Jerusalem 3239/Section 7

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R 301108Z NOV 78 FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2224 INFO AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV

SECRET SECTION 7 OF 7 JERUSALEM 3239

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21. SOME APPLICANTS, WHO SAID THAT THEY BROUGHT TO THE ATTENTION OF THE PRISON ADMINISTRATION OR THE ICRC EVIDENCE OF THE USE OF TORTURE IN INTERROGATION, PORTRAY ISRAELI OFFICIALS AS ACTIVELY SUPPRESSING COMPLAINTS AND ACTING TO PREVENT THEIR INVESTIGATION. FIVE APPLICANTS, FOR EXAMPLE, SAID THAT THEI [sic] INTERROGATIONS RESULTED IN LASTING PHYSICAL DAMAGE. FOUR OFTHESE [sic] INDIVIDUALS APPEAR TO HAVE MADE NO ATTEMPT TO INTRODUCE EVIDENCE OF THIS AT THEIR TRIALS, BUT THEY STATE THAT AT THE CONCLUSION OF THEIR INTERROGATION, THEY DID TRY TO OBTAIN MEDICAL TREATMENT. AN APPLICANT INTERROGATED AT THE RUSSIAN COMPOUND OF JERUSALEM (BACK INJURIES) AND TWO APPLICANTS INTERROGATED AT HEBRON (HEAD INJURIES, AND INJURIES TO LEG JOINTS AND BACK) APPARENTLY WERE DENIED ACCESS TO THE PRISON DOCTOR, AND SAID THAT THE ONLY RESPONSE TO THEIR REPEATED REQUETS [sic] FOR TREATMENT WAS THE DAILY PROVISION OF AN ASPIRIN THROUGH THE GUARD. THE FOURTH APPLICANT, A NABLUS PRISONER WHO COMPLAINED OF DAMAGE TO THE [missing word or words?] SAID THAT AFTER HE WASDENIED [sic] MEDICAL TREATMENT OTHER THAN BEING DOSED WITH VALIUM SO THAT HE SLEPT CONTINUALLY, HE WENT ON A FOUR-DAY HUNGER STRIKE, AND SUCCEEDED IN OBTAINING ACCESS TO A DOCTOR AND APPROPRIATE TREATMENT. THE FIFTH APPLICANT, WHO WAS INTERROGATED AT NABLUS, SAID THAT HE ATTEMPTED TO ARRANGE A FORMAL COMPLAINT CONCERNING DAMAGE TO HIS GENITALS,

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INJURIES WHICH HAD BEEN SEEN BY AN ICRC EMPLOYEE. THIS APPLICANT, WHO HAD INTENDED TO PRESENT IN COURT A DOCTOR'S TESTIMONY AS TO THE MATTER, SAID THAT HE CHANGED HIS MIND, REFUSING THE DOCTOR'S VISIT, BECAUSE HIS INTERROGATORS HAD THREATENED TO RETURN HIM TO TORTURE IF HE PERSISTED. ANOTHER INCIDENT WAS INDEPENDENTLY DESCRIBED BY TWO APPLICANTS -- ONE INTERROGATED AT HEBRON, THE OTHER AT RAMALLAH -- WHO APPARENTLY DID NOT SEE EACH OTHER SINCE EARLY 1976, WHEN THEY HAPPENED TO SERVE SEVERAL MONTHS TOGETHER IN NABLU [sic] CENTRAL PRISON. THEY RECOUNTED HOW A GROUP OF NABLUS PRISONERS, USING AS A SPOKESMAN ONE OF THE APPLICANTS, CONVEYED TO ICRC VISITORS THEIR COMPLAINTS ABOUT BEATINGS AND OTHER GRIEVANCES. SHORTLY AFTER THE ICRC DEPARTED, THE DEPUTY MILGOV [military governor?] ENTERED THE ROOM, TOLD THE PRISONERS THAT SUCH COMPLAINTS WOULD NOT BE MADE IN THE FUTURE, AND ORDERED GUARDS TO FALL ON THE PRISONERS AND BEAT THEM WITH STICKS. BOTH APPLICANTS COMMENTED THAT, AS A RESULT OF THE BEATING, THE PRISONERS ASSURED SUBSEQUENT ICRC VISITORS THAT EVERYTHING WAS FINE.

2. CONCLUSION. THE PICTURE PRESENTED BY THE STATEMENTS OF THE TWENTY-NINE APPLICANTS FORMS A SERIOUS CHALLENGE TO GOI CLAIMS THAT INSTANCES OF BRUTALITY ARE ISOLATED, ABERRENT, AND CAREFULLY INVESTIGATED WHEN REPORTED. PATTERNS RECURRING IN THESE STATE- MENTS OF TWENTY-NINE INDIVIDUALS INTERROGATED IN FOUR DIFFERENT ADMINISTRATIVE JURISDICTIONS AT VARIOUS TIMES OVER A PERIOD OF TEN YEARS CANNOT BE DISMISSED AS MERE COINCIDENCE OR THE PRODUCT OF ACTIONS OF A FEW ISOLATED LOW-LEVEL PERSONNEL. ON THE CONTRARY, ONE IS FACED WITH THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE USE OF BRUTALITY IN THE INTERROGATION OF ARAB POLITICAL PRISONERS IS A SYSTEMATIC PRACTICE, INVOLVING THE USE OF TRAINED PERSONNEL, BACKED UP BY FAR-REACHING ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT, AND PROTECTED BY STANDARD METHODS OF SUPPRESSING COMPLAINTS AND BLOCKING THEIR INVESTIGATION. INDEED, ONE MAY WELL QUESTION THE MOTIVE BEHIND GOI CLAIMS.

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