2 mar 2020
by Kathryn Shihadah
Israeli occupation authorities have permitted large pharmaceutical firms to experiment on Palestinian prisoners, and have been testing weapons on Palestinian children, a Hebrew University professor disclosed in a recent lecture series.
An Israeli professor disclosed in a recent lecture series at Columbia University that Israeli authorities have permitted large pharmaceutical firms to experiment on Palestinian prisoners, and have been testing weapons on Palestinian children.
Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, the Lawrence D. Biele Chair in Law at Israel’s Hebrew University, also presented in Amsterdam in January on the same topic.
Promotional material for the events describe her lecture as illustrating through “the voices and writings of Jerusalemite children who live under Occupation” that Israel’s practices of “surveying, imprisoning, torturing, and killing can be used as a laboratory for states, arms companies, and security agencies to market their technologies as ‘combat proven.’”
Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s presentation was based on data she gathered for a research project for the university. The work, titled Arrested Childhood in Spaces of Indifference: The Criminalized Children of Occupied East Jerusalem, was published in the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law in 2018 and co-authored by Shahrazad Odeh, who is also on the Faculty of Law and Institute of Criminology at Hebrew University.
In the article, the authors demonstrate how Israel’s policy of targeting Palestinian children and childhood through the criminal justice system is fundamental to the state’s mechanism of colonial dispossession. They shed light on the critical role that the Israeli legal system plays in the state’s “racist project.”
Drug experiments on Palestinian prisoners
Shalhoub-Kevorkian revealed in her lecture at Columbia University that Israeli occupation authorities issue permits to large pharmaceutical firms, which then carry out tests on Palestinian prisoners.
Telesur recalls that as far back as July 1997,
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported remarks for Dalia Itzik, chairman of a parliamentary committee, acknowledged that the Israeli Ministry of Health had given pharmaceutical firms permits to test their new drugs of inmates, noting that 5,000 tests had already been carried out.
The recent, well-publicized incident of the death of an Israeli prison inmate, Palestinian Fares Baroud, raised suspicions that he may have been a test subject. Israeli authorities refused to relinquish the body. Baroud suffered from a number of illnesses.
Weapons testing for profit
Shalhoub-Kevorkian also pointed out that Israeli military firms test weapons on Palestinian children in the Palestinian neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem.
“Palestinian spaces are laboratories,” she explained. “The invention of products and services of state-sponsored security corporations are fueled by long-term curfews and Palestinian oppression by the Israeli army,” and “Israeli security industry [is] using them as showcases” to boost security technologies and weapon sales in the global market.
Hebrew University response
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem distanced itself from Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s claims, releasing a statement,
The views expressed by Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian don’t represent or express in any way the views of the Hebrew University or the university administration, but are her personal opinion that reflect only her views.
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian is the Lawrence D. Biele Chair in Law at the Faculty of Law-Institute of Criminology and the School of Social Work and Public Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Global Chair in Law at Queen Mary University of London. Her research focuses on law, society, and crimes of abuse of power.
She studies the crime of femicide and other forms of gendered violence, crimes of abuse of power in settler colonial contexts, surveillance, securitization and social control, and children, trauma, and recovery in militarized and colonized zones. Dr. Shalhoub-Kevorkian is a criminologist and specialist in human rights and women’s rights.
Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s most recent book is entitled: Security Theology, Surveillance and the Politics of Fear,” published by Cambridge University Press. She also authored “Militarization and Violence Against Women in Conflict Zones in the Middle East: The Palestinian Case Study” published by Cambridge University Press, 2010.
She has published articles in multi-disciplinary fields including British Journal of Criminology, International Review of Victimology, Feminism and Psychology, Middle East Law and Governance, International Journal of Lifelong Education, American Behavioral Scientist Journal, Social Service Review, Violence Against Women, Journal of Feminist Family Therapy: An International Forum, Social Identities, Social Science and Medicine, Signs, Law & Society Review, and more.
As a resident of the old city of Jerusalem, Shalhoub-Kevorkian is a prominent local activist. She engages in direct actions and critical dialogue to end the inscription of power over Palestinian children’s lives, spaces of death, and women’s birthing bodies and lives.
Kathryn Shihadah is staff writer for If Americans Knew. She blogs at Palestine Home.
Israeli occupation authorities have permitted large pharmaceutical firms to experiment on Palestinian prisoners, and have been testing weapons on Palestinian children, a Hebrew University professor disclosed in a recent lecture series.
An Israeli professor disclosed in a recent lecture series at Columbia University that Israeli authorities have permitted large pharmaceutical firms to experiment on Palestinian prisoners, and have been testing weapons on Palestinian children.
Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, the Lawrence D. Biele Chair in Law at Israel’s Hebrew University, also presented in Amsterdam in January on the same topic.
Promotional material for the events describe her lecture as illustrating through “the voices and writings of Jerusalemite children who live under Occupation” that Israel’s practices of “surveying, imprisoning, torturing, and killing can be used as a laboratory for states, arms companies, and security agencies to market their technologies as ‘combat proven.’”
Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s presentation was based on data she gathered for a research project for the university. The work, titled Arrested Childhood in Spaces of Indifference: The Criminalized Children of Occupied East Jerusalem, was published in the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law in 2018 and co-authored by Shahrazad Odeh, who is also on the Faculty of Law and Institute of Criminology at Hebrew University.
In the article, the authors demonstrate how Israel’s policy of targeting Palestinian children and childhood through the criminal justice system is fundamental to the state’s mechanism of colonial dispossession. They shed light on the critical role that the Israeli legal system plays in the state’s “racist project.”
Drug experiments on Palestinian prisoners
Shalhoub-Kevorkian revealed in her lecture at Columbia University that Israeli occupation authorities issue permits to large pharmaceutical firms, which then carry out tests on Palestinian prisoners.
Telesur recalls that as far back as July 1997,
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported remarks for Dalia Itzik, chairman of a parliamentary committee, acknowledged that the Israeli Ministry of Health had given pharmaceutical firms permits to test their new drugs of inmates, noting that 5,000 tests had already been carried out.
The recent, well-publicized incident of the death of an Israeli prison inmate, Palestinian Fares Baroud, raised suspicions that he may have been a test subject. Israeli authorities refused to relinquish the body. Baroud suffered from a number of illnesses.
Weapons testing for profit
Shalhoub-Kevorkian also pointed out that Israeli military firms test weapons on Palestinian children in the Palestinian neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem.
“Palestinian spaces are laboratories,” she explained. “The invention of products and services of state-sponsored security corporations are fueled by long-term curfews and Palestinian oppression by the Israeli army,” and “Israeli security industry [is] using them as showcases” to boost security technologies and weapon sales in the global market.
Hebrew University response
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem distanced itself from Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s claims, releasing a statement,
The views expressed by Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian don’t represent or express in any way the views of the Hebrew University or the university administration, but are her personal opinion that reflect only her views.
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian is the Lawrence D. Biele Chair in Law at the Faculty of Law-Institute of Criminology and the School of Social Work and Public Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Global Chair in Law at Queen Mary University of London. Her research focuses on law, society, and crimes of abuse of power.
She studies the crime of femicide and other forms of gendered violence, crimes of abuse of power in settler colonial contexts, surveillance, securitization and social control, and children, trauma, and recovery in militarized and colonized zones. Dr. Shalhoub-Kevorkian is a criminologist and specialist in human rights and women’s rights.
Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s most recent book is entitled: Security Theology, Surveillance and the Politics of Fear,” published by Cambridge University Press. She also authored “Militarization and Violence Against Women in Conflict Zones in the Middle East: The Palestinian Case Study” published by Cambridge University Press, 2010.
She has published articles in multi-disciplinary fields including British Journal of Criminology, International Review of Victimology, Feminism and Psychology, Middle East Law and Governance, International Journal of Lifelong Education, American Behavioral Scientist Journal, Social Service Review, Violence Against Women, Journal of Feminist Family Therapy: An International Forum, Social Identities, Social Science and Medicine, Signs, Law & Society Review, and more.
As a resident of the old city of Jerusalem, Shalhoub-Kevorkian is a prominent local activist. She engages in direct actions and critical dialogue to end the inscription of power over Palestinian children’s lives, spaces of death, and women’s birthing bodies and lives.
Kathryn Shihadah is staff writer for If Americans Knew. She blogs at Palestine Home.
6 dec 2019
The Israeli occupation authorities on Friday handed over the body of the Palestinian detainee Sami Abu Diyak to Jordan, according to the Palestinian Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission.
Head of the Palestinian Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission, Qadri Abu Baker, said that the Israeli authorities returned Abu Diyak's body, upon the request of his family, through Allenby Bridge.
Abu Baker noted that his commission had asked the Israeli authorities to hand them over Abu Diyak's body but the latter rejected.
Abu Diyak, 36, died while in Israeli custody on 26 November, following 17 years of detention, due to cancer and other serious health problems as well as deliberate medical negligence by the Israel Prison Service.
Abu Diyak was the fifth Palestinian detainee to die in Israeli jails as a result of torture or medical neglect in 2019.
Head of the Palestinian Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission, Qadri Abu Baker, said that the Israeli authorities returned Abu Diyak's body, upon the request of his family, through Allenby Bridge.
Abu Baker noted that his commission had asked the Israeli authorities to hand them over Abu Diyak's body but the latter rejected.
Abu Diyak, 36, died while in Israeli custody on 26 November, following 17 years of detention, due to cancer and other serious health problems as well as deliberate medical negligence by the Israel Prison Service.
Abu Diyak was the fifth Palestinian detainee to die in Israeli jails as a result of torture or medical neglect in 2019.
5 dec 2019
The family of prisoner Sami Abu Diak, who recently died from cancer while in Israeli custody, called on human rights and humanitarian institutions to promptly intervene, the Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported.
The family appealed to human rights and humanitarian organizations to pressure the Israeli authorities to release the deceased prisoner’s body for burial, and not to withhold his body in mortuary fridges or bury him in the ‘cemeteries of numbers’.
Abu Diak’s father, ‘Ahed, stressed the need to act during a meeting with Deputy Mayor of Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Rub, before the Israeli court makes a decision regarding his son’s body.
He said that his family is going through a difficult time following the death of their son due to medical negligence by the Israeli Prison Service. The Deputy Mayor affirmed continued efforts with relevant authorities to ensure the continuation of popular events demanding the release of Abu Diak’s body.
The National Campaign for Retrieval of the Bodies of Palestinian and Arab War Victims held by Israel, stated in an open letter, sent to the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres on September 5, said that since 1967, Israel has applied an inconsistent policy of refusing to deliver the mortal remains of hundreds of Palestinian combatants to their families.”
The dead were buried in what Israel refers to as “cemeteries for enemy combatants,” in mass clandestine graves located in areas designated as closed military zones and referred to as “cemeteries of numbers,” since the deceased are buried there anonymously with numbers etched onto metal placards attached to their remains.
The family appealed to human rights and humanitarian organizations to pressure the Israeli authorities to release the deceased prisoner’s body for burial, and not to withhold his body in mortuary fridges or bury him in the ‘cemeteries of numbers’.
Abu Diak’s father, ‘Ahed, stressed the need to act during a meeting with Deputy Mayor of Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Rub, before the Israeli court makes a decision regarding his son’s body.
He said that his family is going through a difficult time following the death of their son due to medical negligence by the Israeli Prison Service. The Deputy Mayor affirmed continued efforts with relevant authorities to ensure the continuation of popular events demanding the release of Abu Diak’s body.
The National Campaign for Retrieval of the Bodies of Palestinian and Arab War Victims held by Israel, stated in an open letter, sent to the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres on September 5, said that since 1967, Israel has applied an inconsistent policy of refusing to deliver the mortal remains of hundreds of Palestinian combatants to their families.”
The dead were buried in what Israel refers to as “cemeteries for enemy combatants,” in mass clandestine graves located in areas designated as closed military zones and referred to as “cemeteries of numbers,” since the deceased are buried there anonymously with numbers etched onto metal placards attached to their remains.
4 dec 2019
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Riad al-Malki, discussed with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, the developments of ICC’s preliminary examinations in light of US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo declaration on settlements, warning against Israel’s exploitation of this declaration by taking illegal actions to speed up the annexation of the Jordan Valley.
Al-Malki also spoke about the Israeli authorities’ policy of deliberate and systematic medical negligence against Palestinian prisoners, citing the case of cancer-stricken prisoner, Sami Abu Diak, who died a few days ago following severe deterioration on his health, the Palestinian News and Info Agency reported.
This came on the sidelines of the 18th session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) currently held in Hague, Netherlands.
Al-Malki stressed the need to open an immediate and urgent criminal investigation in light of the continued Israeli occupations’ crimes against the Palestinian people. He stated that the US declaration that they no longer consider the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as violating international law, is in utter contempt of international law and United Nations resolutions.
Al-Malki also spoke about the Israeli authorities’ policy of deliberate and systematic medical negligence against Palestinian prisoners, citing the case of cancer-stricken prisoner, Sami Abu Diak, who died a few days ago following severe deterioration on his health, the Palestinian News and Info Agency reported.
This came on the sidelines of the 18th session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) currently held in Hague, Netherlands.
Al-Malki stressed the need to open an immediate and urgent criminal investigation in light of the continued Israeli occupations’ crimes against the Palestinian people. He stated that the US declaration that they no longer consider the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as violating international law, is in utter contempt of international law and United Nations resolutions.
27 nov 2019
Jordan has called on the Israeli occupation to hand over the body of the Palestinian detainee Sami Abu Diak who died of medical negligence at an Israeli prison on Tuesday.
According to Israeli media sources, the Jordanian Embassy in Israel has filed a request asking Israel to hand over Abu Diak's body to his family in Jordan for burial.
The embassy asked for further information about Abu Diak's death circumstances and health condition during his imprisonment.
Abu Diak, 37, died on Tuesday morning in an Israeli jail after a long battle with cancer which was made worse by deliberate medical neglect and maltreatment.
Since the beginning of 2019, five Palestinian political prisoners have died while in Israeli custody due to torture or medical negligence.
According to Israeli media sources, the Jordanian Embassy in Israel has filed a request asking Israel to hand over Abu Diak's body to his family in Jordan for burial.
The embassy asked for further information about Abu Diak's death circumstances and health condition during his imprisonment.
Abu Diak, 37, died on Tuesday morning in an Israeli jail after a long battle with cancer which was made worse by deliberate medical neglect and maltreatment.
Since the beginning of 2019, five Palestinian political prisoners have died while in Israeli custody due to torture or medical negligence.
On Tuesday morning, 26 November 2019, Palestinian prisoner, Sami Abu-Diak, 36, died at al-Ramla prison clinic.
Abu-Diak, from Silat al-Dahr village near Jenin, had spent 17 years in Israeli prison, and was recently transferred to the clinic in Israel due to his deteriorating health condition, having cancer since 2015.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) holds Israeli authorities responsible for Abu-Daik’s death, and expresses its concern that Israeli authorities stalled in providing adequate and timely medical care for the deceased.
PCHR condemns the Israeli neglect of numerous calls for Abu-Diak’s release, as is standard in humanitarian cases like his, despite knowledge of his ailing health, choosing to leave him to die in prison.
Israeli forces refused all calls by human rights groups and others to release Abu-Diak, and kept him in custody at al-Ramla prison clinic, commonly referred to as “the slaughterhouse” in reference to the poor treatment and care provided at it, despite knowledge of his ailing health.
Abu-Diak’s legs and arms were cuffed to his bed. Israeli forces had scheduled a hearing for his release request on 02 December 2019; unfortunately, Abu-Diak did not survive.
Abu-Diak is the 4th Palestinian prisoner to die in Israeli prisons in 2019. On 06 February, Fares Mohammed Baroud, 51, who spent 28 years in the Israeli jails, from al-Shati’ refugee camp in western Gaza City, died only hours after being transferred from “Ramon” Prison to “Soroka” Hospital in circumstances raising suspicions of deliberate medical negligence by the Israeli authorities.
Also on 16 July, Nassar Majed Taqatqah, 31, from Beit Fajjar village, south of Bethlehem, died while in solitary confinement in “Nitzan” Prison (al-Ramlah) in Israel. Israeli forces arrested the late Nassar from his house on 09 June 2019 and investigated him.
While Bassam al-Sayeh, 47, from Nablus, died on 08 September 2019, under circumstances that are suspicious of an intentional medical neglect by the Israeli authorities, especially that the deceased suffered from bone cancer before his arrest and his condition deteriorated while in custody. His condition further deteriorated and he was pronounced dead at Assaf Harofeh medical centre in Israel.
PCHR holds the Israeli government fully responsible for the death of Abu-Diak, and for the lives of dozens of sick prisoners who would face the same fate if the policy of deliberate medical negligence continues, especially under the inhumane imprisonment conditions in which prisoners are subject to physical and psychological torture in addition to the denial of healthcare.
Additionally, PCHR
Abu-Diak, from Silat al-Dahr village near Jenin, had spent 17 years in Israeli prison, and was recently transferred to the clinic in Israel due to his deteriorating health condition, having cancer since 2015.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) holds Israeli authorities responsible for Abu-Daik’s death, and expresses its concern that Israeli authorities stalled in providing adequate and timely medical care for the deceased.
PCHR condemns the Israeli neglect of numerous calls for Abu-Diak’s release, as is standard in humanitarian cases like his, despite knowledge of his ailing health, choosing to leave him to die in prison.
Israeli forces refused all calls by human rights groups and others to release Abu-Diak, and kept him in custody at al-Ramla prison clinic, commonly referred to as “the slaughterhouse” in reference to the poor treatment and care provided at it, despite knowledge of his ailing health.
Abu-Diak’s legs and arms were cuffed to his bed. Israeli forces had scheduled a hearing for his release request on 02 December 2019; unfortunately, Abu-Diak did not survive.
Abu-Diak is the 4th Palestinian prisoner to die in Israeli prisons in 2019. On 06 February, Fares Mohammed Baroud, 51, who spent 28 years in the Israeli jails, from al-Shati’ refugee camp in western Gaza City, died only hours after being transferred from “Ramon” Prison to “Soroka” Hospital in circumstances raising suspicions of deliberate medical negligence by the Israeli authorities.
Also on 16 July, Nassar Majed Taqatqah, 31, from Beit Fajjar village, south of Bethlehem, died while in solitary confinement in “Nitzan” Prison (al-Ramlah) in Israel. Israeli forces arrested the late Nassar from his house on 09 June 2019 and investigated him.
While Bassam al-Sayeh, 47, from Nablus, died on 08 September 2019, under circumstances that are suspicious of an intentional medical neglect by the Israeli authorities, especially that the deceased suffered from bone cancer before his arrest and his condition deteriorated while in custody. His condition further deteriorated and he was pronounced dead at Assaf Harofeh medical centre in Israel.
PCHR holds the Israeli government fully responsible for the death of Abu-Diak, and for the lives of dozens of sick prisoners who would face the same fate if the policy of deliberate medical negligence continues, especially under the inhumane imprisonment conditions in which prisoners are subject to physical and psychological torture in addition to the denial of healthcare.
Additionally, PCHR
- Stresses the general deterioration of imprisonment conditions of at least 6,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, as Israel exercises punitive measures against them, including, but not limited to, medical neglect and inadequate treatment provided to at least 150 prisoners with chronic and serious illnesses.
- Calls upon the international community to compel Israel to respect international law and international humanitarian law, in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention and the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, on Tuesday mourned the death of the Palestinian detainee Sami Abu Diak, 36, in Israeli jail due to cancer and deliberate medical negligence.
Hamas in an official statement held the Israeli occupation authorities responsible for Abu Diak's death which resulted from harsh detention conditions, maltreatment and denial of medical care.
Hamas said that the deliberate medical negligence policy pursued against sick prisoners in Israeli jails is a crime against humanity that blatantly violates all international laws and conventions.
The Palestinian resistance group called on concerned international organizations to intervene to ensure the safety of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails especially those suffering from illnesses and health problems.
Raafat Nasif, a Hamas leader, said in press statements that five Palestinian detainees have died while in Israeli custody due to torture or medical neglect since the beginning of 2019.
He called on local and international human rights organizations to exert more efforts toward holding Israel accountable for its crimes against Palestinian political prisoners.
Hamas in an official statement held the Israeli occupation authorities responsible for Abu Diak's death which resulted from harsh detention conditions, maltreatment and denial of medical care.
Hamas said that the deliberate medical negligence policy pursued against sick prisoners in Israeli jails is a crime against humanity that blatantly violates all international laws and conventions.
The Palestinian resistance group called on concerned international organizations to intervene to ensure the safety of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails especially those suffering from illnesses and health problems.
Raafat Nasif, a Hamas leader, said in press statements that five Palestinian detainees have died while in Israeli custody due to torture or medical neglect since the beginning of 2019.
He called on local and international human rights organizations to exert more efforts toward holding Israel accountable for its crimes against Palestinian political prisoners.
