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.

In pre-dawn raids on Monday, Israeli forces abducted seven Palestinians from various parts of the West Bank, and three from Silwan, in Jerusalem.
The Israeli army reportedly abducted a 25-year-old Palestinian man from the West Bank district of Salfeit, early Monday morning.
According to Said Zedan, the mayor of Deir-Istiya town, in the Salfit region, Israeli troops stormed the town and abducted Yusri Abdel Qader Zedan, 25, after having broken into the man’s home, early on Monday morning.
In Jerusalem, Israeli forces abducted Suhaib Arafat al-Aawar, Gabriel Abdel-Moneim Al-Awar and Abdel-Moneim Al-Awar, after they raided their homes in the town of Silwan and ransacked the interior of the homes.
In Hebron district, Israeli forces abducted a Palestinian from the village of Beit al-Roche al-Fawqa, southwest of Hebron, and searched several homes in the district.
Local sources told the Palestinian Wafa News Agency that the Israeli military abducted Hassan Nasser Harbi Kashur, after detaining him along with a number of other young men, and interrogating them, in the yard of the Beit Al-Roche Al-Fawqa Secondary School.
In addition, the Israeli military also searched the house of the freed prisoner Ali Salhab Al-Tamimi, who spent 18 years in the detention camps of the occupation. He had only been released a month ago.
The Israeli troops ransacked his home, located in the Bab al-Zawiya area in the center of Hebron.
In the village of Deir Samet, southwest of Hebron, Israeli forces searched and tampered with the contents of the homes of the citizens Hamza Ali Al-Hroub and Riyadh Mahmoud Safi Al-Hroub.
In Tulkarem, the occupation forces abducted: Ahmed Fayez Shallha (30 years), from Saida, and Omar Hamdan Ahmad Dahbour (29 years), from Tulkarem camp.
Pre-dawn raids are a nightly occurrence by the Israeli military, during which the troops terrorize the Palestinian civilian population as they lie sleeping.
The army invades towns, forces down doors, and drags sleeping residents from their beds to take them to interrogation centers and military bases for ‘harsh interrogation’ and imprisonment without charges.
The Israeli army reportedly abducted a 25-year-old Palestinian man from the West Bank district of Salfeit, early Monday morning.
According to Said Zedan, the mayor of Deir-Istiya town, in the Salfit region, Israeli troops stormed the town and abducted Yusri Abdel Qader Zedan, 25, after having broken into the man’s home, early on Monday morning.
In Jerusalem, Israeli forces abducted Suhaib Arafat al-Aawar, Gabriel Abdel-Moneim Al-Awar and Abdel-Moneim Al-Awar, after they raided their homes in the town of Silwan and ransacked the interior of the homes.
In Hebron district, Israeli forces abducted a Palestinian from the village of Beit al-Roche al-Fawqa, southwest of Hebron, and searched several homes in the district.
Local sources told the Palestinian Wafa News Agency that the Israeli military abducted Hassan Nasser Harbi Kashur, after detaining him along with a number of other young men, and interrogating them, in the yard of the Beit Al-Roche Al-Fawqa Secondary School.
In addition, the Israeli military also searched the house of the freed prisoner Ali Salhab Al-Tamimi, who spent 18 years in the detention camps of the occupation. He had only been released a month ago.
The Israeli troops ransacked his home, located in the Bab al-Zawiya area in the center of Hebron.
In the village of Deir Samet, southwest of Hebron, Israeli forces searched and tampered with the contents of the homes of the citizens Hamza Ali Al-Hroub and Riyadh Mahmoud Safi Al-Hroub.
In Tulkarem, the occupation forces abducted: Ahmed Fayez Shallha (30 years), from Saida, and Omar Hamdan Ahmad Dahbour (29 years), from Tulkarem camp.
Pre-dawn raids are a nightly occurrence by the Israeli military, during which the troops terrorize the Palestinian civilian population as they lie sleeping.
The army invades towns, forces down doors, and drags sleeping residents from their beds to take them to interrogation centers and military bases for ‘harsh interrogation’ and imprisonment without charges.

Azmi Naffa
In the West Bank city of Jenin on Sunday, dozens of Palestinians gathered for a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinian detainees inside Israeli jails.
The demonstration was organized by the local Palestinian popular committee for lobbying the release Palestinian detainees, the Palestinian committee for detainees and freed detainees affairs and the local journalists syndicate
Governor of Jenin, Kamal Abuelrub, told the crowds that Israeli occupation authorities have recently stepped up attacks on the Palestinian people and that a part of those attacks has been the assault on Palestinian journalists, ‘apparently’ in an attempt to suppress press that uncovers the occupation’s actions.
The solidarity march was reportedly attended by dozens of local Palestinians in Jenin and came in the wake of an Israeli trial of two journalists detainees, Mojahed Mefleh and Yazan Abu Salah.
From his part, Omar Nazzal, spokesperson for the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate in the West Bank, decried what he termed deliberate Israeli targeting of Palestinian journalists, with the aim of silencing the truth.
Participants of the solidarity march chanted slogans against Israeli detention of Palestinians, in general and journalists, in particular.
Israeli army actions of abductions have remained in place for about five decades, now, as Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, have been resistant of an Israeli occupation of their territories, since 1967.
Arrests campaigns by Israeli army, across the West Bank, continue unabated, almost on daily basis.
Currently, Israel holds about 5,000 Palestinian detainees in various detention centers. Among those detainees there are 15 media practitioners, including female ones, Mays Abu Ghoush and Boshra Altaweel.
Another detainee suffers
In the meantime, the family of Palestinian detainee, Azmi Naffa’, from the West Bank city of Jenin, voiced on Sunday deep concern for their detained son.
The father of Azmi told local media that his son has been jailed in the Jalbou’ Israeli detention center and the detention authorities have been procrastinating providing needed medical care to Azmi.
According to the parent, Azmi has suffered fractures into his lower lip, due to an injury, caused by an Israeli bullet, five years ago, at the Z’atara Israel-controlled roadblock, south of the West Bank city of Nablus.
The father confirmed that his son needs a cosmetic surgery to his lips, including a jawbone transplant.
Back in January 2015, an Israeli court indicted the now-detainee Azmi Naffa’ with 20 years of imprisonment, alleging that the man plotted and carried out a crushing attack against Israelis.
In the West Bank city of Jenin on Sunday, dozens of Palestinians gathered for a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinian detainees inside Israeli jails.
The demonstration was organized by the local Palestinian popular committee for lobbying the release Palestinian detainees, the Palestinian committee for detainees and freed detainees affairs and the local journalists syndicate
Governor of Jenin, Kamal Abuelrub, told the crowds that Israeli occupation authorities have recently stepped up attacks on the Palestinian people and that a part of those attacks has been the assault on Palestinian journalists, ‘apparently’ in an attempt to suppress press that uncovers the occupation’s actions.
The solidarity march was reportedly attended by dozens of local Palestinians in Jenin and came in the wake of an Israeli trial of two journalists detainees, Mojahed Mefleh and Yazan Abu Salah.
From his part, Omar Nazzal, spokesperson for the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate in the West Bank, decried what he termed deliberate Israeli targeting of Palestinian journalists, with the aim of silencing the truth.
Participants of the solidarity march chanted slogans against Israeli detention of Palestinians, in general and journalists, in particular.
Israeli army actions of abductions have remained in place for about five decades, now, as Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, have been resistant of an Israeli occupation of their territories, since 1967.
Arrests campaigns by Israeli army, across the West Bank, continue unabated, almost on daily basis.
Currently, Israel holds about 5,000 Palestinian detainees in various detention centers. Among those detainees there are 15 media practitioners, including female ones, Mays Abu Ghoush and Boshra Altaweel.
Another detainee suffers
In the meantime, the family of Palestinian detainee, Azmi Naffa’, from the West Bank city of Jenin, voiced on Sunday deep concern for their detained son.
The father of Azmi told local media that his son has been jailed in the Jalbou’ Israeli detention center and the detention authorities have been procrastinating providing needed medical care to Azmi.
According to the parent, Azmi has suffered fractures into his lower lip, due to an injury, caused by an Israeli bullet, five years ago, at the Z’atara Israel-controlled roadblock, south of the West Bank city of Nablus.
The father confirmed that his son needs a cosmetic surgery to his lips, including a jawbone transplant.
Back in January 2015, an Israeli court indicted the now-detainee Azmi Naffa’ with 20 years of imprisonment, alleging that the man plotted and carried out a crushing attack against Israelis.
1 mar 2020

A number of Palestinians were injured and others arrested by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) during raids and confrontations in Nablus and Qalqilya in the West Bank.
Local sources said that clashes broke out between IOF soldiers and Palestinian youths after the latter confronted an attack by Israeli settlers on Palestinian shepherds in Qusra village, south of Nablus.
The IOF fired rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters at the Palestinians injuring many of them.
One Palestinian youth was arrested by the IOF during the clashes and another was rushed to a hospital after he suffered fractures and bruises while being chased by the soldiers.
Meanwhile, the IOF arrested three Palestinian minors near Qalqilya City.
Eyewitnesses said that the IOF arrested Anas Shreim, 15, Abed al-Aziz Hutari, 15, and Omar Abed al-Raouf, 15, at a checkpoint south of Qalqilya.
Local sources said that clashes broke out between IOF soldiers and Palestinian youths after the latter confronted an attack by Israeli settlers on Palestinian shepherds in Qusra village, south of Nablus.
The IOF fired rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters at the Palestinians injuring many of them.
One Palestinian youth was arrested by the IOF during the clashes and another was rushed to a hospital after he suffered fractures and bruises while being chased by the soldiers.
Meanwhile, the IOF arrested three Palestinian minors near Qalqilya City.
Eyewitnesses said that the IOF arrested Anas Shreim, 15, Abed al-Aziz Hutari, 15, and Omar Abed al-Raouf, 15, at a checkpoint south of Qalqilya.

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at dawn Sunday kidnaped six Palestinian citizens from their homes in different West Bank areas.
According to local sources in the West Bank, the IOF kidnaped a Palestinian citizen called Husam Ataiwi after ransacking his home in al-Shurafa neighborhood in al-Bireh city.
A young man identified as Bajes Sa’ayda was also kidnaped from his home in al-Auja town, north of Jericho city.
Four others were taken prisoners during IOF campaigns in Jenin city and Sa’ir town in the northeast of al-Khalil.
According to local sources in the West Bank, the IOF kidnaped a Palestinian citizen called Husam Ataiwi after ransacking his home in al-Shurafa neighborhood in al-Bireh city.
A young man identified as Bajes Sa’ayda was also kidnaped from his home in al-Auja town, north of Jericho city.
Four others were taken prisoners during IOF campaigns in Jenin city and Sa’ir town in the northeast of al-Khalil.

Israeli occupation police on Sunday abducted two Palestinian youths in Jerusalem City.
Local sources said that Israeli police forces arrested Mohammed Abdeen, 16, from his home in Ras al-Amud neighborhood in Silwan town.
Another Palestinian named Rasheed al-Resheq, 22, was arrested from his home in the Old City.
Meanwhile, Israeli settlers closed Wadi Hilweh road in Silwan town for new construction work in nearby settler outposts. video
Local sources said that Israeli police forces arrested Mohammed Abdeen, 16, from his home in Ras al-Amud neighborhood in Silwan town.
Another Palestinian named Rasheed al-Resheq, 22, was arrested from his home in the Old City.
Meanwhile, Israeli settlers closed Wadi Hilweh road in Silwan town for new construction work in nearby settler outposts. video

The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission said in a report today that Palestinian women detainees in the Israeli prison of Damon, near Haifa, have been facing unbearable humanitarian and health conditions, including a deliberate policy of medical negligence.
The Commission said the women prisoners in Damon have been suffering at various levels, which include for instance the high humidity rate inside the prison rooms, the repeated power outages and the lack of doors for bathrooms.
The women prisoners are also suffering from the surveillance cameras recently installed at the yard of the prison, where the prisoners spend their daily 30-minute break, which compels conservative prisoners to remain in their Islamic wear to avoid being watched in an inconvenient clothing by male guards.
Another form of suffering reported by the Commission is the arduous journey the prisoners have to go through every time they are moved to courts, a journey that often lasts for more than 18 hours, during which the women prisoners are frequently exposed to verbal harassment and insults by Israeli criminal prisoners who are being moved in the same van in the way to the court.
The lack of medical care, both psychological and physical, is another and worse type of suffering for the women detainees, especially that some of the sick prisoners there require hospitalization at times.
One of the prisoners, Israa Jaabis, has been in need of a surgery due to a serious injury sustained at the time she was arrested five years ago, but have received nothing so far.
There are some 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails for resisting the Israeli occupation of their homeland.
The Commission said the women prisoners in Damon have been suffering at various levels, which include for instance the high humidity rate inside the prison rooms, the repeated power outages and the lack of doors for bathrooms.
The women prisoners are also suffering from the surveillance cameras recently installed at the yard of the prison, where the prisoners spend their daily 30-minute break, which compels conservative prisoners to remain in their Islamic wear to avoid being watched in an inconvenient clothing by male guards.
Another form of suffering reported by the Commission is the arduous journey the prisoners have to go through every time they are moved to courts, a journey that often lasts for more than 18 hours, during which the women prisoners are frequently exposed to verbal harassment and insults by Israeli criminal prisoners who are being moved in the same van in the way to the court.
The lack of medical care, both psychological and physical, is another and worse type of suffering for the women detainees, especially that some of the sick prisoners there require hospitalization at times.
One of the prisoners, Israa Jaabis, has been in need of a surgery due to a serious injury sustained at the time she was arrested five years ago, but have received nothing so far.
There are some 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails for resisting the Israeli occupation of their homeland.
Page: 2 - 1