Israel annexed east Jerusalem with its holy places in 1967

Israel's parliament has given initial approval to draft legislation making it harder to change Jerusalem's status in any peace deal with the Palestinians.

The proposed bill would require a two-thirds majority in the Knesset for any amendments to a law claiming all of the city as Israeli territory.

The new legislation still has to pass three more votes in parliament before it can become law.

Israel's annexation of east Jerusalem in 1967 has not been recognised abroad.

The author of the bill, Likud party member Gideon Saar, said the vote in the Knesset was a clear sign to the international community that there was consensus in Israel against concessions on Jerusalem.

The pre-emption comes ahead of new efforts to rekindle the peace process with the Palestinians in which the status of Jerusalem, also claimed by Palestinians as their capital, will be a major issue.

Settlers

Separately, Israeli media reported that the government plans to announce a freeze on settlement construction before the proposed US-sponsored conference in Annapolis, Maryland, this month.

Haaretz reported that a group of senior Israeli officials flew to Washington on Tuesday to discuss the components of this freeze with Bush administration officials.

The West Bank and East Jerusalem were among the territories captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war.

From the "Frog" to the "Banana" Position

Torturing Palestinian Detainees

By STEPHEN LENDMAN

B'Tselem is the conservative Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories with a well-deserved reputation for accuracy. A group of prominent academics, attorneys, journalists and Knesset members founded the organization in 1989 to "document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel" to convince government officials to respect human rights and comply with international law.

Its work covers a wide range of human rights issues that include detentions and torture. In May, 2007, it prepared a detailed 100 page report titled "Absolute Prohibition: The Torture and Ill-treatment of Palestinian Detainees" that's now available in print for those who request it. This article summarizes its findings that represent a joint effort by B'Tselem and HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual that was founded in 1988 to support Palestinian rights during the first intifada in the late 1980s.

Since the early 1990s, B'Tselem published more than ten reports on Israelis' use of torture and mistreatment of Palestinian detainees. This is the latest one in an effort to raise public awareness and help abolish these abhorrent practices. The findings are based on testimonies solicited from a small "unrepresentative" sample of 73 Palestinian West Bank residents who were arrested between July, 2005 and January, 2006, agreed to tell their stories, and who met predetermined criteria for the study.

They were chosen from the names of 4460 Palestinian detainees whose relatives contacted HaMoked for help to locate their whereabouts. HaMoked provides this service because Israel violates international law and its own military regulations by denying family members any information about who was detained or where they're being held. From its many years investigating Israeli torture, B'Tselem believes the information in this report accurately reflects the types and extent of Israeli abusive practices.

Torture, abuse or degrading treatment are abhorrent in any form for any reason, and long-standing international law forbids these practices under all circumstances. The four 1949 Geneva Conventions banned any form of "physical or mental coercion" and affirmed sick, wounded, war prisoners and civilians must be treated humanely. All four conventions have a common thread called Common Article Three that requires all non-combatants to be treated humanely at all times. There are no exceptions for any reasons, and violations are grave breaches of Geneva and other international law that constitute crimes of war and against humanity.

Nonetheless, the 1987 Landau Commission (headed by retired Israeli Supreme Court Chief Justice Moshe Landau) cited the "necessary defense" provision in the Penal Law to recommend using "psychological and moderate physical pressure," to obtain evidence for convictions in criminal proceedings. Its justification was that coercive interrogation tactics were necessary against "hostile terrorist activity" it defined to include not just threats or acts of violence but all activities related to Palestinian nationalism.

Later in September, 1999, Israel's High Court of Justice (HCJ) responded to the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel's petition (PCATI) and issued a landmark decision (reversing Landau recommendations) and barred the use of torture against detainees. It was, however, a hollow gesture as at the same time it ruled pressure and a measure of discomfort were legitimate interrogation side-effects but should not be used to break a detainee's spirit. It then added a giant loophole allowing interrogators to use physical force and avoid prosecutions in "ticking time bomb" cases even though international law allows no exceptions, and Israeli authorities could claim that excuse for anyone in custody.

Since its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank (the OPT) in 1967, Israel imprisoned over 650,000 Palestinians according to the Palestinian peace and justice group MIFTA. That's equivalent to about one-sixth of the OPT's population today. The security services currently hold around ten to twelve thousand Palestinian men, women and children in its prisons under deplorable conditions with many under administrative detention without charge. Based on earlier assessments by Hamoked, B'Tselem estimates as many as 85% of them are subjected to torture and mistreatment in custody even though most of them aren't accused of terrorism. These practices are routinely and systematically used against political activists, students accused of being pro-Islam, sheikhs and religious leaders, people in Islamic charitable organizations, relatives of wanted individuals or any man, woman or child Israel targets for any reason.

B'Tselem's May, 2007 report states that the Israeli Security Agency (ISA - formerly called the General Security Service or GSS) admits to using "exceptional" methods that include "physical pressure" of interrogation in "ticking bomb" cases that can be used as an excuse to abuse anyone. In addition, law enforcement officials openly admit harsh measures are approved retroactively so that Palestinian detainee rights can be freely violated without fear of recrimination. In other words, ISA interrogators know the rules - don't ask permission, use any methods you wish, and don't worry about the consequences after the fact. There won't be any, and it shows in what detainees told B'Tselem.

They reported being "softened up" for interrogation from the moment of their arrest to when ISA agents took over. Abuses at the outset included beatings, painful binding, swearing, humiliation and denial of basic needs. The ISA procedure then included seven key forms of abuse that violated the detainees' dignity and bodily integrity. They were inflicted to break their spirit, but international law calls it torture when it includes verified intent, severe pain or suffering, improper motive, and involvement of the state. All those conditions apply to Israeli abusive practices that included:

-- isolation that prohibited detainees from contact with family, an attorney or ICRC representatives; this exacerbated detainees' sense of powerlessness by creating a situation in which they're completely at the mercy of interrogators; it's also known to cause them serious psychological harm when continued for extended periods;

-- psychological pressure from solitary confinement in "putrid, stifling cells three to six square meters in size" with no windows or access to daylight and fresh air; a fixed overhead light on 24 hours a day; walls made of rough plaster making them uncomfortable or impossible to lean against; a water faucet on one wall and some cells with sinks; a usually dirty and damp mattress and "filthy putrid" blankets on the floor; nothing else in cells; reading and writing materials not allowed; in many cells, toilets were holes in the floor; detainees denied all human contact except for guards and interrogators.

-- physical conditions in solitary confinement cells are regulated in Criminal Procedure Regulations issued by Israel's Minister of Internal Security with the approval of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee; they don't apply to "security detainees," however, so cells have no bed, chairs and most often no sink; nothing else provided including use of a telephone and right to have visitors provide items; cells were too small to walk around in, and no daily outside exercise was allowed;

-- detainees weakened from lack of physical activity, sleep deprivation and inadequate food; they're denied basic needs like food and liquids, medicines or the right to relieve themselves; throughout long hours of interrogation, they're shackled to a chair unable to move hands or legs even minimally; they had nutritional deficiencies and food received was inadequate, cold, improperly cooked, flavorless and often repulsive in appearance; many detainees resisted eating as long as possible;

-- shackling in the "shabah" position that's the prolonged and painful binding of detainees' hands and feet to a standard-sized unupholstered, metal frame, rigid plastic chair fixed to the floor with no armrests; hands tightly bound behind the back in adjustable plastic handcuffs and connected to a ring at the back of the seat to stretch them uncomfortably below the backrest; legs bound to the chair's front legs; detainees were unable to get up throughout interrogation that on average lasted eight consecutive hours without a break and on the first day ran 12 hours; later in the interrogation period, sessions shortened to four or five hours;

-- interrogations only for a small portion of this time; for most if it, interrogators were out of the room; at those times air conditioning turned up to uncomfortably cold levels; most often only one meal served during a day's interrogation; very sparing toilet privileges allowed; nearly all detainees complained of severe back, neck, shoulder, arms and wrist pain during interrogation; numbness or loss of sensation in limbs also reported; the Israeli High Court of Justice (HCJ) ruled in 1999 that all "shabah" shackling procedures are unlawful since they violate rules for "reasonable and fair interrogation" and injure detainees' dignity and well-being; ISA interrogators ignore the ruling with impunity;

-- cursing and humiliating strip searches of detainees as well as shouting, spitting in the face and other related abusive practices; detainees forced to strip naked and submit to body searches while being yelled at and mocked;

-- intimidations made to include threats of physical torture (called "military interrogation"), arrest of family members and destruction of homes;

-- using informants ("asafirs") to get information that's not abusive as such but is a very questionable method following preparatory "softening up."

B'Tselem then discussed "special" interrogation methods that mostly involve physical violence:

-- sleep deprivation for 30 to 40 hours during which detainees left painfully shackled in interrogation rooms; guards frequently awakened detainees between midnight and 5AM; various type oppressive noises used at night to interfere with sleep;

-- use of "dry" beatings that included punching, kicking all parts of the body, striking with rifle butts and face slapping; detainees hit with clubs, helmets and other objects; heads slammed against a wall, floor or hard surface; beatings inflicted when detainees' hands were bound behind their back, and they were blindfolded; additional beatings during physical inspections with their hands cuffed;

-- painful binding with handcuffs or other devices tight enough to cut off blood flow circulation and cause swelling;

-- sharp twisting of the head forcefully and suddenly sideways or backwards;

-- forced "frog" crouching on tiptoes with cuffed hands behind the back accompanied by shoving or beating until detainees lost their balance and fell forward or backward; this method inflicts pain by increasing pressure on leg muscles and also hurts wrists after falling;

-- use of forced "banana" position that involves bending the back in a painful arch while the body is extended horizontally to the floor on a backless chair with arms and feet bound beneath it.

Prison killings also occur like the October 22 one at the notorious Ketziot Detention Center in the Negev desert where 2300 Palestinians are held under very harsh conditions. It happened at 2AM when prison guards began searching tents and strip-searching inmates in a deliberate middle of the night provocation. Prisoners resisted and about 550 members of the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) Metsada riot dispersal unit responded with excessive force by beating them with plastic clubs and rifle butts as well as firing rubber-coated bullets, live ammunition, tear gas and stun grenades that set tents ablaze and caused as many as 250 inmate injuries and at least nine serious ones. During the assault, Mohammed Al Ashqar was killed after being shot in the head.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) maintains that prisoner abuse, repressive tactics and killing Palestinians is official Israeli policy that's become even worse under current IPS director, Beni Kaniak. PCHR reports he instituted these punitive measures:

-- reductions in food and cleaning materials rations;

-- additional items prisoners forbidden to have;

-- confiscated prisoners' money and prevented none sent from families to reach them;

-- widespread use of solitary confinement;

-- periodic movement of prisoners to new facilities to prevent any sense of stability;

-- repeated unannounced harsh late night raids like the October 22 one at Ketziot.

These tactics and Palestinian detainee torture and abuse are condoned "under the auspices of the Israeli law enforcement system." B'Tselem reported since 2001, Israel's State Attorney's Office got over 500 complaints of these practices but investigated none of them. Overall, instances of detainee mistreatment are rarely looked into and even fewer ever result in indictments. Further, despite its 1999 ruling, Israel's High Court of Justice (HCJ) aids ISA interrogations by refusing to accept even one of hundreds of petitions brought before it for redress. HCJ also lets ISA conceal information from detainees that abusive orders were issued against them or that legal petitions were filed on their behalf. It further allows evidence obtained under torture to be used in criminal proceedings.

B'Tselem and HaMoked are committed to ending Israel's use of torture against Palestinian detainees. They cite the example of the US Army's September, 2006 Field Manual for Human Intelligence Collector Operations as a proper guide to conducting interrogations even though authorized physical and psychological brutality became official administration policy under George Bush post-9/11. Nonetheless, this manual covers 18 interrogation methods experience showed work under varying situations and conditions. They range from establishing trust between interrogator and detainee to the use of ruses and psychological manipulation. In all cases, they don't involve torture or other unlawful practices.

It's one thing to have rules and laws and another to abide by them. The US under George Bush condones and practices "the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency" according to once secret Department of Justice (DOJ) legal opinions. It's no different in Israel where the ISA systematically and routinely uses banned interrogation measures with impunity. B'Tselem and HaMoked want these practices ended and urge the Israeli government to halt them by enacting enforceable laws "strictly prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" in accordance with international law.

They further recommend every complaint of abuse and torture be investigated by an independent body, persons found to have broken the law to be prosecuted, and that "every detainee receives minimum humane conditions." Israel claims to be a civilized state. It's about time it acted like one.

The Chorus of Slander on Palestine

Our Lobby's Interest

By GREGORY HARMS

There is a mountain of literature and documentation regarding the basic history of the Palestine-Israel conflict, and where scholars may disagree one would need a magnifying glass to examine the dispute. However, the level of "controversy" surrounding the subject in the United States seems to remain steady, if not increase. What allows this, and therefore the conflict, to continue can be viewed as the function of three basic factors: lack of information (on the part of the population), silence (on the part of academics and the media), and intimidation (on the part of supporters of US-Israeli state power). While each of these three frames of reference is symptomatic in nature, they can nevertheless aid us in seeing more clearly why the conflict is so problematic in America. It must be emphasized that Palestine-Israel is not mystical, obscure, or even, one could argue, entirely unique. Quite the contrary, it's a conflict that can be easily understood -- and solved. So why all the contention when there's little to contest?

In cases such as these there oftentimes isn't too much of a problem. If we are talking about, say, the subject of China's involvement in Tibet, we look at the facts, assess those facts, and form some opinions about the situation. The room for opinion, however, is quite narrow because the facts, in essence, speak for themselves. In the US one would have difficulty finding two or more people heatedly arguing about China and Tibet. On the contrary, a solid consensus exists on the matter and with good reason. Moreover, concerts and music festivals are held in an effort to generate awareness on the subject. All the while, no one is accused of being "anti-Chinese"; no one is looked upon with suspicion as being "pro-Tibetan." These accusations would naturally be viewed as irrational, and the accuser as not being of sound mind. One never hears the retort, "We need to look at both sides of this issue!" This is because the China-Tibet issue doesn't have two sides, it has one: China occupies and has brutalized Tibet and its culture. The issue is understood with cool detachment and is seen as being a political matter; and the political matter has nothing to do with how we feel about the Chinese and the Tibetans. There's little to discuss, and as a result, one doesn't hear much discussion.

The above example is a best-case scenario for confronting a political conflict (if "conflict" is indeed the appropriate word here). As Americans we handle the subject pretty well. There is much we can learn from how it is we approach it, and there is also much we can learn from why it is we remain so composed on the matter. Understanding this is key. If we compiled a list of reasons for our prudence regarding China and Tibet, it might include the following points:

(1) the topic is physically, politically, and culturally remote;

(2) no US clients are involved;

(3) criticizing China is acceptable;

and (4) the Tibetan culture is romanticized and revered. As a result, honest discussion of the subject comes at no expense.

The public discourse can be conducted openly and freely, films can be made, rock concerts can be held, and so on.

While the example of China and Tibet isn't perfect, the principle obtains. The Palestine-Israel conflict, as mentioned, is clear, well-documented, and the general history is agreed upon by scholars and specialists representing points far and wide on the political spectrum. It is uncontroversial. Yet, controversy and debate abound. Our composure and prudence falter when we move the conversation to the Middle East and consider the US's involvement in the region. Why then the change in temperament when, for all intents and purposes, the issues are fairly similar and the history is undisputed? Plugging Israel and Palestine into our four points can reveal where American consideration of the conflict has gone awry.

1. The Palestine-Israel conflict, though remote in the above-mentioned aspects, touches home: News coverage of the subject is virtually uninterrupted; it involves Jews, which in turn invites introduction of the Holocaust -- a subject many Americans know and feel strongly about; and the Middle East in general is becoming increasingly topical by the day, especially after 9/11 and the current campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

2. Israel is an ally and client of the US. Washington provides it immense support in the form of cash, loan guarantees, military equipment, and diplomatic protection. As a rule of thumb, clients receive velvet treatment in the press. The human rights abuses of our "friends" fall beneath the radar while those of official enemies are emphasized and reiterated time and again. Saddam Hussein's crimes received serious attention after he'd fallen from grace. Saudi Arabia, whose human rights record is probably one of the worst in the region, garners thin attention in the media, and usually with respect to business or social "reforms" when it does. The reflexive agreement of the major news outlets with the overarching, big-picture interests of planners in Washington produces skewed media treatment, thus affecting our perceptions and opinions.

3. Criticizing Israel can evoke a range of negative responses. At the lighter end, one can be pigeonholed as a "liberal," though the meaning of the term in this context (or most others for that matter) is never clear. At the heavier end, charges of antisemitism are not uncommon. First, Israel being a close associate of the US plays a major hand in this. Second, Israel being a Jewish state is a factor; criticism of the Jewish state is (wrongly) construed by some as criticism of the Jewish people. However, any other experiment in this line of thinking nearly elicits laughter, e.g., criticism of Kim Jong Il suggests one's racist hatred of Koreans -- an argument difficult to take seriously. The vocabulary and syntax that have been adopted in talking and writing about the conflict is a third key determinant and is directly related to the first two. Unlike our China-Tibet example, the Palestine-Israel conflict is linguistically polarized: so-and-so is pro-Israeli, such-and-such book is pro-Palestinian, etc. As a result, "objectivity" and "bias" are terms that have been firmly integrated into the rhetoric. Unlike our example again, one is encouraged to step lightly when taking Israel to task for its occupation of the Palestinian territories. However, if the history of the conflict is clear and undisputed, there seems to be little room for polarity and the attendant charges of lack of "balance." That this kind of language predominates automatically suggests legerdemain and dismissal of the facts.

4. While in the West Bank during November and December 2005, I was out one evening talking to a group of Palestinian boys, most in their late teens and early twenties. I had met with them a couple of times prior and had become friends with all of them. Like most young men anywhere they were energetic, eager to discuss everything under the sun, and quite comical. Any given exchange, however, eventually turned to the conflict and life in the territories. During the evening's conversation we touched on external perceptions of the Palestinian people, especially American views on account of my citizenship. One of the boys started laughing and, for my amusement, bent over, pointed to his posterior, and announced, "See Gregory, no tail!" The rest of the group erupted into hysterics, myself included. When Palestinians are shown on the evening news, they are typically donning black hoods, toting machine guns, and chanting in the streets. Palestinians don't eat lunch, they don't play soccer, they don't hang out laundry, they don't get the flu, and they don't fall in love: they just scream and shoot guns and exhibit animalistic behavior. Again we can inquire as to the factors at work in influencing our assumptions: Knowledge of the Middle East in the US is dismal. Anti-Arab racism, largely a function of that ignorance, is profound in America. Israelis are closer in appearance and culture to white Europeans, remind us of the Holocaust and the sympathy it induces, and as a nation are allied with the US. The Palestinians belong to an ethnicity viewed with fear and contempt, are involved in a conflict with Jews, and, by default, receive negative news attention. American celebrities remain silent on Palestine. There are no concerts raising awareness. Hollywood gives it a wide birth. While certainly worthwhile, taking up the Tibetan cause offers the image of political consciousness at low stakes.

There then seem to be two basic procedures for doing politics and history. One can approach them as a detective or as a public relations agent. The detective follows the trail of facts and documents and allows them to tell their own story. The person doing PR, on the other hand, promotes (and protects) the reputation of a given entity, be it a person, business, country, etc. If we have cultivated an idealized picture of the country we live in, introduction of the actual, less enchanting historical record is less likely to find purchase with us; these unsavory features of our country's past and present disturb the idyllic construct and therefore our framework of thinking. Yet despite the unpleasant experience, it behooves us to take seriously what the "detective" has unearthed and brought into the light. Naturally, one doing this kind of work is, by virtue of the uncomfortable nature of his or her findings, going to be unpopular in some circles. Heretics must be burned after all. This phenomenon has become a serious problem in academia.

A number of professors have come under attack in recent years, most visibly Norman G. Finkelstein, who this summer was, along with colleague Mehrene Larudee, denied tenure at DePaul University in Chicago. Various writers such as former President Jimmy Carter, Joel Kovel, et al., have also felt the heat of this contrived debate. Intense disagreement over the Israel lobby and the amount of influence it does or does not wield in Washington continues to escalate. Yet, Finkelstein's work as a scholar is rather uncontroversial. Though the word controversy follows him around now like a shadow, one need only go through his findings and documentation to see the precise and careful nature of his work, along with the validity of what he's reporting. That his critics tend to use general and abstract characterizations of him -- rarely his work -- to make their condemnations is revealing. Ad hominem judgments are quick and easy; reading human rights reports and footnotes is less so.

The maelstrom surrounding Carter and his largely conservative and cautious Palestine Peace Not Apartheid is another such example. Kovel's Overcoming Zionism, while I cannot agree with him to the letter (i.e. his argument for a one-state solution), does offer an informative, eye-opening, and well-reasoned critique of Zionism and Israel's policies and behavior. Like those against Finkelstein, the criticisms leveled at Kovel are generic renderings bearing no resemblance to what appears in his book. The work of John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt on the Israel lobby, also something I don't agree with one hundred percent, is worth considering as it enhances legitimate debate. But, regardless of where there may be rational disagreement, open and unsuppressed dialogue about US-Israeli relations and Palestine is the singular path to broader understanding and popular active support for a just resolution benefiting both sides.

Nevertheless, the chorus of slander towards those attempting to widen the parameters of discourse on the Palestine-Israel conflict will most likely continue. The tactics work after all: Professors are denied tenure. Pressure is applied to publishers and distributors, in the case of Kovel, his (and my) publisher Pluto Press in London, and University of Michigan Press. (It should be noted that on Oct. 25, UMP decided to continue distributing Pluto's books in the US despite the uproar over Kovel's book; a perfect and rare example of defiance against this kind of intolerance.) Lectures are cancelled, and so on.

What allows these tactics such success is the accommodating atmosphere of confusion and fear in which they are employed. Americans must address these concerns -- their lack of knowledge, the dearth of good information, and the forces attempting to squelch critical analysis -- along the blurry line between one's susceptibility to one's circumstances and one's responsibility for his or her actions. That US involvement in the Middle East is distorted at best and ignored at worst by mainstream news outlets is a reflection of how economic and political power work fist in glove, and how the dominant intellectual culture falls in line; our confusion is proof. Likewise, Israel's supporters, including lobby groups and academic organizations, are allowed the influence they enjoy owing to their interests running parallel with Washington's global intrigues. Still and all, we the people cannot control the actions of others. We can, however, impose considerable pressure if we so choose: our lobby has a membership of roughly 300 million people. Providing this pressure is our burden should we find the prevailing circumstances unacceptable. We have a part to play. For the intellectual and academic class, the accountability brought to bear is even greater.