Nablus / Amin Abu Wardeh – Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, Jamal Zahalka, is using Thursday, the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, to bring the issue of Israeli torture of Palestinian political prisoners to the table.

Zahalka is proposing a full discussion on the report issued by the People’s Committee against Torture in Israel which details the ways in which Israeli soldiers routinely mistreat Palestinians.

“The occupation soldiers are trained in the school of sadism; they torture Palestinian detainees and abuse them.”

The report referred to how the soldiers deal with the Palestinians after they are handcuffed, shackled and have had their eyes covered. It outlines 90 cases among thousands where political prisoners are subjected to brutal torture by Israeli soldiers.

In his speech Zahalka described this kind of treatment as sadistic, that torture is used just for tortures sake and that no matter what types of Israeli justifications they try to employ, there never can be.

He pointed to the fact that they do not pose a threat to the soldiers: not in their cells, during the interrogation or questioning, or during the process of being transferred to interrogation.

Zahalka said that the Israeli army's claim that there are no set procedures for dealing with the Palestinian prisoners is the “ugliest excuse for their guilt.” He asserts that there are procedures and rules, even if they are not written on paper.

As a small example in a sea of mistreatment, said Zahalka, are soldiers beating Palestinians, but before doing so throwing them onto the hot steel of the hoods of military jeeps. After that comes the kicking.

Finally Zahalka said that torture and ill-treatment is the rule rather than the exception.