On Thu, Aug 8, 2024 at 9:02 AM MERIP <[email protected]> wrote:
> View this email in your browser > <https://mailchi.mp/713c60cf7be1/merip-comment-prison-rape-at-sde-teiman?e=086111b704> > > *Middle East Research and Information Project* > *Critical coverage of the Middle East since 1971* > *MERIP Comment: Rape at Sde Teiman Prison* > > A special preview of our Fall Issue from Lisa Hajjar and Basil Farraj > > Dear Friends and Comrades, > > *The recent reports of rapes of Palestinian prisoners at the Israeli > detention camp, Sde Teiman, and elsewhere have caused widespread outrage, > revealing the fault lines in Israel’s political and military establishment > amid the ongoing war on Gaza. These events are playing out as MERIP has > been hard at work on our Fall Issue, ‘Carceral Realities and Freedom > Dreams.’ Given MERIP’s long > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=3444b373c4&e=086111b704> > history > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=3b50775af6&e=086111b704> > of documenting > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=0e2c5f6f68&e=086111b704> > grave abuses > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=a76e299ddf&e=086111b704> > in the Israeli prison system and the work we’re currently engaged in, we > felt it appropriate to share a preview from the issue that addresses the > Sde Teiman events head-on for this week’s MERIP comment. * > > *The following is excerpted from an in-depth report by Lisa Hajjar and > Basil Farraj on Israel’s war on Palestinian prisoners that will be released > in full as part of our Fall Issue. We’re sharing this now to continue our > mission of shining a light on these crimes against humanity in the region > and highlighting defiance and dissent in the face of such crimes. This work > is a powerful reminder that, as the authors put it, “in this exceptionally > violent present… defiance is above all a will to survive.” * > > In solidarity, > > James Ryan, Executive Director > > *Lisa Hajjar, UC-Santa Barbara, MERIP Editorial Committee * > > > *Basil Farraj, Birzeit University* > > *State Secrets and Crimes* > > Yesterday, in the latest episode of unrest over sexual violence in > Israel’s prisons, a video > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=0d4b42dd67&e=086111b704> > of nine soldiers raping a Palestinian detainee was broadcast > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=3485d5a46c&e=086111b704> > on Israel’s Channel 12. Later in the day, a right-wing mob converged > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=513d28b415&e=086111b704> > on Israel’s Supreme Court and disrupted a hearing about Sde Teiman. > > Sde Teiman is an Israeli military camp in the Negev desert that was > partially converted into a detention center after the start of Israel’s war > on Gaza in October. It has been characterized as a “black site” because it > is inaccessible to independent monitors and officials regard the identities > and treatment of Palestinians held there a state secret. > > But the veil of secrecy shrouding Sde Teiman was lifted in April when Ha’aretz > reported > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=e39813e7a1&e=086111b704> > on a letter sent to Israeli cabinet members by a doctor working at the > facility. “Just this week, two prisoners had their legs amputated due to > handcuff injuries, which unfortunately is a routine event,’ the physician > said in the letter.” He added, “I am writing to warn you that the > facilities’ operations do not comply with a single section among those > dealing with health in the Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law." > > One month later, CNN published an explosive exposé > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=0ee8025ca9&e=086111b704> > about Sde Teiman based on accounts by three whistleblowing soldiers and 12 > Gazans who were recently released. According to the whistleblowers, one > section of the detention facility contains a large barbed-wire pen where > blindfolded Palestinians are shackled in stress positions for up to 16 > hours a day with no shelter from the desert heat. Detainees who talk, fall > asleep or even move can be cuffed to the fence in a standing position with > hands above their heads. At night, dogs have been released into prisoners’ > cells while sound grenades are fired. The other section of the detention > facility contains a field hospital where wounded Palestinians are shackled > to beds, blindfolded, stripped of their clothes, and forced to defecate in > diapers. CNN reported that “doctors sometimes amputated prisoners’ limbs > due to injuries sustained from constant handcuffing; of medical procedures > sometimes performed by underqualified medics earning it a reputation for > being ‘a paradise for interns’; and where the air is filled with the smell > of neglected wounds left to rot.” The decision by Israeli doctors to > perform medical procedures on detainees without anesthesia is not due to > shortages, as is the case for doctors in Gaza; it is a choice that comports > with the retaliatory and illegal nature of the broader war > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=308f247843&e=086111b704>. > One informant told CNN: “I was asked to learn how to do things on the > patients, performing minor medical procedures that are totally outside my > expertise.” > > Khaled Mahajneh was the first lawyer the military permitted to visit Sde > Teiman. He went to the facility on June 19 to meet with Mohammad Arab, an > Al Araby TV journalist who was taken into custody in March while covering > the Israeli attack on al-Shifa Hospital. In an interview with +972 > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=e2c148b302&e=086111b704>, > Mahajneh said, “The situation there is more horrific than anything we’ve > heard about Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo.” > > *A Right to Rape?* > > Amid plentiful accounts and abundant material evidence of > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=07a87619a2&e=086111b704> > systematic > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=0ce0a879f3&e=086111b704> > rape, > torture and murder > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=6859c4de7b&e=086111b704> > of Palestinian prisoners, in July, Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, > the military advocate general, moved forward on an investigation of a gang > rape by nine soldiers at Sde Teiman. A Palestinian from Gaza, who is > accused of being a member of Hamas’s Nukhba unit, was so badly brutalized > in the course of being sodomized that he suffered a ruptured bowel, severe > damage to his anus, broken ribs and lung damage. He was transferred in > critical condition to a nearby hospital where he required surgery. Dr. Yoel > Donchin, who treated him at Sde Teiman, told Ha’aretz > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=3dd3add7ad&e=086111b704> > that he was shocked an Israeli guard could do such a thing. “I was certain > this was revenge by Nukhba against Nukhba.” He added, “If the state and > Knesset members think there’s no limit to how much you can abuse prisoners, > they should kill them themselves, like the Nazis did, or close the > hospitals…If they maintain a hospital only for the sake of defending > ourselves at the Hague, that's no good.” > > On July 29, military police were dispatched to Sde Teiman > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=9f113c178a&e=086111b704> > to take into custody the nine reservists accused of the gang rape; one of > them is a major who commands Force 100, the unit that operates Sde Teiman > (and other military detention facilities). Another reservist also wanted > for multiple acts of aggravated abuse of prisoners was not on the base at > the time. Soldiers from Force 100 resisted the military police > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=2fb39c030d&e=086111b704> > in an attempt to prevent the arrests. Following shouting and clashes, they > barricaded themselves along with the wanted suspects in a show of > solidarity. During this standoff, a mob of about 200 Israelis, including > some members of the Knesset, stormed the base to support the soldiers. > Police stationed nearby waited over an hour to enter the base and expel the > rioters. > > As events at Sde Teiman were unfolding, there were debates in the Knesset > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=52aec5455f&e=086111b704> > over the military advocate general's move to investigate soldiers for gang > rape. Likud member Yuli Edelstein, who chairs the Foreign Affairs and > Defense Committee, said, “A situation where masked military police officers > conduct a raid on an IDF base is not acceptable to me and I will not allow > it to happen again. Our soldiers are not criminals and this disgraceful > persecution of our soldiers is unacceptable to me.” Ahmad Tibi, a member > from Hadash Ta’al who was outraged by comments of other members, asked: “Is > inserting an explosive into the rectum of a person legitimate?” Likud > member Hanoch Milvetsky retorted, “If he is a Nukhba, everything is > legitimate.” Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir chimed in > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=47241cae8c&e=086111b704> > that “the sight of military policemen arriving to arrest our best heroes in > Sde Teiman is nothing short of shameful. I advise the Minister of Defense, > the Chief of Staff and the army authorities to support the soldiers and to > benefit from the Prison Service. The summer camp and tolerance for > terrorists are over. Our soldiers must receive full support.” > > When the nine suspects finally were extricated from Sde Teiman, they were > transferred to the base at Beit Lid for questioning. There, an even larger > mob—including members of Force 100—stormed the base and rampaged to protest > the arrest of soldiers accused of rape and aggravated abuse. On July 31, two > of the suspects were released > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=77951013ee&e=086111b704> > without charges, three more were released > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=c73b92a825&e=086111b704> > earlier this week. The other five remain under investigation. On August 1, > it was reported that the gang-raped detainee was returned to Sde Teiman > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=44cd4afd91&e=086111b704> > . > > *The War on Prisoners* > > Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is an evolving story, but one never > free of dehumanization and discrimination > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=b3ddf021c5&e=086111b704>. > Endemic torture and abuse of prisoners is only one dimension of the violent > and degrading practices present in all spheres of Israeli control that > affect Palestinians. Israel’s carceral project > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=c20fe5ac03&e=086111b704> > has been designed and developed to eliminate Palestinians’ > national-collective existence, to re-engineer the population through > fragmentation and repression and to deter people from engaging in > resistance or even aspiring to liberation. Indeed, as Walid Daqqa—a > long-serving prisoner who died in Israeli custody in April—explained, there > are the “small prisons,” where at least 800,000 Palestinians > <https://merip.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e18284b99bf49578897672d9a&id=319afdc6ca&e=086111b704> > have been incarcerated over the decades, and the “large prison” of > Palestinian society which, despite geographic and political fragmentation, > remains unified by experiences of occupation and apartheid. > > In the current moment—as Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed tens of > thousands and military assaults and state-supported settler pogroms are > rampant across the West Bank—the level and scope of violence and > dehumanization perpetrated against Palestinian prisoners by Israeli > soldiers, security agents and prison staff has extended the hot war into > the prisons. What the Israeli government consistently fails to appreciate, > however, is the resilience of Palestinian defiance against erasure. In this > exceptionally violent present, this defiance is above all a will to survive. > > > *SUPPORT MERIP:* > All of MERIP's analysis is available for free and we depend on donations > to continue our work. 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