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A report titled “No Defence: Soldier Violence against Palestinian Detainees”, by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), describing the ill treatment of shackled Palestinian detainees by Israeli soldiers, as a common widespread phenomenon. It identifies its scope and frequency as well as its moral, legal, and practical gravity and examines the manner in which the military system and key actors respond to it. The report opens with qouting Brig. Gen Yossi, former commander of the Paratroopers Brigade: “Unfortunately I want to admit something that we are not fully aware of. These cases are not all that exceptional in their quantity. It is simply that some of them remain shrouded in silence. Some are also committed in more sophisticated and more criminal ways… These cases, in which Palestinian detainees are beaten by soldiers and police officers, happen occasionally, to my great regret. Many of them are not the subject of any complaint and are cloaked in various kinds of conspiracies of silence. Sometimes we only learn of them years after the event, and usually only through anonymous statements from Breaking the Silence and others, through the media, or by other means.” Based on testimonies of Palestinians detainees abused by Israeli soldiers (90 cases that PCATI received in the period from June 2006 through October 2007), interviews with soldiers who participated in arrests during their military service; information provided by the Israeli army to the media; and comments by military and political figures in Israel, the report shows the variety of forms of abuse committed by Israeli soldiers against Palestinian detainees adults and minors, and points to the broader scope of these practices, its occurences during or after the arrest. Abusing Palestinian detainees by Israeli soldiers, as testimonies confirm, dates back over many decades, and there is an urgent need for attention to such phenomenon. The cases discussed here are no more than the tip of the iceberg, the report says, they reflect a much broader, more common, and ongoing phenomenon that has been particularly severe over the past eight years. Report Contents Ill Treatment at arrest: immediately following arrest; during transport of detainee; while the detainess is temporarily held in army base; protracted ill treatment; use of dogs; ill treatment of minors, and scope of the phenomenon. Illtreatment after arrest- The Israeli law: Ill treatment in military law; alternative offences; value and punishment; superior order and the duty to protect detainees; command responsibility; coercive field interrogations. Failure to enforce: Military investigatory bodies; problems of forms of investigations; prosecution, convictions and punishment- soldiers and commanders; punishment and failed deterrence; possible solutions (remove investigations from Army responsibility) Evading the issue: Military disregard and denial; Israeli authorities silence. Recommendations for change.
See also: Knesset's Consultation Law and Justice Committee to discuss PACTI's report [26 June 2008] Further information: ** Palestinian Child Prisoners 2007 [Report by Defence for Child International] ** OPT: Israeli military continues to torture Palestinian children [26 June 2008] ** DCI/PS calls on EU to raise child rights issues with Israel [17 June 2008] ** More reports on Children's Rights in Israel and Palestine [Defence for Child International/ Palestine section]
Since the beginning of the second intifada the number of arrests has been unprecedented. Thousands of Palestinians are arrested each year, operations take place throughout the year and are executed by a large number of combat units in the Israeli military.