Zionist Terror 109

עברית View this email in your browser Newsletter issue 101, February 2013 Palestinian Detainees Adalah and other human rights organizations have demanded an investigation into the death of Palestinian detainee Arafat Jaradat in an investigation cell in Megiddo Prison. Jaradat’s death comes just a few weeks after the Supreme Court rejected a petition by Adalah to compel the police and GSS to make audio/video recordings of their interrogations of “security” suspects. The organizations have also asked the Israeli government to implement the 18 new recommendations of the Turkel Committee, which relate to crucial changes needed in Israel’s military investigations systems, including for the GSS to fully videotape all its interrogations. Unrecognized Villages In the Naqab, the state prosecutor was forced to ask the court to cancel indictments against five people from the unrecognized Arab Bedouin village of Al-Araqib and an activist for protesting against the village’s destruction. Adalah had demonstrated that the indictments were baseless in the preliminary hearings.  Elsewhere, Adalah and the Negev Co-existence Forum spoke to the settlers of “Hiran”, the Jewish town the state plans to build on the ruins of the unrecognized village of Umm el-Hieran. They have been living in a barricaded camp in the nearby Yatir Forest for two years, waiting for the Bedouin to be displaced to establish their town. Watch a video about Hiran settlers! Meanwhile, the Supreme Court rejected Adalah’s appeal to connect Umm el-Hieran to the state water network, even though the closest water source is 8 km away. To empower the Bedouin to defend themselves against the state’s attempts to dispossess them and deny their basic rights as citizens, including the rights to clean drinking water and to protest, the Negev Co-existence Forum, together with Adalah held a public human rights workshop in Wadi el-Na’am, a village slated for imminent demolition, according to the Begin recommendations. Deciding Not to Decide Only two months into 2013, Adalah has already seen several of its cases dismissed by the Israeli Supreme Court with barely an explanation, and without the court ruling on the principle arguments brought before it: MK Haneen Zoabi's petition to cancel the revocation of her parliamentary privileges, MK Dr. Ahmad Tibi's petition against the Knesset's refusal to hear hisNakba denial bill, and a petition to cancel the legal exemption that allows the police and GSS tointerrogate suspects of "security offenses" without audio- or video-recording them. In each of these cases, the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Asher Grunis for exactly one year, has used the election of the new Knesset or a promise made by the state to re-examine a law years in the future to implement a new policy of “deciding not to decide”. This new non-interventionist policy has enabled the court to avoid ruling on the merits in challenging or contentious cases that raise serious issues of constitutional rights. Read the full commentary.  Litigation Docket: Read more about Adalah's current cases Facebook Twitter YouTube Website Email Copyright © 2013 Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to receive monthly updates on Adalah's activities. Our mailing address is: Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel 94 Yaffa Street PO Box 8921 Haifa 31090 Israel