Democratic Palestine : 9 (ص 18)
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- Democratic Palestine : 9 (ص 18)
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Al Faraa
Zionist Torture Factory
After mounting exposure of the hor-
rible conditions at Al Faraa detention
center near Nablus, the Israeli army
finally opened it to inspection by foreign
journalists in early April. For the occa-
sion, Al Faraa had been temporarily
«cleaned up»: «From the guided tour
and brief conversations with some of the
inmates, it was impossible to verify the
accuracy of the assertations made in
January by the International Commis-
sion of Jurists», wrote Edward Walsh of
the Washington Post Service (/nterna-
tional Herald Tribune, April 11). This
show enacted by the Israelis, added to
the recent hunger strikes in other Zionist
jails, highlights the need for further cam-
paigns to expose Zionist torture. The
israeli authorities cannot be allowed to
slip off the hook so easily; maltreatment
at Al Faraa has been extensively
reported and documented. Below is
some material we had prepared for our
last issue, but were forced to postpone
for reasons of space. We think it has
added relevance now in view of the
Zionist cover-up.
Breaking the morale of youth
The basic point about Al Faraa is
that the detainees are youth, sometimes
only children. They are picked up on the
street at random in connection with
demonstrations and _ stonethrowing,
without their parents being informed.
Often they are victims of «preventive»
detention, as when the Israeli authorities
rounded up over 200 West Bank youth in
the week preceding Land Day, hoping to
forestall demonstrations. In Al Faraa,
they are interrogated by the Israeli army
before being turned over to courts in the
West Bank. This situation leaves much
leeway for abuse, and Al Faraa has
been described as a concentration
camp and factory for producing confes-
sions. Considering the youth of the
detainees and the ugly methods used, Al
Faraa is part.of the calculated Zionist
plan for destroying the younger genera-
tion of Palestinians under occupation,
for their energy and consciousness will
fuel our people’s national identity and
struggle for years to come.
It is no coincidence that Al Faraa
was opened in January 1982, on the
recommendation of then Chief of Staff
Raphael Eitan. In the same period, the
Zionist leadership was putting the finish-
ing touches on the plan to invade Leba-
non, destroy the PLO, and thereby break
the united will of our people under occu-
pation, to allow for eventual annexation
of the occupied territories. The torture in
Al Faraa is one aspect of the plan, as is
the terror of armed settlers who seek to
frighten our people into leaving Pales-
tine. In this perspective, defending the Al
Faraa detainees is not only a humanita-
rian duty, but a necessary support to our
masses’ continued resistance to occu-
pation.
In January 1984, the Committee for
the Defense of Political Prisoners and
Detainees in Israeli Jails received two
reports from occupied Palestine about
conditions in Al Faraa. These reveal an
ugly, sophisticated system for breaking
down the morale of youthful detainees,
relying on collaborators and homosex-
ual rape. Below, we summarize one of
the reports:
Al Faraa is divided into two blocks.
The first is for newly arrived prisoners.
The second is for those who have
already been severely tortured, some of
whom confessed under the cruelty of the
military and intelligence officers. In addi-
tion, members of Kahane’s fascist Kach
party and other ultraright settlers have
been invited to join in the harrassment of
the detainees.
Block 1: «The Stable»
Here there is no access for visitors,
lawyers or Red Cross officials. Block 1 is
composed of solitary confinement cells,
yet three to four detainees are placed in
each. Prisoners are forbidden to speak
or move about; infractions are
immediately punished by beatings. On
an average, the prisoner remains here
for 18-40 days. Those detainees who
resist torture and refuse to confess stay
the longest.
In block 1 there are two soldiers and
several collaborators. The latter are said
to be janitors, but their real duty is har-
rassing the detainees and raping them;
they have keys to the cells, allowing
them to terrorize the detainees round the
Prisoners’ paintings were on display to greet newly liberated comrades in Libya.
4
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