Israel cooperation puts Palestinian forces in a tough spot

While the article presented both the Israeli claim that such demolitions serve as a deterrence to would-be terrorists and the Palestinian claim that the demolitions are collective punishment, when it came to explaining the recent wave of Palestinian terrorist stabbings, shootings, slayings and rioting, the article relayed the Palestinian position as fact, not claim.

B’Tselem and Hamoked on Wednesday published a report detailing the abuses based on interviews with 116 Palestinians who were interrogated at Israel’s Shikma prison between August 2013 and March 2014. Prisoners said they were at times exposed to extreme heat and cold, bound to a chair and denied access to a shower for days or weeks.

More than 160 Palestinians – mostly attackers, Israel says – have also been killed in that period. The detainees are shouted at and spit on, are deprived of sleep and are provided little, substandard food, the report says.

A gun found at the scene of the attempted attack at the Gush Etzion Junction in the West Bank, February 24, 2016.

Also on Wednesday, two Israeli human rights groups released a report in which they said dozens of Palestinian detainees being held at an Israeli detention facility had been subjected to mistreatment, and in some cases torture. The Palestinians say the violence is the result of almost five decades of Israeli military rule, years of failed peace efforts and lack of hope among Palestinian youth. An armed civilian and soldiers at the scene then opened fire, apparently wounding the victim.

The Shin Bet called the data in the report “misleading and distorted”, and said in a statement that all its interrogations were carried out “in accordance with the law and to prevent activities aimed at harming the security of the state”.

The stabbing attack took place near the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, the Israeli military said.

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