Subscribe to Print Edition | Mon., November 19, 2007 Kislev 9, 5768 | | Israel Time: 09:46 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Print Edition
Diplomacy
Defense Arts & Leisure Real Estate Jewish World National Advertising
Easy Start Magazine Business Opinion Rosner's Domain Anglo File Week's End Books
del.icio.us
Digg It!  new
Last update - 04:00 12/10/2006
Rights group: Shin Bet denies vital treatment to Palestinians
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

The Shin Bet security service is systematically preventing Palestinians who need medical treatment unavailable in the territories from entering Israel, a new report by the nonprofit organization Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) charges.

According to the organization, in many cases, patients have been denied urgent, life-saving treatment.

The report says that the Shin Bet automatically refuses entry permits, and reconsiders its decisions only if legal action is begun.
Advertisement
In response, the Shin Bet said that it has to balance security considerations against human rights, and noted that terrorist groups have tried to take advantage of Palestinian patients with entry permits in order to carry out attacks inside Israel.

The report, a copy of which was given to Haaretz, claims that the Shin Bet has veto power over all requests by Palestinian patients seeking to enter Israel for medical purposes or to travel from the territories abroad. Many of the requests are turned down on the grounds that the individual is "forbidden entry." That is a classification for Palestinians whom the Shin Bet considers potential threats to national security.

However, it is rare for someone to be tagged as "forbidden entry" because of specific information about that individual. In most cases, the label is based on general profiles of potential terrorists.

The human rights group carried out an analysis of refused entry requests and concluded that the Shin Bet applies very general criteria in its decisions. According to the analysis, those between the ages of 16 and 35, and sometimes 18 and 40, are considered "dangerous." Single men and women, or those who are married but childless, are usually turned down. Anyone with a record of security offenses, even minor ones (i.e. former
prisoners), or with possible motives for revenge (a family member hurt by the Israel Defense Forces), is also turned down, as are students, because universities are described as "hotbeds of terrorism," and AIDS patients (the stigma that the disease carries in Palestinian society opens the patient to blackmail: attack in order to cleanse the family name).

The organization decribes the use of these profiles as collective punishment, and emphasizes that denying medical treatment to Palestinian patients violates their human rights. For some patients, no medical treatment is tantamount to a death sentence.

Even though responsibility for medical services in the territories were transferred to the Palestinian Authority under the Gaza and Jericho agreement of 1994, in practice, the PA cannot meet its population's medical needs, and therefore sends many patients to Israel and Arab countries for treatment.

According to PHR, international law and agreements to which Israel is party require it to provide for the medical needs of the population in the territories. Israel refuses to acknowledge any such legal obligation, but responds to some requests out of "humanitarian concerns." In those cases, Israel charges the Palestinians for the medical treatment.

The report's authors say that the Shin Bet refuses to invest the funds and manpower necessary for more detailed evaluations of Palestinian requests to enter Israel for medical purposes, and as a result, most are automatically turned down. The applicant, who receives a response to his request through the Civil Administration, is never told why the request was turned down, nor is there an easy method of appealing the decision. Many applicants are not even aware that there is a possibility of appealing.

Although hundreds of Palestinian applicants are turned down, the vast majority of those who appeal with the help of PHR are allowed entry into Israel. According to the organization, out of 138 requests it handled last year on behalf of patients who were denied entry permits, 116, or 84 percent, were ultimately approved.

However, whenever the group turns to the High Court of Justice, the state asks the court to treat the case as an exception and avoid making a precedent-setting ruling. And in cases where the state insists on its refusal to allow the petitioner to enter Israel, the court usually upholds this position, on the basis of intelligence that the petitioner is not allowed to see.

The report's authors recommend that the entire method of granting permits be reformed.

According to PHR, "the Shin Bet enjoys secure anonymity that gives it infinite control, which even the High Court has trouble limiting. Denying patients care constitutes torture." The group therefore suggests doing away with the Shin Bet's veto power over requests for entry permits, arguing that the decision in disputed cases should be placed in the hands of an authorized medical professional.

The report also accuses the Shin Bet of trying to exploit Palestinian patients' difficult situations in order to recruit family members as informers, by conditioning permits for medical treatment on a promise to supply information.

The Shin Bet responded that its sole goal is to limit terrorism, and that is the sole criterion for approving or refusing Palestinian requests for entry into Israel. It also maintained that its policies undergo legal scrutiny.
Bookmark to del.icio.us
MTV generation
MTV launches new channel in effort to draw Arab viewers.
Not settling for less
PA to U.S.: We demand a complete settlement freeze.
  1.   WHAT ROTTEN PEOPLE 03:15  |  Dutch 12/10/06
  2.   Palestinian vital treatment 03:39  |  Richard 12/10/06
  3.   I AM SICK TO DEATH OF THESE SOULLESS PEOPLE& AGENCIES 04:23  |  Dutch 12/10/06
  4.   give pals treatements in egypt and jordan 04:48  |  Joseph E . 12/10/06
  5.   what if... 06:04  |  vik 12/10/06
  6.   Hamas denies vital food and medicine 07:12  |  Jasmine Murphy 12/10/06
  7.   so much humanity, - DUTCH aka, Doris ??? 07:30  |  bare naked beauty 12/10/06
  8.   When is democracy democratic? 07:37  |  Brigitte Meier 12/10/06
  9.   sick people 08:01  |  Rose 12/10/06
  10.   Haaretz your are so naive... 09:23  |  free the moon 12/10/06
  11.   Those "Physicians" ,aren`t they the same experimenting on old 09:31  |  Absolute Sweden 12/10/06
  12.   MEDICAL TREATMENT & TERROR 09:32  |  Iskander 12/10/06
  13.   to brigite mayers 10:16  |  free the moon 12/10/06
  14.   #8 Mrs Meier 10:33  |  Itsik 12/10/06
  15.   what is said about this story 10:33  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 12/10/06
  16.   Brainless savages 10:34  |  Marilyn 12/10/06
  17.   Israeli pride 10:37  |  whizbang 12/10/06
  18.   #4 Joseph E What an excillent idea Joseph! 11:49  |  Maureen Ann 12/10/06
  19.   They show no humanity for their fellow men 12:17  |  John 12/10/06
  20.   Just to open the eyes 12:23  |  Anne 12/10/06
  21.   Sadly--NOT A SURPRISE. 13:01  |  Proud Pal Defender 12/10/06
  22.   DISGUSTING Pal lady patient who tried to blow up a cancer clinic! 13:09  |  PETER SM 12/10/06
  23.   The squalidity of remaining in control 13:09  |  sh 12/10/06
  24.   We don`t owe foreign enemies ANY services 13:40  |  Antonio Arab-hater 12/10/06
  25.   #15 Anne 13:40  |  Fletch 12/10/06
  26.   #5 Sick Vik 14:13  |  Baal 12/10/06
  27.   Dutch, 3, Is the life of Jews, yes, their very life is less of 14:14  |  Ilana 12/10/06
  28.   #20 Some uf us 14:15  |  T. A Sheppard 12/10/06
  29.   The logic of Occupation 14:31  |  Ben Gurion 12/10/06
  30.   Humanitarian help of Israel - to friendly nations and peaceful .. 14:48  |  Vittorio 12/10/06
  31.   Why did want to enter Israel -let them go to Mecca 15:00  |  Sal 12/10/06
  32.   #24 Your name says it all about you 15:08  |  T A Sheppard 12/10/06
  33.   Those to the Left and those to the Right!! 15:18  |  Yaakov Sullivan 12/10/06
  34.   # 18 Maureen Ann 15:24  |  Joseph E . 12/10/06
  35.   Difficult Situation 15:26  |  Bruriah Sarah 12/10/06
  36.   To Ilana 15:26  |  Anne 12/10/06
  37.   #30 Vittorio 15:33  |  T A Sheppard 12/10/06
  38.   Haaretz Sell Papers at any Cost! 15:40  |  Lenzo 12/10/06
  39.   Occupation responsibilities 15:51  |  Boycott 12/10/06
  40.   Palestinian hate comes back to bite them 16:10  |  Bimmer 12/10/06
  41.   Where there is a will there is a way! 16:11  |  Alicia 12/10/06
  42.   Re #8 16:15  |  JJ 12/10/06
  43.   Re #1, Dutch-Doris-Cadigan from Mass. USA 16:42  |  Vittorio 12/10/06
  44.   #30 Morally bankrupt both sides 16:48  |  T A Sheppard 12/10/06
  45.   #39 Alicia, Love your spirit! 16:50  |  T A Sheppard 12/10/06
  46.   #27 The International Human Rights Law 17:05  |  Dutch 12/10/06
  47.   #39 Alicia 17:06  |  Boycott 12/10/06
  48.   Re #37, #44 T.A.Sheppard 17:33  |  Vittorio 12/10/06
  49.   Marilyn for once I half agree with you 17:43  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 12/10/06
  50.   # 41 Alicia 17:43  |  Joseph E . 12/10/06
  51.   let`s get this in perspective 17:50  |  sol Kashberg 12/10/06
  52.   TA Sheppard 17:51  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 12/10/06
  53.   TA Sheppard 17:54  |  Jasmine Murphy 12/10/06
  54.   dutch 18:49  |  bev 12/10/06
  55.   #28 T A Sheppard from USA 18:54  |  Vittorio 12/10/06
  56.   If it is their human right ... 18:58  |  Richard 12/10/06
  57.   Marilyn 18:58  |  bev 12/10/06
  58.   To 47. Health care in Israel 18:58  |  Altalena 12/10/06
  59.   RE # 16 Marilyn from Australia "Brainless savages" 19:23  |  Vittorio 12/10/06
  60.   TO Brigitte Meier - When is democracy democratic? 19:30  |  Steve Beikirch 12/10/06
  61.   T.A.Shepphard #32 19:38  |  Ari ben Yisrael 12/10/06
  62.   Money......... 19:59  |  T A Sheppard 12/10/06
  63.   Question 20:17  |  T A Sheppard 12/10/06
  64.   TA Sheppard 20:19  |  bev 12/10/06
  65.   #40 Brimmer, The Morally Bankrupt People 20:28  |  Dutch 12/10/06
  66.   ari, you don`t like my replies please read #46.goo read there for 20:41  |  T A Sheppard 12/10/06
  67.   Lenzo 20:41  |  bev 12/10/06
  68.   Altalena in Reverse #58. Listen well, sinking ship 21:00  |  Yaakov Sullivan 12/10/06
  69.   Did Britain accept sick Germans during WWII? 21:11  |  David Teich 12/10/06
  70.   PAL lady suicide bomber crossed carrying her bomb in false leg 21:30  |  PETER SM 12/10/06
  71.   To 46. Dutch. The law 21:42  |  Altalena 12/10/06
  72.   Cruelty is never justified 21:54  |  Howard 12/10/06
  73.   No 58.East Jerusalem Hospitals 22:16  |  Lebanese admirer 12/10/06
  74.   #67 It IS shameful 23:35  |  T A Sheppard 12/10/06
  75.   Medical care for Palestinian`s 00:07  |  * BEN JABO 13/10/06
  76.   #3 Dutch Doris admits she`s sick 00:17  |  * BEN JABO 13/10/06
  77.   Yaakov Sullivan is Babbling AGAIN 00:19  |  * BEN JABO 13/10/06
  78.   Altalena.............relevant laws??? 00:22  |  T A Sheppard 13/10/06
  79.   Physicians for Human Rights -immoral selectivity 01:06  |  VICTIMSOFARABTERROR 13/10/06
  80.   #66 ISRAEL HAS GIVEN ITSELF RIGHTS IT DOESN`T NECESSARILY HAVE 01:28  |  Dut