluctuate. Detainees from Gaza Strip.
Benyamin Detention Center	70	Numbers constantly fluctuate
Salem Detention Center	50
Muscobiyeh Interrogation Center ‘Askelan Interrogation Center Petakh Tikva Interrogation Center Al Jalameh Interrogation Center	200	Numbers continuously fluctuate in interrogation centers