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<h1>ICC: Hold Israel Accountable for its Human Rights Violations</h1>
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<div>26 June 2014, occupied Ramallah - On the International Day to
Support Victims of Torture, Addameer calls on the United Nations
to assemble a fact-finding mission to investigate Israel’s gross
violations of the Convention against Torture and to hold it
accountable in the International Criminal Court.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The United Nations Convention against Torture (CAT) defines
the term torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering,
whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a
person.” Since Israel’s ratification of the CAT in 1991, 104
Palestinian political prisoners have died at the hands of the
Israeli occupation. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>The use of torture against Palestinian prisoners is
systematic, widespread and varies extensively, including:
shackling prisoners in stress positions, beating them, holding
them in isolation or solitary confinement, and sleep and sensory
deprivation. Children are not spared of the torture: in early
2014, 14-year old Rasheed Risheq was attacked by Israeli
occupation soldiers and police in front of a supermarket in the
Al-Wad neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem. About ten soldiers
jumped on him, chocked him to shackle his hands and legs, and
held him on the ground while they beat him on the head, punched
him in the face and kicked him in the legs and stomach. He was
then interrogated rigorously and at length, during which he was
strip-searched, held naked in isolation, subjected to severe
threats on his family, and denied food all in an attempt to
force him to confess and sign an affidavit in Hebrew, a language
he does not read or understand. Rishiq’s case is not unique:
three-fourths of children are subjected to physical violence
during their arrest. Israel’s practice of torture is
unequivocally in gross violation of international law, but also
a testament to the inhuman treatment and conditions that
Palestinians, including children, face at the hands of Israeli
authorities.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Despite Israel’s ratification of CAT, the state continues to
debate legislation that sanctions the torture of Palestinian
prisoners. Most recently, the Israeli Knesset is in the process
of amending the Prisoners Act to allow for the force-feeding of
hunger strikers. Force-feeding is deemed “never ethically
acceptable” and considered as a form of torture by the World
Medical Association. The blatant disregard for the basic
humanity of Palestinian prisoners is best illustrated by the
fact that this legislation was not only debated, but hastened to
a vote, in the midst of the longest Palestinian mass hunger
strike that reached 63 days, in protest of the policy of
administrative detention.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The widespread use of administrative detention is a form of
psychological torture. Administrative detention is an Israeli
policy which allows for the indefinite detention of Palestinians
without charge or the right to stand trial. They are held on
secret information which neither they nor their lawyers have
access to. Salem Badi, who has spent over 6,100 days under
administrative detention, testified to the psychological pain
caused by the policy: “Administrative detention is a nightmare
that keeps detainees and their families waiting to be shocked
by continuous renewals of the administrative detention orders.”
Badi, who participated in the most recent hunger strike, also
testified to the severe forms of the hunger strikers were
subjected to, including brutal physical attacks, solitary
confinement and threats of force-feeding. Hunger strikers have
testified in the past that the doctors tending to them dangled
feeding tubes in front of them to intimidate and coerce them to
break their strike. The policy against hunger strikers, which
includes both torture sanctioned by law and daily practice, is
used to try to limit the political gains of the hunger strikers.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Israeli law outlaws the use of torture, but a loophole allows
for the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) to consider an individual
as a “ticking-bomb” case in “situations of necessity” so they
can exert “moderate physical pressure” in order to obtain
information from them. This policy, which is in direct violation
of CAT is used extensively against Palestinian prisoners. Over
90% prisoners have stated that they were subjected to some form
of physical or psychological torture during interrogation or
detention. Arafat Jaradat, a young father of two was found dead
in his prison cell just days after he was arrested from his home
in Sa’eer, Hebron. He had several broken ribs, deep bruising on
his body and other injuries that confirmed his torture.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Jaradat is one of 73 Palestinian prisoners who has died of
direct torture in Israeli jails, and one of 23 who had died
since Israel ratified CAT. At least 27 prisoners have died from
medical negligence, including Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, who was
denied treatment in 2013. Fifty-four prisoners have been killed
during their arrest raids or during raids in the prison, such as
Ziad Joulani, 41 years and from occupied Jerusalem, who was
killed point-blank during the arrest in 2010 and Mohammad
Ashkar, who was killed by Israeli Special Forces, who shot at
the prisoners indiscriminately during a raid in Ktziot prison in
2007.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Israel’s use of torture is widespread, systematic and
legalized and the refusal to ratify the Rome Statue or join the
ICC is further evidence of their impunity towards international
human rights law and standards. The intent is clear: Palestinian
prisoners are not afforded the right to life according to
Israeli authorities. On International Day to Support Victims of
Torture, two weeks into the largest Israeli military operation
in the West Bank since the second intifada, the time is ripe to
hold Israel accountable for its flagrant violations of
international law and the dignity of the Palestinian prisoners.
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
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