Palestinian Prisoners Still Abused, Israeli Group Says : Mideast: Human rights organization believes that using torture in interrogations produces ‘a victory for terrorism.’

JERUSALEM — Despite ongoing peace negotiations, Israel’s security services continue to torture Palestinian prisoners routinely, an Israeli human rights group charged Wednesday.

With Islamic militants mounting deadly suicide attacks against Israeli civilian and military targets, many Israelis may not be sympathetic to complaints about the abuse of prisoners, acknowledged Yuval Ginbar, author of the report issued by the B’tselem organization and released at a news conference.

“These are tough times,” Ginbar said. “And as always, B’tselem is stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

But the group believes, he said, that using torture in interrogations produces “a victory for terrorism.”

B’tselem alleged that interrogators for the General Security Services--also known as the Shabak, or Shin Bet--and the army routinely subject prisoners to sleep deprivation, humiliation, physical abuse and threats. The organization first made such charges in 1991. Its periodic reports since then have always been rejected by the army.

“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) has a clear and strict set of regulations governing actions permitted, as well as behavior prohibited, during questioning in IDF detention facilities,” the army spokesman’s office said in a written response to B’tselem’s latest charges. “These rules determine that violence, threat of violence or any kind of humiliation or degradation may not be used against a person being questioned. These rules, in their most updated version, are in effect in every facility used for questioning by the IDF.”

The Shin Bet made no comment on the report. Ginbar and other B’tselem officials criticized the government for recently approving new, secret methods of interrogation to cope with the suicide bombings.

Justice Minister David Libai has said that even the new methods fall within the boundaries of guidelines issued by the Landau Commission.

In 1987, the Landau Commission, a blue-ribbon panel, issued interrogation guidelines that allowed for “moderate physical pressure” on prisoners during interrogations when circumstances required security forces to extract information from suspects quickly in order to save lives. This became known as the “ticking bomb” scenario.

There is a national near-consensus that all means of interrogation are justified in such circumstances, said Yizhar Be’er, B’tselem’s director.

“Lately, it has been said that the whole reality that we are living in is a ticking bomb,” he said.

The Landau Commission said that even in a “ticking bomb” scenario, “the pressure must not attain the degree of physical torture or brutality or severe harm to (a prisoner’s) dignity that deprives him of his humanity.” The government has insisted since then that it follows the commission’s guidelines. B’tselem disputes the government’s contention.

“Application of the recommendations resulted in the opposite (result) of that intended,” B’tselem alleged in its report. Now, prisoners are routinely subjected to physical pressure, even in cases where they are ultimately released without charge, B’tselem alleged.

“Where are our smart interrogators?” Ginbar asked at the news conference. “Where are interrogators who can extract information out of people by using sophisticated means? Now, it seems, from the testimony that we have, that in order to become a Shin Bet interrogator, you have to speak Arabic--especially curse words--and you have to be strong physically.”

In the report issued Wednesday, B’tselem said that its workers interviewed seven Palestinians and took sworn testimony from two others on the conditions they experienced during interrogations between May and September of 1994. Only five of the nine prisoners mentioned in the report allowed their names to be used.

One prisoner remains in detention. Seven others were released with no charges filed. One was convicted of minor offenses.