ISRAELI TORTURE OF PALESTINIAN CHILDREN ‘INCREASING’

Gaza, 10 Muharram 1437/23 October 2015 (MINA) – A lawyer from the Prisoners’ Commission has eyewitness accounts of Palestinian children being beaten and tortured by Israeli security forces while in detention, Pls48.net has reported. Hiba Masalha provided the media with a number of examples of such incidents on Wednesday. They are on the increase, she pointed out.

Giving a personal account of his treatment at the hands of the Israelis, Amir Arrar, 17, from Ramallah, said that a group of soldiers assaulted him in the street and beat him with their guns on his back and legs. “They pushed me down to the ground and continued beating me with their hands and kicking me.”

He claims that one soldier held his neck so tightly that he was unable to breathe properly. “At the same time, another soldier beat my back with his gun very hard until I couldn’t stand up because the severe pain.”

Arrar’s testimony includes his claim that he was pulled by the soldiers to their vehicle; they kept beating him while doing so. “I fell unconscious and when I came round I found myself lying on the ground and wet in an army camp.” There, he continued, the soldiers still beat him.

“They stepped on my and threw stones at me. Then I was taken to Al-Jalam Investigation Centre and the investigator there beat me on my face. I was scared and in pain. Then I was moved to Megiddo Prison.”

Prisoner Shadi Jabarin is just 16 and from Shua’fat Refugee Camp in Jerusalem. He was arrested on 6 July and is now in Hasharon Prison. “Undercover forces assaulted me at 3pm near the camp and started beating me on my face, back and leg with their pistols and kicking me. I suffered severe pains all over my body.” At the investigation centre, he said, the security officers took turns in beating him, causing a lot of pain.

Also in Hasharon is Ratib Haymouni, 17, from the Silwan district of Jerusalem. He was arrested at his home on 25 May. According to Hiba Masalha, the soldiers who arrested him beat him as they took him to their vehicle, while he was blindfolded and handcuffed. “He remembers falling down several times due to the harsh beating.

They pulled him savagely when he fell down and this caused him bruises in different parts of his body. While he was in the jeep, they continued beating him and putting their feet on him.”

Before being moved to Hasharon Prison, said Masalha, he was investigated for 36 hours. During this time he was tied to a chair and beaten by investigators. Such cases, she explained, are now becoming more common as Israel tightens its occupation of the West Bank and Jerusalem. (T/P002/R04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)