It is obvious  and generally admited that Middle East was and still is the most troubled area of the world, in spite of the later Milosevic's "I-am-stilll-here" or NATO's "I am the world policeman'bravados.

In  May, 1949 when the General Assembly of International Security Council made the hugest mistake and recognised an offspring such as "Israel" as a newborn baby state established on Palestinian state. Just like that. As they

liked it. Definitely as mere consequence, Palestine and the entire Middle East region entered in a bloody almost hemoragic conflict which lasts till nowadays. The "brilliant" idea of establishing  those renegades as legal citizens on another country is also known as the Balfour Declaration, in which Arthur James Balfour, the British prime minister promised  in 1917 that Britain will do its very best to establish a Jewish national home land in Palestine. And if ayone can believe that the so-called Balfour
declaration was former a mere letter addressed by Balfour to lord Rithchild.

This is the document upon whose basis, the Jews allowed themselves to remove an entire population and implement their paranoid roots instead."Dear Lord Rithchild,  I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of his majesty 's government, the following declaration of sympathy with the Jewish zionist aspiration which had been submitted to, and approved by the
Cabinet.

His majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religios rights of non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the right and political status enjoyed by the Jews on any  other country.

I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the zionist federation.(signed Arthur James Balfour).
There have been 8 Arab-"Israeli" wars and many other military intimidating actions since "Israel" declared statehood in 1948. The wars were fought in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, 1991, 1993 and 1996.

The 1948 was "War of independence" from "Israelis" point of crossed view or "The catastrophe" from the Palestinian point of view. The original territory of Palestine no longer existed.

1956 October-November: the Suez crisis. "Israel" occupied the Sinai but was persuaded by its tutor USA to hand it back to Egypt in 1957. Britain and France joined "Israel" in its attack on Egypt.

1967-5/10 June. The six days war. "Israel" captured the Sinai, the Gaza strip, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the West Bank. As it pleased! Just like that. The war broke out on Monday, June 5, with an "Israeli" surprise offensive and ended with a truce on June 10. After their 1967 victory, the "Israelis" were not in a compromising mood, they had just won a war, for God's
sake, pressuming the right  to dictate peace terms on the power of their bloody battlefield 's victory.

1973-6/24 October. Yom Kippur war. Egypt and Syria had finally awoke and they had the decency to attack "Israel". Well, the "Israelis" asked for it…

The "Israelis" were taken by surprise and suffered initial setbacks, but rallied to defeat their opponents.It was a military victory for the "Israelis", but the Arabs recovered a tiny lost prestige as a aresult (now forgoten) of their early success. To be mentioned that after the initial setback, the US launched an intensive airlift operation to "Israel" that supplied it with everything from tanks to planes. The Soviet Union provided Egypt and Syria with only "moderate" arms supplies. The war ended with a ceasefire and with the bitter taste and sad-but-true impression that once again the world's giants (US & Soviets) have played their paranoid game again, manipulating both Arabs and Jews as peons on a huge chess table.

1982, June7: "Israel" invaded Lebanon for the second time in response to a Palestinian attempt to murder the "Israeli" ambassador in London. Beirut was bombarded, and the PLO leadership fled to Tunis, in Maghreb. Hizbullah (Party of God) was formed with the objective of removing the Jews out of their own land. In only three years of war, the civilian causalties mong Lebanese were so tremendously high, that no matter what louzy excuses "Israel" found its image suffered since than a continuous deterioration. But who said they cared about their looks anyway?

In 1996, April, "Israel" attacked once more Lebanon killing more than 200 civilians. Regions as Mansouri, Qanaa, and Nabatiyeh registered the greatest number of innocent victims whose murderers still run in the area.Yet, the latest "proud and great" deed of "Israel" was registered no later than Thursday, June 24, under the amazed eyes of the entire globe, when
"Israel" attacked the capital Beirut, 10 died and 54 wounded being reported.

BRIEF BACKGROUND
As a response to a continuous harassment in their own country, in 1997 the Palestinians  started the Intifada. Apparently the initial demonstrations and clashes were not orchestrated by the Palestinian liberation organisation, but were a spontaneous and healthy response to the mounting frustration with "Israeli" army occupation felt in Gaza and West Bank. The growth in popularity of militant religious groups such as Islamic Jihad and from 1988 Hamas, helped to chanel this natural frustration into direct
action.

The reaction of the "Israeli" army was immediate. Ytzhak Rabin, at that time Defence (War) Minister in the coalition government ordered his puppet soldiers to use  live ammunition against the rioters. By January 1988 the "Israelis" had tried tear gas, rubber and live bullets,  mass arrests, imprisonment and deportations. Acts of cruelty continued to proceed under the shocked eyes of
anyone who had a minumum  commmon sense. Less under US's closed eyes. It was reported that in the West Bank  Village Of Selim on 5 February 1988, 4 suspected riot leaders were ordered to lie on the ground and an army bulldozer was ordered to push a mound of earth over them. So killing, terrorism and displacing peoples are basic elements on which "Israel" established and grew in addition to claim on an alleged religious right to Palestinian land.

Than Rabin, softly directed by his mighty supporter US, introduced the "break bones" policy  saying: " No demonstrators have died being thwacked on the head" "Israeli" soldiers wielded boots, batons and rifle butts against Palestinian men, women, and children indiscriminately. "Israeli" officials shameless argued that the policy was far more humane than the earlier approach of using live ammunition. The causalties were high: 1300 Palestinians, including 300 children are said to have been killed in the
Intifada. Middle East confronted again an acute and severe crisis.

In 1992 Rabin considerated a moderate is ellected prime minister, and in 1993 indulged a secret diplomacy with the PLO
leadership resulting in the Oslo Accords which were signed at the White House on 13 September. The Accords provided for a gradual "Israeli" withdrawal from parts of the West bank, the establishment of a Palestinian Authority and a time table for
future negotiations. For his shy attempt on making peace with the Palestinians Rabin was assassinated on 4 Novemeber 1995. His succcessor, Shimon Peres had a louzy attempt to follow Rabin's policy but failed in Netanyahu's favour who won the prime minister chair in May 1996.

The new prime minister, recognised as radical in his political views was exactly what Jews are: a hibrid of some mixed races who felt frustrated of his uncertain roots. Netanyahu was 46, the grandson of a Jewish Lithuanian who had arrived in Palestine in 1920. At the age of 14 , the young Bibi moved with his family to the USA. Naturally, that he had formed there his
early contacts with the Jewish diaspora which is known to count over 9 million electors quite important for the out-going American governmets.

After graduation he returned to his (what he genuinly believed it was his "home") to serve in an elite special forces unit, which in 1972 stormed a hijacked jet on the tarmac at Tel Aviv airport. His brother Jonathan was killed in1976, while leading a team that rescued the passengers of a hijacked plane at Entebbe airport in Uganda. As a result, Bibi started to personally feel hatred for Palestinians and especially for Arafat whose representative it was, now his negotiating "partner" in the so-called peace
process.

Netanyahu refused in 1996 to meet Arafat and he enjoyed in humiliating the later anytime he had the occasion. In November 1998, Netanyahu and his personal puppet decided to shake hands under the strict American supervision. After several weeks of hard labor the implicated parts have given birth to the Wye River Memorandum. Although the Palestinian Authority has not yet the right to ratify and become a state party to international human rights treaties, president Arafat stated in October 1993 that PLO was committed to respecting all internationally recognised human rights standards and to incorporating them fully into Palestinian legislation. In the same time, in Lebanon, the manner in which some civilians are arrested over night constitutes a violation of Lebanese Code of Criminal Procedures (particularly articles 12, 73, 101 and 103 which guarantee the rights of the acussed), and the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights (especialy article 7, which prohibits torture and ill-treatement, and article 9 which provides for liberty and security of person) to which Lubanan is state party!
The detention of hundreds of individuals both in Palestine/"Israel"(occupied territories) and Lebanon outside any legal process breaches the UDHR and all other international laws in these countries. And in order to refresh some memories we would like to write down some articles which concern us all.

UDHR
Art 1: All the human beings are born free and equal in their dignity and rights.
Art 3: Any human being has the right to life, liberty and the security of its person.
Art 5: No one shall be subjected to torture, or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments or punishment.
Art 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Art10: Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Art 11: Any person accused of commiting a penal act has the right to be considered non-guilty until proved as charged.

When Lebanon, "Israel" and Palestinian Authority signed all those treaties according to which the individuals'rights are to be fully respected those countries'goverments apparently seemed to comprehend and to apply them. But that was only theory. What follows is the living proof that justice, at least the human one seems still an utopia concept good for philosophy school books only, next to which the divine justice seems much closer and credible to our hopes.

Facts in Lebanon
Some 200 detainees are currently held in Khiam detention centre situated in South Lebanon. Khiam was set up as a permanent detention centre in early 1985 by the South Lebanon Army* (SLA) with the obvious "Israel's" assistance and supervision. Most of the detainees are Lebanese suspected only of belonging to armed organisations hostile to "Israel" and the SLA, or having been involved in attacks against "Israel" Defence Force**. Many of them have been tortured or ill-treated during the endless interrogations carried out either by "Israeli" militaries or SLA officers (further called 'lahdis'-from the general Lahad, the commander of this faction). They appear to be held outside any legal framework and have no access to the outside world.

Testimonies from detainees who had been released already indicated a systematic pattern of torture including beatings  with electric cables, dousing with water and electric shocks and much more. Detainees told of the direct involvement in interrogation and torture of "Israeli" personnel.

Interrogation and torture One detainee taken prisoner at the end of 1986 recalls: " After hours of continuous beatings the "y" ("Israeli" interrogator) stopped. He gave me a cigarette and he wanted to talk politics. I was on a chair with my hands cuffed…then he put the hood back over my head and told a   guard "put him in the room with a snake. I will teach you how to liberate your land", he said. The guard took me to the yard outside, suspended me from the electricity pole, and began pouring water over me. Then he started beating me on my behind. He would dose me with water, beat me, and pour water."

Another detainee, held between 1985 and 1990 reported: "I was tortured very badly being accused in the disappearance of two "Israelis". They used stronger voltage when giving me electric shocks. Once an "Israeli" interrogator came into room just after I had been beaten  with a steel rod over the head, and the blood was coming down over my eyes. After hours of beating he decided I had not been involved and the interrogation ended.

The following is the testimony of a detainee released in 1991, who says he was taken prisoner by SLA in Tayyibah in 1985 and brought to the local SLA headquarters.

"They put a blindfold over my eyes, plastic handcuffs in front, and they took me inside where "Y" ("Israeli" interrogator) was. Then they started beating me and kicking me all over my body, "y" and some other 5  Lahdis. They would go in and out. Then they have taken my top cloths off and they used my belt to beat me on my genitals."

TORTURE METHODS

1) Electric Shocks
This method has been described as follows: while the person is seated or lying on the ground, handcuffed and hooded with a blindfold, an interrogator attaches electrodes to two fingers(one on each hand) or other parts of the victim's body(such as tongue, ear lobes, noses, toes, penis and nipples at women) crank of an apparatus producing electric current. Detainees who said they saw this machine said it looked like an old telephone, or a military field telephone, attached to a battery. The faster the crank is turned , the higher the voltage that streams through the wires.

The following is the sad-but-true testimony of a detainee held between 1988-1991 in Khiam. "The wires were about two meters long. He (the "Y") put them on my index fingers and began turning the crank, slowly at first, then faster and faster. Then he said , "this is not enough for you". He kept beating me. Then he took off my trousers and underwear and he put one wire on my penis, and the other on my finger. He started turning the crank, faster and faster.

I was jumping up and down. In the violence of this, the wire slipped off my penis. He repeated the electric shocks two or three times over a two hours period. All the time he was pouring water over the areas where he had put the wires. After this I was taken to an isolation cell."

2) Beating with an electric cable
Most former deatinees have reported being beaten repeatedly with a thick electric cable (kurbaj kahraba). Typically, an interrogator beats a detainee lying prostrate on the ground, hitting all parts of the body.

The following is another testimony of a man held between 1987-1991. He says he had already been interrogated for one day, given electric shocks and spent the night in isolation.

"The "Y" took me to a room with  an interrogator. He then told me to lie face- down on the floor. He brought an electric cable and began to hit me. He was hitting me on my back and legs. This went on for an hour."

Another detainee recalls: " An interrogator started hitting me with an electrric cable. He said "I am going to hit you 100 times. Keep count, and when I ask you how far I have got  and you get it wrong, we will start from the beginning." After 20
lashes he asked me how many I had had. When I said 20 he said "you lied, there were only 19" and continued to hit me about 120 times." Sometimes detainees are beaten with an elecric cable on the soles of their feet, a practice known as 'falaqa'.

3) Suspension from an electricity pole.
Between interrogation sessions detainees are frequently suspended from an electricity pole ('amud kahraba) located in an outside yard between sections. Most commonly, a detainee's handcuffs are slung through another pair of handcuffs, or a chain or rope, hanging down from a cross-bar attached to the pole. Detainees are usually suspended so that their toes barely reach the ground. They may be kept like that for several hours, exposed to the elements. In addition, they may be stripped off their
clothes and doused with water at frequent intervals. They may also be beaten with electric cables.

4) Dousing with water
Detainees are frequently doused with water when they are in the outside yard, for example while they are suspended from the electricity pole in between interrogation sessions. Sometimes hot and cold water is used alternatively. The detainees may be clothed or unclothed, even during the freezing weather in winter.

5) Painful positions
Several detainees have described the pain and the physical exhaustion they suffered by being forced to keep their arms raised while standing or kneeling, or by being made to perfom other forms of physically demanding activity.

6) Deprivation of sleep, food and hygiene
During the initial  period of interrogation detainees are usually deprived of sleep and food , clearly in an attempt to exhaust them physically and mentally. This is done by forcing detainees to stand in between interrogation sessions or by beating them or pouring cold water over them at regular intervals while they are kept in a corridor or in one of the yards.

During this period detainees are usually further weakened by the provision of insufficient food.

Frequently detainees are not allowed to use the toilet for many days, and must relieve themselves in their trousers, if they are clothed, or anywhere on the ground.

We recall to those who are not yet aware of such methods that they are to be considered classical in both former communist and nazis' prisons.

7) Hoods and handcuffs
Upon arrival in the Khiam detention centre and during interrogation, detainees are normally hooded with thick dark canvas sacks, described as dirty and smelly. To make sure that they cannot see, a blindfold is usually placed over the sack. In addition, detainees's hands, and sometimes feet are placed in steel or plastic cuffs. The plastic cuffs can be particularly painful when tightened because they can cut into flesh.

The sacks and cuffs are apparently removed  when a detainee is put in an isolation cell or held in a cell with suspected "collaborators". The main reason for the hooding seems to be to disorient detainees and induce fear, rather than to prevent victims from identifying interrogators. Detainees have reported that their hood was removed towards the end of their
interrogation in the presence of their interrogators. Some detainees wearing hoods are hit, exploiting their inability to expect the blows and thus increasing the distress and degradation caused by the blows.

8) The isolation cell
Throughout the period of interrogation detainees'only contacts are their interrogators and possibly one or more collaborators. Detainees under interrogation are often kept in isolation cells, said to measure less than one meter per side and to be so dark that detainees are sometimes unable to discern the food in their plates. One detainee reported having spent 60 consecutive days in such a cell in 1985, sleeping in a sitting position. Sometimes, to increase the distress, two detainees would be placed together
in the same isolation cell for several days. In these cells they may be able to hear the moaning and screaming of other detainees.

9) The "chicken coop"
Until early 1988, a very small cell called  "chicken coop" ('al-qin') by detainees was in Section I  at Khiam. The "chicken coop" was apparently 50 cms long, 50 cms wide and 70 cms high. A detainee, hooded and bound, would be pushed in at a sitting position with the head on the raised knees.

The detainee would be kept in this cramped position for two or three hours, enough to cause severe back and neck pains. One detainee held between 1987-1991 related his experience of the "chicken coop":
"After five days in isolation, and I was not talking , they put me in what is called 'al-qin'…The first time I was in there for three hours. After 3 hours, you feel like you are about to explode … They put me in the "coop" three times, each time for about 2 or 3 hours".

10) Insults and threats
Insults, especially of a detainee's religion or female relatives, are common. Threats, including death threats, are often directed at detainees or their realtives. "If you do not confess, we will bring your mother here and torture her in front of your eyes". "If you  do not confess, we will blow up your house ". "If you do not confess, you will not get out of here alive".

Some such threats appear to have been carried out, or refer to actions that detainees know have actually been carried out against others.

A woman detainee held between 1987 and 1988 described other threats and a mock execution:

" During my interrogation the 'lahdis'(SLA members) threatened to blow up my house  and my entire family. They also said they would pull my cloths off and rape me. After 5 days, they started using electricity. They put wires on my two index fingers, poured water over me, and shocked me. I screamed.Then they put a rope around my neck and threatened to kill me."

11) Torture of relatives
To put additional pressure on detainees, one of their relatives may be detained in Khiam for short or long periods and tortured or ill-treated with earshot of the deatinees. Mothers, wives, daughters, sisters and fiancees of the male detainees are beaten or raped under their relatives'terrified eyes. The method of psychological torture appears to be highly effective. Deatinees say that once they heard the anguished voice of their mother or father, for example, they could no longer resist their interrogators.

This is a testimony of a detainee taken prisoner at the end of 1986. He said had already been repeatedly and severely tortured when they brought his mother:
"Then (the interrogator)  told me  "I brought your mother here". And sure enough she was in the next room. I heard her scream. She is 50 years old.

They kept her for 3 months, I found out latter, and they tortured her to put pressure on me. Eventually when I heard her scream (the detainee was crying while telling), I confessed whatever they wanted me to confess".

12) The interrogation of women
Women detainees in Khiam detention centre are reportedly interrogated and tortured by male interrogators. In general, the same interrogation methods used against men appear to be used against women. However, women detainees have been reportedly been subjected to rapes, and forms of sexual abuse.

PALESTINIAN ARBITRARY DETENTION
Husni Mohammed Shehadeh, physics student is a Palestinian detained without charge or trial by "Israel" since August 1997, for his alleged links to Hamas, and he is currently being interrogated and tortured, by "Israel"'General Security Service (GSS). Shehadeh has been under interrogation since February 1999, when he was transferred from prison in "Israel" to Hasharon
interrogation centre, also in "Israel". The methods of torture used on him and many others has included 'shabeh', where the person's hands and legs are tied to a chair in an unconfortable position and sleep deprivation. Except for periods of interrogation, Shehadeh was hooded in this position with loud music playing, from the afternoon until the following morning. It is a well-known fact, that secret "Israeli" guidelines (authorised by the so-called Landau Report in 1997) allow  for the use of torture or ill-treatement, which it refers to as  "moderate physical pressure". Similarly, since October 1994 a special ministerial committee  said that  "increased physical pressure" can be used during interrogation.

GSS officers who have testified in court admit to using prolonged sleep deprivation, forcing detainees  to sit or stand in painful positions for long periods of time and squatting ('gambaz') for up to two hour at a time.

Violent shaking ('tiltul'), which may cause severe brain damage, even death, has also been used.

A UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has reffered to many of these practices as "methods of torture".

Instead on conclusion
Trying to stress more than what the above reports already showed and proved about the still-in-use "Israeli" attrocities  is somehow futile. The only conclusion that might be drawn is that in this very moment when we are reading and terrifying about the experiences some human fellows are subjected to, is that no matter how loud we would scream "Stop the killings and tortures now" we cannot cover the screams and cryings which are still heard within Khiam or some other "Israeli" hell holes.

** This term is absolutely unacceptable. "Israel's" Army is that of war and aggression for it protects land gained by force, confiscation and war in contradiction with the simplest rights of human confessed by the international laws and conventions.