Jerusalem 3239/Section 3

by Alexandra Uteev Johnson

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PAGE 01 JERUSA 03239 03 OF 07 010736Z
ACTION SS-25

INFO OCT-01 ISO-00 SSO-00 /026 W
041424 010747Z /ll

R 301198Z NOV 78
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2238
INFO AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV

SECRET SECTION 3 OF 7 JERUSALEM 3239

STADIS////////////////////////

EXDIS

CORRECTED COPY (STADIS ADDED)

7. OF THE FIVE LEVEL ONE CASES, FOUR APPARENTLY CONCERNED PEOPLE WHO, WHILE NOT THEMSELVES ORGANIZATION MEMBERS, FAILED TO INFORM ON THEIR POLITCALLY COMPROMISED ACQUAINTANCES. FOUR OF THESE FIVE APPLICANTS SAID THAT THEY HAD BEEN SUBJECTED TO ONLY ONE OR TWO INTERROGATION SESSIONS INVOLVING BEATINGS, WHICH IN TWO CASES WERE FOLLOWED BY A SESSION IN WHICH FORCE WAS NOT USED AND WHICH WAS DEVOTED TO TAKING BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION. IT IS NOTEWORTHY THAT OF THE FOUR INDIVIDUALS WHO FAILED TO INFORM, TWO WERE TRIED FOR ORGANIZATION MEMBER- SHIP. LOCAL ATTORNEYS EXPLAIN -- AND THIS IS BORNE OUT BY COURT RECORDS -- THAT THIS IS OFTEN THE CASE, BECAUSE THE MILITARY COURTS TEND TO REASON THAT FAILURE TO INFORM IS SUPPORT, AND THAT SUPPORT EQUALS MEMBERSHIP.

8. OF THE SEVEN LEVEL TWO CASES, SIX CONCERNED PASSIVE ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIP. (THE SEVENTH APPLICANT, HAVING REFUSED AN OFFER BY THE ISRAELI SECURITY ORGANS TO WORK AS A DOUBLE AGENT, FOUND HIMSELF FACED WITH CHARGES OF ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIP AND MILITARY TRAINING, WITHING [sic] THE FRAMEWORK OF CONTACTING AN "ENEMY ORGANIZATION" ABROAD.) FIVE OF THE CASES

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INVOLVED DAILY OR TWICE-DAILY INTERROGATION SESSIONS OVER A PERIOD OF FROM FOUR TO TEN DAYS. IN ONE CASE, THE INTERROGA- TION SESSIONS WERE BRIEF AND INFREQUENT, WHILE ANOTHER APPLICANT CLAIMED TO HAVE BEEN THE SUBJECT OF CONTINUOUS INTERROGATION. FIVE OF THE CASES REVOLVED ABOUT SEITIOUS [sic] AND POLITICALLY INDISCREET CONVERSATIONS ALLEGED TO HAVE INCLUDED VERBAL CONSENT TO JOING [sic] THE ORGANIZATION. SIGNIFICANTLY, TWELVE OF THE TWENTY-NINE APPLICANTS SEEM TO HAVE BEEN ARRESTED ON THE BASIS OF SUCH CONVERSATIONS. THE CHARGES RECORDED IN COURT WERE, HOWEVER, QUITE VARIED -- DEPENDING ON WHAT THE ACCUSED WERE UNWISE ENOUGH TO DISCUSS. FOR EXAMPLE, APPLICANTS SAID (AND COURT RECORDS CONFIRM) THAT CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WEAPONS WERE TRANSMOGRIFIED INTO CHARGES OF "ATTEMPTING TO PROCURE ARMS" OR "MILITARY TRAINING."

9. OF THE FOUR LEVEL THREE CASES, TWO INVOLVED ARMED OPERATIONS. THIS IS POSSIBLY TRUE OF A THIRD CASE, BUT THE INFORMATION ON THIS CASE IS TOO SCANTY TO MAKE A POSITIVE JUDGMENT. ONE APPLICANT SAID HE UNDERWENT CONTINUOUS INTERROGATION FOR A PERIOD OF EIGHT DAYS. TWO OTHERS SAID THEY HAD BEEN INTERROGATED DAILY FOR THIRTY-SEVEN AND FORTY DAYS, RESPECTIVELY. ONE OF THESE APPLICANTS WAS ARRESTED AFTER THROWING A DUD GRENADE AT AN ISRAELI PATROL. IN OTHER CASES, THE CONNECONNECTION [sic] WITH ARMED OPERATIONS SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN MORE TENUOUS. FOR EXAMPLE, ANOTHER APPLICANT, WHO WAS INTERROGATED ABOUT HIS ALLED [sic] KNOWLEDGE OF A PLANNED TERRORIST OPERATION, SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN ARRESTED BECAUSE THE FATHER OF HIS FIANCEE, WHO HAD A DAUGHTER REQUIRING CORRECTIVE SURGERY FOR A BIRTH DEFECT, SPOKE EN- THUSIASTICALLY -- WITH EARSHOT OF A POLICE INFORMER -- OF HIS ARRANGEMENTS FOR HER COMING OPERATION. (UNLUCKILY, THE SAME WORD IS USED IN ARABIC FOR BOTH TERRORIST AND SURGICAL OPERATIONS.) THIS APPLICANT WAS BROUGHT TO TRIAL ON OTHER LESS SERIOUS CHARGES.)

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10. IN ADDITION TO FAILURE TO INFORM, PASSIVE ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIP, AND INVOLVEMENT IN ARMED OPERATIONS, THERE IS ANOTHER MAJOR TYPE OF CASE. THIS TYPE OF CASE INVOLVES OVERT POLITICAL ACTIVITY -- SUCH AS WRITING ANTI-ISRAELI SLOGANS ON WALLS, MARCHING IN DEMONSTRATION [sic], WRITING AND DISTRIBUTING POLITICAL CIRCULARS, AND THE LIKE -- UNDERTAKEN WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIP. SIX OF THE TWENTY-NINE APPLICANTS WERE TRIED ON THIS TYPE OF CHARGE. UNFORTUNATELY, THE STATEMENTS OF FOUR OF THESE APPLICANTS WERE NOT SUFFICIENTLY DETAILED TO DETERMINE WHICH LEVEL OF INTERROGATION WAS CONCERNED, AND THUS ANALYSIS OF THIS TYPE OF CASE IS NOT POSSIBLE AT PRESENT. DESPITE THIS GAP IN THE AVAILABLE INFORMATION, THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE OPERATION OF SYSTEMATICA [sic] RULES FOR INTERROGATION CAN BE DISCERNED IS SIGNIFICANT, SUGGESTING BOTH THE TRAINING OF INTERROGATORS IN THE USE OF FORCE AND THE ATTENTION OF ADMIN- ISTRATORS TO THE ALLOCATION OF INTERROGATOR TIME. THE IDEA OF INTERROGATION AS A SYSTEM IS STRENGTHENED BY A CONSIDERATION OF ANOTHER FACTOR, THE IMPORTANCE OF DENUNCIATIONS, WHICH EXPLAINS VIRTUALLY ALL OF THE FEW CASES IN WHICH THE SEVERITY AND INTENSITY OF THE INTERROGATION DO NOT SEEM TO CORRELATE WITH THE NATURE OF THE CHARGES.

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