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Last update - 05:12 22/06/2008
Report: Soldiers routinely abuse Palestinian prisoners
By Yuval Azoulay
Tags: torture, Palestinians, Israel 

A report by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) to be released today claims that Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers routinely abuse Palestinian detainees and the army and law enforcement ignores the abuse.

The report contains 90 testimonies by Palestinians who were allegedly abused by IDF soldiers after being arrested during and after sweeps for wanted men between June 2006 and October 2007.

Many reports state that the alleged abuse occurred while the Palestinians were bound and did not constitute a risk to the soldiers.
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The report, compiled by attorneys Noam Hofstetter, Eliahu Abram and Dr. Yuval Ginbar, states that the alleged abuse occurs in vehicles transporting the detainees to various detention centers and at the centers.

"These acts of abuse do not exclude minor detainees, who are under special protection by Israeli and international law. The soldiers do not treat the minors with care and often, as various reports show, they take advantage of their weakness."

In addition to accusing the IDF of ignoring the alleged abuses, the report says law enforcement infrequently investigates or indicts those accused of abuse.

The report also accuses the Defense Ministry, the State Comptroller's Office and the Knesset of ignoring the situation almost completely.

PCATI also notes that the IDF has no regulations governing the treatment of detainees after their arrest, and until they are delivered to the authorities for detention and questioning.

The report says that the IDF has extensively used dogs in ongoing operations in the West Bank since 2000, and that the use of dogs is intended to frighten and humiliate prisoners because a dog is considered an unclean animal in Islam.

Abdallah Nabulsi of Nablus said that he was arrested in May 2007, bound, blindfolded and placed lying down in the back of a truck.

"They put a large dog on my back. I screamed to get the dog away from me but the soldiers laughed and mocked me," he said.

"The importance of proper treatment of prisoners and detainees is brought into focus this week in particular, with the release of Israeli prisoners on the agenda," PCATI head Dr. Ishai Menuhin said over the weekend.

"We are witnesses to an inhuman attitude on the part of soldiers to prisoners, isolating them from the outside world, acting cruelly to them and cutting them off from their families who are helpless as to their condition. The phenomenon of abuse of Palestinian detainees as the report presents it does not reach this level of severity, although it is serious enough to require us to act with all our strength in order to eradicate it."

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      1.   IDF=Psychopaths, Psychopaths=Sadists & Child Abusers, No Surprise 04:42  |  anti-racist 22/06/08
      2.   IDF = soldiers from a racist society brainwashed to hate 04:44  |  anti-racist 22/06/08
      3.   My apologies, not all IDF are racist-terrorist, just alot of them 04:45  |  anti-racist 22/06/08
      4.   Woof woof...me unclean?? 05:12  |  dawg 22/06/08
      5.   Be nice to the prisoners 06:02  |  Nemesis 22/06/08
      6.   #`s 1-4...really brilliant comments 06:10  |  Nemesis 22/06/08
      7.   #4 dawg. Don`t tell me... 06:47  |  Maureen Ann 22/06/08
      8.   ...and Israel wonders why it has a terrorism problem 06:57  |  Adam K 22/06/08
      9.   this isn`t purely an Israeli thing 07:21  |  rm 22/06/08
      10.   idf acts just fine 07:44  |  john 22/06/08
      11.   mostkinde,lovely,beautifull,respected soldiers in the world 08:07  |  tom 22/06/08
      12.   israeli soldiers are the best 08:17  |  tom 22/06/08
      13.   torture 08:26  |  jj 22/06/08
      14.   IDF Alledged Abuse of Palestinians 08:27  |  Gerald Zang 22/06/08
      15.   Maybe the soldiers are tired abuse of relatives in Sederot 08:30  |  Burned Liberal 22/06/08
      16.   This is no surprise at all.... 08:34  |  Silvienne 22/06/08
      17.   "Israel`s very own Guantanamos" 08:43  |  Khaled Amayreh 22/06/08
      18.   who cares? 09:32  |  vik 22/06/08
      19.   are they serious??? 09:40  |  lebjew 22/06/08
      20.   If our boys are dead 10:05  |  Neil Golan 22/06/08
      21.   as a soldier i routinely abused prisoners; yes, they`re serious 10:05  |  yaniv 22/06/08
      22.   Scum & Sludge 10:43  |  ClearCut 22/06/08
      23.   PCATI members SEE the abuses FIRST HAND 10:45  |  CK Tan 22/06/08
      24.   #14 silvienne has PROBLEM with FACTS 10:47  |  CK Tan 22/06/08
      25.   Best friends 10:47  |  Janice 22/06/08
      26.   Gerald Zang 10:56  |  Janice 22/06/08
      27.   Burned Liberal 10:57  |  Janice 22/06/08
      28.   Don`t let 12:18  |  Raden 22/06/08
      29.   Don`t let 12:18  |  Raden 22/06/08
      30.   # 24 ck tan in singapore prefers fantasy over fact 12:19  |  eric 22/06/08
      31.   Willful ignorance 13:16  |  Sylvie 22/06/08
      32.   Hate//// 14:00  |  jOE 22/06/08
      33.   #30 eric, CLUELESS, can only WORD-RAGE 14:51  |  CK Tan 22/06/08
      34.   So what? The arabs routinely kill our boys! 15:29  |  Ronnbo 22/06/08
      35.   CK Tan 15:33  |  Sylvie 22/06/08
      36.   `Anti-torture` group complain against some torture 15:36  |  Ulf 22/06/08
      37.   Poor trained thugs & goons are raised with too much hate of arabs 15:40  |  POP 22/06/08
      38.   Imagine an Israeli militant in Palestinian hands 17:08  |  Judith 22/06/08
      39.   #1-3 anti-racist 17:09  |  Moshe 22/06/08
      40.   Sylvie (#35) Good source of Information 17:12  |  Gil 22/06/08
      41.   #8 Adam K 17:36  |  Moshe 22/06/08
      42.   Gil - a good source of information 18:32  |  Sylvie 22/06/08
      43.   Thanks for throwing rocks at me, pat pat 18:49  |  Free Gilad Shalit 22/06/08
      44.   The Abuse of Palestinian prisoners? 19:05  |  David Nigel Braham 22/06/08
      45.   Re #34 19:40  |  Joe 22/06/08
      46.   Sylvie (#42) Not ordinary Israelis at all! 22:23  |  Gil 22/06/08
      47.   Wow What a Poor man a Dog Set on Him 22:25  |  Gil 22/06/08
      48.   Moshe - #41 00:45  |  Adam K 23/06/08
      49.   #41 Adam K 02:06  |  Moshe 23/06/08
      50.   #48 Adam K 02:52  |  Moshe 23/06/08
      51.   #48 Adam K 03:19  |  Moshe 23/06/08
      52.   #47, Gil...by going on about the dog... 04:49  |  Silvienne 23/06/08
      53.   #42, Sylvie and machsomwatch.org 04:51  |  Silvienne 23/06/08
      54.   #24, CKTan...actually, not really... 04:59  |  Silvienne 23/06/08
      55.   #43, free gilad shalit... 05:03  |  Silvienne 23/06/08
      56.   #46, Gil, you are incredible!! 05:04  |  Silvienne 23/06/08
      57.   Silvienne (#53) You Really don`t know How to Read 10:15  |  Gil 23/06/08
      58.   Silvienne (#53) You Really don`t know How to Read 10:16  |  Gil 23/06/08
      59.   Silvienne (#56) well actually silvienne 10:44  |  Gil 23/06/08
      60.   Silvienne (#56) well actually silvienne 10:45  |  Gil 23/06/08
      61.   Silvienne (#52) The dog story is the most ridicules story I heard 11:08  |  Gil 23/06/08
      62.   Silvienne (#52) The dog story is the most ridicules story I heard 11:15  |  Gil 23/06/08
      63.   #59, Gil..cooking my chair? I`ve got better things to eat... 17:32  |  Silvienne 23/06/08
      64.   #58, Gil... 17:50  |  Silvienne 23/06/08
      65.   #61, Gil...the dog 17:55  |  Silvienne 23/06/08
      66.   Silvienne (#65) The Dog 19:49  |  Gil 23/06/08
      67.   Silvienne (#65) The Dog 19:50  |  Gil 23/06/08
      68.   Silvienne (#64) What are you talking about 20:04  |  Gil 23/06/08
      69.   Silvienne (#64) Question 20:26  |  Gil 23/06/08
      70.   #68, Gil... 21:42  |  Silvienne 23/06/08
      71.   # 33 it is YOU who provides NO facts, ck tan (3rd try) 22:58  |  eric