Putting a final end to the Israeli soldiers’ arbitrary humiliations on our Palestinian people

Ramallah, 18-11-08: Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, the Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, strongly condemns the public humiliation carried out by the Israeli army on a Palestinian youth this Tuesday.

The young man was arrested and stripped publicly at Beit Iba checkpoint, West of the city of Nablus. Dozens of soldiers surrounded the boy and searched him, while he was standing naked in the eye of the crowd. The Israeli army claimed he was in possession of explosive devices.

However, bystanders are reported as having had doubts regarding the youth actually being in possession of explosives, as the Israeli army often falsely accuses young men in the Nablus directorate as an excuse for public humiliation.

 

“The international community and the foreign media should focus and report on those –dramatically common- events. As long as the daily humiliations of the Palestinian people will be kept unreported, the State of Israel will not feel pressurised and will surely not stop its mistreatments”, the deputy said. “The most devastating thing is not the daily harassment, but the indifference.”

 

It is not the first time that public humiliations occur at the Beit Iba checkpoint, where dozens of cases of arbitrary treatment have previously been reported.

 

Contacts:

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi: 0599/ 201 528

                              Or: 0599/ 940 073