16.11.03
Israel/Palestine: "Road map" obligations and secret prisons
According to an internal memo, the government of Israel failed to honor its commitments under the so-called "road map".
Meanwhile, the Guardian carries a report about Facility 1391, a secret prison in northern Israel where physical and psychological torture is part of imprisonment.
According to an internal memo, the government of Israel failed to honor its commitments under the so-called "road map".
"Our claim that Israel has fulfilled its side of the (peace) road map is seen as lacking credibility because not only have we not evacuated the illegal outposts, we are working in every way to whitewash their existence and build more," it said.Sid Blumenthal, from his new post at the Guardian, explains how Blair was duped by Bush concerning the "road map". Note to British readers: anyone duped by Bush does not deserve to be running a country.
Meanwhile, the Guardian carries a report about Facility 1391, a secret prison in northern Israel where physical and psychological torture is part of imprisonment.
One former inmate has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was raped twice - once by a man and once with a stick - during questioning. But most of those who emerge say the real torture is the psychological impact of solitary confinement in filthy, blackened cells so poorly lit that inmates can barely see their own hands, and with no idea where they are or, in many cases, why they are there.Facility 1391, Room 101, hasbara, doublespeak... it's all the same.
"Our main conclusion is that it exists to make torture possible - a particular kind of torture that creates progressive states of dread, dependency, debility," says Manal Hazzan, a human rights lawyer who helped expose the prison's existence. "The law gives the army enough authority already to hide prisoners, so why do they need a secret facility?"
