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<font face="verdana" size=2><b>"The hooding itself is not an
interrogation method. Its purpose is not to extract confessions from the
suspect, but rather to demoralise him and destroy his mental
balance"<br><br>
<br>
</b></font><font size=3>Israeli lessons for the US in Iraq<br>
by Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank<br>
Thursday 06 May 2004 6:48 PM GMT <br><br>
<br>
<b>The torturing of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghuraib prison by US
occupying forces has shocked the world - but for most Palestinians they
come as no surprise.<br><br>
</b></font><font size=2>In fact, tens of thousands of Palestinians who
have served time in Israeli prisons and detention centres see striking
similarities between Israeli treatment of Palestinian prisoners and
American treatment of Iraqi detainees.<br><br>
In some cases, the torture technique or form of mistreatment is almost
identical, some former Palestinian prisoners told
Aljazeera.net.<br><br>
Hisham Abd al-Razzaq is a Palestinian Authority minister in charge of
overseeing and catering for more than 7000 Palestinian prisoners in
Israel, many of them interned without charge or trial. <br><br>
He believes that what the Americans are doing to the Iraqis amounts to a
"carbon copy" of what the Israelis have been doing to the
Palestinians.<br><br>
"I am inclined to think that the Americans copied the Israeli
techniques. I can’t prove it in an objective manner, but the striking
similarities are overwhelming."<br><br>
Abd al-Razzaq, who himself experienced many forms of torture during his
lengthy imprisonment in an Israeli jail prior to the Oslo Accords in
1993, described physical and psychological torture as the "modus
operandi" of Israeli treatment of Palestinian detainees.<br><br>
<b>Torture techniques<br><br>
</b>He said that the so-called hooding technique - whereby the detainee's
head is covered with a rancid-smelling sack for weeks or months - was
always "the first order of business" in Israeli interrogation
centres.<br><br>
"The hooding itself is not an interrogation method. Its purpose is
not to extract confessions from the suspect, but rather to demoralise him
and destroy his mental balance."<br><br>
<br>
Abd al-Razzaq said that the filthy sack that he too was forced to wear
was made up of three or four layers to make sure that the suspect
"breathes the least possible amount of oxygen, enough to keep him or
her alive".<br><br>
In addition to the hooding, Israel, according to consistent reports by
international human rights groups as well as testimonies by Palestinian
detainees, continues to use harsh means of torture, both for extracting
confessions and as a punishment for opposing the Israeli
occupation.<br><br>
These include, inter alia, brutal beating, (taltul) or violent shaking,
forced-stripping, sleep deprivation (by playing extremely loud music
inside a detainee’s cell), cold baths in winter, actual or threatened
sexual abuse, as well as the notorious shabh technique whereby a suspect
is tied tightly tied to a small chair, with his hands tied to his back,
for weeks.<br><br>
<b>Similarity denied<br><br>
</b>Ofer Yisler, spokesman for the Israeli Prison Authority, vehemently
denies any "similarity between our treatment of the Palestinians and
what we have seen in Iraq".<br><br>
"There is no comparison whatsoever, what the Americans did in Iraq
is something entirely different."<br><br>
But Yisler refused to comment on accusations that the hooding technique,
the shabh, sleep deprivation and forced stripping were still being used
by Israel. Yisler ended the interview and refused to answer further
questions, insisting that written questions be submitted to his
office.<br><br>
Yisler’s reluctance to speak, however, seems to underscore Israel’s
desire to stay away from the international outcry over what happened in
Iraq.<br><br>
But Israeli-Arab Knesset member Talab al-Sanai says Israel is indirectly
but heavily involved in "the systematic mistreatment of Iraqi people
at the hands of the American occupation troops".<br><br>
<b>Israeli experts<br><br>
</b>"It is not secret at all, there are many Israeli experts on
torture in Iraq who are transferring to the Americans their accumulative
experience of thirty seven years of torturing and mistreating
Palestinians," al-Sanai told Aljazeera.net.<br><br>
He said that American officers joined Israeli army units in Jenin several
months ago for the purpose of learning Israeli methods and techniques of
repressing civilians, which the Americans, he said, later applied in
Iraq.<br><br>
"It took Israel 37 years to develop and perfect these barbaric
methods of repression and humiliation. Surprisingly, the Americans
surpassed and outmatched the Israelis in their savagery in less than two
years."<br><br>
Al-Sanai condemned American behaviour in Iraq as "manifestly
criminal", dismissing claims by the Bush administration that the
torture incidents were isolated.<br><br>
"Here in Israel, it is an ugly occupation, and Israel doesn’t make
any pretensions about it. But in Iraq, the United States is murdering,
humiliating, torturing and raping the Iraqis under the rubric of freedom
and democracy… <br><br>
"Perhaps this is what they really mean when they talk about
freedom and democracy … namely, liberating the Iraqis from their
dignity."<br><br>
</font><font size=3><b>Aljazeera<br>
By Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank<br><br>
</b>You can find this article at:<br>
<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C182D988-28E3-4D48-ADFC-F15D6509B0EC.htm" eudora="autourl">http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C182D988-28E3-4D48-ADFC-F15D6509B0EC.htm</a>
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