The UN General Assembly’s Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices in Occupied Territories heard an “expert” witness today. The Committee is not recognized by Israel which regards it as biased against the Jewish State and an instrument of Arab propaganda.
The witness, Eytan Grossfeld, 21, an Israeli national, is employed by the Israeli League of Human and Civil Rights. He made allegations with respect to the detention of Palestinian youths in East Jerusalem, oppression of the population of Ramallah and El-Bireh in March 1977, attacks on the Arab village of Deib Abu Mash-Eil, beatings of Arab detainees by Israeli soldiers in the streets of Jerusalem and what he described as the “daily practice” of harassment of Arab passers-by in that city. Grossfeld alleged that mass arrests of young Arabs aged 15-19 by the special task force of the Jerusalem police took place the night of December 15, 1976. The arrests were made on the basis of lists of persons to be arrested, supplied by the security service. Such arrests were carried out after every wave of protest and resistance, and sometimes even when the situation was quiet, the witness testified.
CLAIMS ELECTRIC SHOCK USED
He said the arrests were carried out at night in the houses surrounded by border guards. He also claimed the arrested youths were subjected to “uninterrupted and indiscriminate” beatings with clubs and fists. He alleged that these 40 or so youngsters were arrested as “potential offenders.” In the course of their interrogation, some of them were treated with electric current, Grossfeld claimed.
He said that Deib Abu Mash-Eil, on the West Bank, 25-35 kilometers east of Tel Aviv, was invaded by a group of armed persons in uniform every night since March 18, 1977. The invaders fired into the air, smashed windows and broke doors. Later, the villagers discovered that the attackers were border guards wearing green berets and that they were under the command of “Captain Morris.” The attackers made known their demands–they wanted to intimidate the inhabitants to give up their cultivated lands for the purpose of establishing “a military base,” Grossfeld claimed.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
