Torture of Palestinian prisoners in Israel

B'tselem recently released a report about human rights abuses in Israeli jails. Based on interviews of 73 ex-prisoners in the West Bank, B'tselem conclude:

These measures are defined as torture under international law. Their use is not negligible, even if not routine. The HCJ did rule that ISA interrogators who abused interrogees in "ticking bomb" situations may be exempted from criminal liability, but this only when the ill-treatment was used as a spontaneous response by an individual interrogator to an unexpected occurrence. In practice, all evidence points to the fact that "special" methods are preauthorized and are used according a preset regulations.

It is interesting to note the Israeli response to the report in the media.

The Israeli Justice Department is reported to have labelled the report as 'full of inaccuracies' and 'does not include the full details of witnesses so the allegations can be investigated' and that the sample has been 'tendentiously selected in a way that distorts reality'.

Of course, Palestinian ex-prisoners are highly likely to travel to Jerusalem or Tel Aviv to report abuses suffered by them during incarceration.

the fabled Palestinian strawberry

Last night I couldn't sleep. I'm planning a multi-country foreign trip and I guess my brain was in overdrive, one way and another.

For some reason I was thinking about the dangers of being mugged and/or having your wallet and travel documents stolen. I was wondering whether anyone produces 'dummy' creditcards - bits of plastic you could put into your wallet with a small amount of cash and give to a mugger, who would then think it was legitimate.

Subsequent research indicates that prepaid 'pay-as-you-go' payment cards exist, such as this one from the post office, but bizarrely, whilst it should not be possible to pay out more than is on the card, the small print indicates that in a small number of un-named circumstances you might be liable for payments over the limit. Surely it would be better to have a card that cannot be used by anyone for anything. Apparently other people just use out-of-date cards (which I methodically tear up into tiny pieces) or ones that are sent to them by direct mailings (which I've stopped). Clearly there is a gap in the market.

Meanwhile, I nearly fell through the floor at my local greengrocer when I saw 'Palestinian' strawberries for sale. They were marketted under the Carmel label by an Israeli company called Agrexco. Unbeknown to me, it appears that there is quite a campaign of action against this company in progress.

Lesson being: a) it is not impossible to export from Gaza unless b) you are Palestinian and therefore as a grower c) you are taken for a ride by whichever Israeli company owns the monopoly on distribution.

And another thing I've just noticed - about the only place I cannot use my chip-and-pin card to prove my identity is the bank. How does that work then?