Jerusalem 3239/Section 5

by Alexandra Uteev Johnson

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PAGE 01 JERUSA 03239 05 OF 07 010854Z
ACTION SS-25

INFO OCT-01 ISO-00 SSO-00 /026 W
042531 010901Z /ll

R 301108Z NOV 78
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2240
INFOR AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV

SECRET SECTION 5 OF 7 JERUSALEM 3239

STADIS/////////////////////////

EXDIS

14. THE PROBLEM OF COOPERATION BETWEEN VARIOUS COMMANDS AND ADMINISTRATIVE JURISDICTIONS, RAISED IN TWO CASES, THROWS FURTHER LIGHT ON THIS QUESTION. IN THE CASE OF THOSE FIVE SOLDIERS DETAILED TO ASSIST THE INTERROGATOR, FOR INSTANCE, ONE MAY WELL ASK WHAT JUSTIFICATION TH [sic] INTERROGATOR (OR HIS SUPERIORS) PROVIDED TO THE UNIT COMMANDER FOR THE DETAILS. UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES, IT WOULD SEEM TO HAVE BEEN QUITE IMPOSSIBLE TO BE OTHER THAN FACTUAL. IN ANOTHER CASE, THE APPLICANT, A RESIDENT OF JERICHO MILITARY GOVERNORATE, SAID THAT A GROUP OF SEVERAL INTERROGATORS FROM RAMALLAH, WHICH IS A SEPARATE MILITARY GOVERNORATE, CAME TO JERICHO AND ARRESTED A NUMBER OF STUDENTS, INCLUDING HIMSELF, IN THE STREET. THE INTERROGATIONS OF THESE ARRESTEES, WHICH THE APPLICANT SAID INCLUDED SEVERE BEATINGS, WERE BEGUN BY THE RAMALLAH INTERROGATORS UNDER MAKESHIFT CONDITIONS IN SOME ROOMS AND CORRIDORS OF A MILITARY GOVERNMENT BUILDING IN JERICHO OVER MOST OF A DAY AND A NIGHT, WHEREUPON THE ARRESTEES WERE TRANSFERRED TO THE INTERROGATION CENTER ATTACHED TO RAMALLAH MILITARY PRISON. IT IS DIFFICULT TO CONEIVE [sic] HOW THE RAMALLAH INTERROGATORS COULD HAVE BORROWED PART OF AN OFFICIAL BUILDING IN JERICHO IN THIS WAY UNLESS SOME ADMINISTRATOR IN THE JERICHO MILITARY GOVERNORATE HAD GIVEN HIS APPROVAL — AND THAT, WITH SOME KNOWLEDGE OF

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THE USE TO WHICH HIS BUILDING WOULD BE PUT.

15. ADMINISTRATIVE CONSIDERATIONS: INSTALLATIONS AND EQUIPMENT. WHILE MOST OF THE BEATING AND TORTURE DESCRIBED BY APPLICANTS APPARENTLY INVOLVED FISTS OR MAKESHIFT INSTRUMENTS, THERE ARE ALSO INDICATIONS OF THE PRESENCE OF ELABORATE INSTALLATIONS IN THE INTERROGATION CENTERS, APPARENTLY DESIGNED FOR ABUSING THE ARRESTEES. AN APPLICANT INTERROGATED IN NABLUS CENTRAL PRISON, FOR INSTANCE, SAID THAT THERE IS A ROW OF SEVERAL SMALL "REFRIGERATOR" CELLS IN THE PRISON COMPLEX, WHICH ARE VERY COLD EVEN IN THE HEAT OF SUMMER. DURING HIS INTERROGATION, HE STATED, HE WAS FLUND [sic] NAKED INTO ONE OF THESE CELLS AFTER COLD WATER HAD BEEN POURED OVER HIS BODY AND INTO THE INTERIOD [sic] OF THE CELL. ANOTHER APPLICANT, WHO WAS INTERROGATED IN HEBRON, SAID THAT A SPECIAL ROOM HAD HIGH-FREQUENCY AND LOUD IRRITATING SOUNDS PIPED INTO IT, AND HE DESCRIBED HIS STAY IN THIS ROOM AS THE MOST DIFFICULT STAGE OF THE INTERROGATION. UREAU- CRATICALLY [sic], THE CONSTRUCTION OF SUCH REFRIGERATOR CELLS AND SOUND ROOMS WOULD BE A FORMIDABLE ENTERPRISE. ADMINISTRATIVE OPERATIONS INVOLVED WOULD CERTAINLY HAVE INCLUDED THE MAKING OF PROPOSALS FOR DISCUSSION AND APPROVAL, FOLLOWED BY THE ALLOCATION OF FUNDS, THE SIGNING OF REQUISITIONS FOR MATERIALS, AND SO FORTH. BOTH OF THESE INSTALLATIONS WOULD ALSO REQUIRE MAINTENANCE.

16. THE EXPERIENCES OF ANOTHER APPLICANT, WHO WAS INTERROGATED AND IMPRISONED IN NABLUS CENTRAL PRISON, AND WHO HAD WORKED AS AN ELECTRICIAN BEFORE HIS ARREST, SUGGEST ONE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF MAINTENANCE. THIS APPLICANT SAID THAT SEVERAL ASSOCIATES ARRESTED WITH HIM WERE TORTURED WITH ELECTRICITY. A FEW MONTHS AFTER HIS OWN TRIAL AND SENTENCING, AN ISRAELI SECURITY OFFICER CAME TO THE COMMON PRISON ROOM AND ASKED HIS HIS PROFESSION. LATER, THE PRISON ADMINISTRATION OFFERED HIM

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A JOB AS AN ELECTRICIAN -- MAINTAINING, AMONG OTHER THINGS, THE ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS USED IN INTERROGATIONS. HE DID THIS WORK FOR OVER FOUR YEARS UNDER THE DIRECT SUPERVISION OF AN ISRAELI SECURITY OFFICER WITH THE RANK OF CAPTAIN, WHO WORKED ON THE ELECTRICAL DEVICES WITH HIM. THIS APPLICANT'S STATEMENT EXPLICITY [sic] PORTRAYS THE PRISON ADMINISTRATION AS ACTIVELY COOPERATING WITH THE INTERROGATORS IN MAINTENANCE OF ELECTRIAL TORTURE INSTALLATIONS. AND ONE WONDERS WHO ASSIGNED THE ISRAELI CAPTAIN TO THIS TASK.

17. THE BUREAUCRATIC CONSIDERATIONS DISCUSSED ABOVE APPLY TO A LESSER EXTENT TO SMALLER AND SIMPLER INSTRUMENTS OF TORTURE. TWO APPLICANTS WHO WERE INTERROGATED AT HEBRON, FOR INSTANCE, DESCRIBED BEING HUNG FROM PERMANENTLY INSTALLED HOOKS -- ONE BY HIS HANDS, AND ONE BY BOTH HANDS AND FEET. IT MAY WELL BE ASKED WHAT JUSTIFICATION (OTHER THAN THE TRUE ONE) COULD CON- CEIVABLY HAVE BEEN OFFERED TO SUPERIORS OR TO THE ADMINISTRATIVE SECTION FOR THE INSTALLATION OF HOOKS SUNK STRONGLY ENOUGH INTO CEILINGS OF INTERROGATION AREAS TO BEAR THE WEIGHT OF A MAN. TO CITE ANOTHER EXAMPLE, MOST APPLICANTS (WHETHER INTERROGATED AT RAMALLAH, NABLUS, HEBRON, OR THE RUSSIAN COMPOUND OF JERUSALEM) STATED THAT THEY HAD BEEN BEATEN WITH STICKS, AND MANY DESCRIBED THESE INSTRUMENTS. THEY SPOKE OF A SHORT WOODEN ROD ABOUT THE LENGTH OF A RULER, USED FOR BEATING THE HEAD AND GENITALS, AND A SOMEWHAT THICKER STAVE, ABOUT THE LENGTH OF A YARDSTICK, USED FOR BEATING THE LIMBS AND TORSO. THE UNIFORMITY OF APPLICANTS' DESCRIPTIONS OF THESE INSTRUMENTS AND OF THEIR USE SUGGESTS STANDARD-ISSUE EQUIPMENT. OF COURSE, THESE STICKS COULD WELL FORM PART OF THE NORMAL RIOT-CONTROL EQUIPMENT OF POLICE WHO MUST DEAL WITH STREET DEMONSTRATIONS. HOWEVER, ONE WONDERS UPON WHAT JUSTIFICATION SUCH EQUIPMENT COULD BE REQUISITIONED BY INTERROGATORS BELONGING TO FOUR DIFFERENT ADMINISTRATIVE JURISDICTIONS.

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