26.6.2008
Sleep deprivation, a form of ill-treatment and a common method used by the Shin Bet (ISA) to interrogate Palestinians. June 26 is the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Illustration: Ishai Mishory
Sleep deprivation, a form of ill-treatment and a common method used by the Shin Bet (ISA) to interrogate Palestinians. June 26 is the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Illustration: Ishai Mishory
Video: Testimonies by Israeli and Palestinian victims of torture
B'Tselem and PCATI mark June 26, the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, with a new video. The right of every person not to be subjected to ill-treatment or torture (physical or mental) is one of the few human rights that are considered absolute. Therefore, it is forbidden to balance it against other rights and values, or suspend or restrict the right, even in the context of the struggle against terrorism.

Soldier assaults B'Tselem worker filming settler violence, takes the cassette
On Friday evening, 20 June 2008, three settlers assaulted Palestinian shepherds near the Susiya settlement in the Southern Hebron Hills. Nasser a-Nawaj'ah, a B'Tselem fieldworker, filmed the assault and the failure of soldiers on the scene to protect the shepherds. One of the soldiers ignored a-Nawaj'ah's claim that he was legally permitted to film, hit him and took the video cassette.

Video: Soldiers blow up door of family home, killing the mother, and leave body with children
On 7 May 2008, during an arrest operation in a house next door, soldiers took over the Daghameh family home in the Gazan village of New 'Ibsan. The mother and three of her children were home at the time. The soldiers blew up the front door with no prior warning, killing the mother. They then took over the house for about five hours, during which the mother's body lay on the ground while her children remained in a nearby room. The soldiers then left, leaving the children with the body. Samira a-Daghameh, 13, told B'Tselem her recollection of the day's events.

Petition to allow Palestinians access to the Dead Sea
On 10 June 2008, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel petitioned the High Court of Justice to order the army to cancel its prohibition on West Bank Palestinians' access to the northern beaches of the Dead Sea, which lie inside the West Bank.