Sir, In his letter (April 7th) Ambassador Zvi Gabay declared Israel's pride in and respect for human values. Could it be that the Ambassador could not, in good faith, make the same declaration with regard to human rights Israel has ratified the UN Convention against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both which prohibit torture in all circumstances and without exception. However, despite her international obligations, Israel has effectively legalised torture in three ways.
First, the General Security Service's use of "a moderate measure of physical pressure" was sanctioned in the government approved 1987 Landau Commission Report. The physical and psychological methods which may, be used are contained in secret guidelines to this report.
Second, since October 1994, the Israeli Government ministerial committee which oversees the General Security Service has renewed, at three monthly intervals, the right to use increased physical pressure. The use of violent shaking of detainees is also authorised by this committee.
Third, in 1996 the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the use of physical force, including the use of violent shaking, could continue against specified detainees.
The Israeli Ambassador has responded to the concerns of Amnesty International and those of the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs with denials that ill treatment under interrogation constitutes torture. The methods used they are not disputed by the Israeli Government include violent shaking. Detainees have described how they have been shaken by the collar several times for five or ten minutes each time how their brains have spun and they have fallen unconscious on the floor.
In April 1995 Abd al-Samed Harizat, a Palestinian, violently shaken 12 times over a 12 hour period, fell into a coma and died without regaining consciousness. Neurologists state that violent shaking can cause death or brain damage. Official ministerial authorisation for violent shaking continues.
The Israeli Government has consistently sought an understanding for its subjection of "terrorists" to physical force. Amnesty International recognises that civilians have been deliberately and arbitrarily killed in Israel and the Occupied Territories by armed groups, and it has actively opposed such killings.
Nevertheless, international standards freely ratified by Israel permit no exception to the prohibition of both torture and ill treatment. Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, is non-derogable even in "time of public emergency which threatens the life of a nation". Indeed, in November 1996 the UN Committee against Torture in a public statement on the Israeli Supreme Court authorisation of physical force reiterated. "Despite any legal position, there can be no circumstances which justify the use of torture"
An essential principle of international human rights and humanitarian law is the non-derogability of certain fundamental rights. The right to freedom from torture is one such right and, as such, cannot be qualified by what Israel perceives to be necessary to prevent acts of Palestinian terror. As long as people are forced to stand, sit or squat in painful positions for long periods of time, deprived of sleep and violently shaken with the full authorisation of the state, the Ambassador's reassurances will fail to reassure. Yours etc.,
Oireachtas Liaison Team, Amnesty International Irish Section, Fleet Street,
Dublin 2.