Palestinian Authority prisoner dies, torture suspected

B'Tselem: the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, never an organization to pull its punches, released a statement on July 1 sharply criticizing the Palestinian Authority for the death, apparently by torture, of a Palestinian man taken into custody in June <http://bit.ly/2dbFA>. Haitham 'Amru was reported to have died the day after he was arrested by the PA. A fieldworker for the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, who was able to view the corpse before burial, witnessed evidence of severe injury to 'Amru's body. This new case must be added to what B'Tselem has already deplored as the extrajudicial killing, by Palestinian individuals and organizations, of dozens of Palestinian civilians who were suspected of collaboration with Israel <http://bit.ly/Tvno7>.

Meanwhile, three Israeli human rights organizations have called on the European Union to link upgrading relations with Israel to concrete evidence of improvement in the nation's respect for human rights and the rule of law <http://bit.ly/16pvAZ>. Among the three organizations' demands are that Israel halt all settlement construction and territorial expansion in the Occupied Territories, end the closure of Gaza, cease house demolitions, initiate credible inquiries into reports of mistreatment and torture of Palestinians in Israeli custody and other human rights violations, and co-operate fully with the UN fact-finding team investigating Israel's actions during the most recent Gaza offensive. The three organizations responsible for the statement are HaMoked: the Center for the Defence of the Individual; Physicians for Human Rights-Israel; and B'Tselem.

--Lincoln Z. Shlensky

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Jewish Peace News editors:
Joel Beinin
Racheli Gai
Rela Mazali
Sarah Anne Minkin
Judith Norman
Lincoln Z. Shlensky
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Alistair Welchman
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