Democratic Palestine : 32 (ص 20)
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- Democratic Palestine : 32 (ص 20)
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meanwhile, as reported by Israeli radio
on January 26th, hundreds of settlers
are leaving the Gaza Strip under the
impact of the uprising; the number of
police stations has been greatly reduced
after the resignation of the 300
Palestinian policemen who were
replaced by only 38 Israelis. At the
same time, the Givati Brigade went on
strike in January to protest the deten-
tion of four of their troopers for in-
vestigation of the murder by beating of
a resident of Jabalia camp in August.
From the other side, the peace
movement has staged large demonstra-
tions urging the government to find a
political solution. Democratically in-
clined Israelis had been questioning the
use of plastic bullets since last autumn,
and with the advent of the new
measures, Shinui MK Rubenstein called
on soldiers to disobey orders to fire on
stonethrowers, while Energy Minister
Shahal termed the new rules for open-
ing fire «possibly illegal.»
Added to this are the manpower
problems experienced by the Israeli
military as the result of such long-term,
concentrated deployment in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip. Experts agree
that this is a vicious cycle: At first, the
younger combat troops were sent to
confront the uprising; with its con-
tinuation, they were called back for
needed training, and reservists became
the bulk of those expected to suppress
the intifada; however, they proved to
be more sensitive to the practical and
moral problems involved in fighting a
whole population. Also, this entailed
doubling reserve duty time, which has
caused discontent, forcing Rabin to
promise to cut it back again.
In view of these factors, added to the
Israeli government’s lack of ability
and/or will to compromise its Zionist
ambitions, we can only anticipate con-
18
HHH
tinued use of the military option,
perhaps with modifications as proposed
by Major General Barak. To solve the
Israeli army’s manpower problem, he
proposed «flying squads» (Interna-
tional Herald Tribune, January 31st).
This idea of top-trained commandos,
fewer in number but covering more
territory, can only mean officially con-
stituted death squads in practice.
FIGHTING THE DEATH
CAMPS
The situation of the political de-
tainees has figured prominently in the
recent events of the intifada. The de-
tainees’ own struggle has escalated
substantially with hunger strikes and
other forms of protest. This has been
bolstered by solidarity from outside;
relatives have become more militant in
their protests; larger numbers of
democratic Israelis have demonstrated
against administrative detention; and
there have been international protests
as well.
The sheer number of detainees has
contributed to this build-up. Already
last fall, figures reported in the San
Francisco Chronicle (September 14th),
showed that one out of 83 Palestinians
had been detained. This means the
Zionist occupation authorities are ar-
resting Palestinians at a rate seven
times higher than the apartheid regime
has arrested blacks in South Africa
since the 1986 state of emergency (one
in every 600 people).
In January, West Bank lawyers
estimated that 40,000 Palestinians have
been jailed at one time or another since
the uprising began. Currently, there are
about 6,000 political detainees; only
about eight per cent of them are con-
victed; roughly one-third are ad-
ministrative detainees, while the rest
await being charged and tried. On
December 1,1988, Amnesty Interna-
tional released a report condemning the
Israeli policy of administrative deten-
tion, and adopted 18 administrative
detainees as prisoners of conscience.
The organization is investigating a fur-
ther 104 cases of Palestinians believed
to be detained only for non-violent ex-
pression of their views.
The situation has been heightened by
continuing mass arrests, as on the night
of February 8th, when the occupation
troops snatched 175 Hebron residents
from their homes, preceding according
to prepared lists of names. The 175
were held for 16 hours in a local soccer
stadium, evoking images of the Ist year
of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile,
before scores were taken away to
detention centers and the rest sent
home. While Rabin’s new policy will
not end the intifada, it will transport
even more of its activists into the
prisons, as witnessed by the trials after
his announcements, handing out up to
three years for stonethrowing, even
when no injury had been incurred.
To the subhuman conditions in the
detention centers run by the Israeli ar-
my is added ongoing torture and the
policy of opening fire on detainees at
the least sign of protest, making these
centers into death camps where the de-
tainees’ lives are constantly at risk. At
least 15 Palestinians were killed in
detention during the first year of the
uprising, and incidents of opening fire
on the detainees are on the rise.
On January 3rd, West Bank lawyers
went on strike protesting the
lawlessness of the Israeli occupation
authorities’ arrest and detention policy.
«Our offices continue to serve as miss-
ing persons bureaus,» said the lawyers,
citing a long list of Israeli practices
which rule out the concept of due pro-
cess, while leading to abuse of the de-
tainees and preventing lawyers from
functioning with a minimal degree of
professional integrity. Gaza lawyers
had previously been on strike, and the
Palestinian lawyers’ boycott of court
appearances was joined by progressive
Israeli lawyers and by detainees in An-
sar III (in the Naqab desert of South
Palestine) and those in Megiddo
military prison in the Galilee.
The situation in the detention centers
has become increasingly explosive. A
hunger strike in Ansar III, protesting
the miserable conditions, was met by
soldiers opening fire on the detainees
on January 8th, injuring one. Again on
February 9th, soldiers attacked Ansar
III prisoners, injuring ten, two of them
by shooting.
In contrast to most Ansar detainees,
those in Megiddo have been allowed
family visits. However, relatives were
several times turned away in December
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