Slippery Slope

The Center for the Defence of the Individual (Hamoked), Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Reform Center  for Religion and State have filed a petition with the High Court for Justice against the National Insurance Institute.  The organizations demand that the National Insurance Institute place a professional translator, knowledgabe in medical terms, in committees dealing with the insurance claims of residents of East Jerusalem, or alternately, that Arabic speaking physicians be posted in the committees.  The organizations claim that even though the National Insurance Institute website and the committee summons letters state that claimants are allowed to bring an interpreter with them to the committee hearing, the East Jerusalem branch of the Institute does not always allow them to do so.

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) reports that human rights activist Ayman Nasser, who has been indicted for his participation in public activities and rallies for Palestinian prisoners has been held for 39 days under harsh conditions and has even been tortured. (Addameer website)

(Hebrew – PHR website)

A post in the “Physicians for Human Rights” facebook group says that a large police force entered the “Beer Kha’il” elementary school in the Bedouin village of Beer Hadaj, fired rubber bullets and tear gas, and arrested students.  A senior physician at Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva said that a bus filled with at least 20 children arrived at the hospital’s children’s intensive care unit, where they were treated for tear gas inhalation.  According to reports by the “Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality”, those injured during the incident include a pregnant woman, a child with a broken arm, and another with an eye injury.  13 people were arrested during the raid, including several children. (+972mag.com)

(Hebrew – Facebook)

A report prepared by “Physicians for Human Rights” and the “Hotline for Migrant Workers” found that Israel mistreats the survivors of kidnapping and torture in the Sinai despite the harsh torture they underwent, and is detaining them under harsh conditions without proper care or facilities and while ignoring studies showing that prolonged detention has a devastating effect, especially on the survivors of slavery and torture. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

According to data obtained by B’Tselem from the Prison Service, there has been a steady increase in the number of Palestinian detainees held in administrative detention in 2011: In January 2011 219 Palestinians were held in administrative detention, while in December 2011 their number had risen to 307.  According to the data, as of the end of December 2011, 29% of detainees had been held for between 6 months and one year, and a further 24% for between one and two years.  17 detainees have been held for between two and four years, and one has been held for more than five years.  The data further shows that at the end of 2011 Israel was holding a Palestinian minor in administrative detention.  One of the detainees, 34 year old Khader Adnan, from the village of ‘Araba near Jenin, was detained on December 17, and has been on hunger strike since the 18th.  According to Physicians for Human Rights, “his condition is life-threatening.”

A new report by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel reveals that doctors and paramedics who in recent years treated detainees and prisoners refrained from reporting signs of mistreatment and torture on their patients, thus becoming passive partners in detainee torture.  The report is based on the affidavits of 100 detainees and prisoners, collected since 2007, and determines that the medical professionals acted systematically in violation of their professional ethics codes.

According to reports from the “Physicians for Human Rights” organization and the Hotline for Migrant Workers, IDF soldiers denied entrance to forty asylum seekers from Eritrea, excepting two women. Most of the group has been in the desert since last week, without food, water, or shelter.

The State has claimed in Supreme Court hearings that it doesn’t turn away women, and also that since the beginning of March, it doesn’t perform “hot return” (also known as “coordinated immediate return procedure”), in which IDF soldiers and Border Police are authorized to return asylum seekers to Egypt.

Hebrew