Palestinians Stage ‘Day of Rage’ over Israel’s Violent Interrogation of Prisoner

Israeli forces fired tear gas, sound bombs and rubber-coated bullets towards protesters outside the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit El, after Palestinian prisoner solidarity group Samidoun and students from Birzeit University called for a demonstration in support of Samir Arbeed, Middle East Eye reported.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, dozens were treated for tear gas inhalation.

Elsewhere, Israeli forces suppressed a demonstration in East Jerusalem outside the Hadassah hospital where Arbeed is currently held, during which two protesters were arrested.

Arbeed, a 44-year-old Palestinian, was hospitalized in critical condition – with a fractured rib cage, bruises, signs of beating all over his body and severe kidney failure – on Friday, three days after he was detained by Israeli forces over suspicions of involvement in an August bomb attack near the illegal Israeli settlement of Dolev, north-east of Ramallah, that allegedly killed a 17-year-old Israeli.

Palestinian rights groups have called for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – the only international humanitarian organization allowed to access Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons – to intervene in Arbeed’s case.

Arbeed’s wife, Noura Miselmani, said on Saturday that he had been in good health prior to his arrest, raising suspicions that he was subjected to torture during interrogation by Israel’s notorious Shin Bet intelligence service.

Dozens of demonstrators stood outside the ICRC headquarters in al-Bireh, the sister city of West Bank administrative center Ramallah, on Tuesday morning chanting slogans in solidarity with Arbeed.

A number of activists began staging a sit-in outside the headquarters, announcing that they would stay until the ICRC sent a doctor to assess Arbeed’s condition and an independent investigation was opened into his treatment in Israeli custody.

Prisoners’ rights organization Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society and the Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministry of Health delivered a letter to the ICRC expressing their collective concern for Arbeed.

Israeli has long been criticized by rights groups for the ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners in its custody, the majority of whom are held in detention centers inside Israel in violation of international law.

In July, 31-year-old Nassar Taqatqa was found dead in unclear circumstances in a solitary confinement cell, a month after he was detained by Israeli forces.

According to Addameer, some 220 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since 1967 – 60 of whom are believed to have died due to medical negligence, and 73 others as a result of torture.