August 28, 2008 at 05:16:15

Torture As Official Israeli Policy

SAVE AS FAVORITE

VIEW FAVORITES

By Stephen Lendman (about the author) Page 2 of 14 page(s)

opednews.com Permalink

Fourth Geneva's Articles 31 and 32 state:

"No physical or moral coercion shall be exercised against protected persons."

"This prohibition applies to....torture (and) to any other measures of brutality whether applied by civilian or military agents."

Fourth Geneva's Article 147 calls "willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment....grave breaches" under the Convention and are considered "war crimes."

All four Geneva Conventions have a Common Article Three requiring all non-combatants, including "members of armed forces who laid down their arms," to be treated humanely at all times.

The (1966) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 7 states:

"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

Its Article 10 states:

" All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity...."

The (1984) UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment is explicit in all its provisions. It prohibits torture and degrading treatment of all kinds against anyone for any purpose without exception.

Various other international laws affirm the same thing, including the UN Charter with respect to human rights, 1945 Nuremberg Charter on crimes of war and against humanity, the (1948) Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the (1988) UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any form of Detention or Imprisonment, the UN (1955) Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, and (1990) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. So does Article 5 of the International Criminal Court's (ICC) Rome Statute with regard to crimes of war and against humanity. Torture is such a crime - the gravest of all after genocide.

Israeli Torture Violates International Law

From inception to today, and especially since its 1967 occupation, Israel's military and security forces have willfully, systematically and illegally practiced torture - as official state policy against Palestinian detainees called "terrorists." Yet Israel always denies it, and its 1977 Penal Law prohibits it.

In 1987, the Landau Judicial Commission addressed the practice after two among many revelations became public:

-- defense minister Moshe Dayan's 1979 statement to Israel's Maareef daily regarding Arab prison detainees: "We will make of these detainees parasites in their societies, and we will not release them until they become like mummies, empty and full of holes from inside like Swiss cheese;" and

-- the 1980s torture scandals tarnishing Shin Bet's reputation as a respected internal security agency.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

I am a 72 year old, retired, progressive small businessman concerned about all the major national and world issues, committed to speak out and write about them.

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.