Another story ignored by the Western press:
Defence for Children International/Palestine Section (DCI/PS) on Wednesday submitted 13 cases to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture for investigation.
The cases relate to the ill-treatment, and in some cases torture, of Palestinian children being held at the notorious Al Jalame Interrogation and Detention Centre near Haifa, in Israel, between February 2008 and March 2009.
In each case, boys between the ages of 16 and 17, report being held in ‘Cell No. 36’ at the Interrogation Centre. ‘Cell No. 36’ is described as measuring approximately 2×3 metres in which the child is forced to sleep on a concrete bed or a thin mattress on the floor. Meals are passed to the child through a flap in the door depriving him of all human contact. One child reports being held in solitary confinement in ‘Cell No 36’ for 65 days.
The walls of ‘Cell No. 36’ are reported to be grey in colour with sharp protrusions preventing the child from leaning against them for support. Perhaps more disturbingly, ‘Cell No. 36’ does not have any windows and only a single dim yellow light which is kept on 24 hours a day. Some children report suffering pain behind their eyes and adverse psychological effects after being detained in ‘Cell No. 36’.