Fateful Triangle

Peace for Galilee404half of the estimated 15,000 prisoners were reported to be in prisons orcamps in Israel, where the Red Cross stated that it was still denied anyaccess to them, many months after the war ended (see section 5.1 andchapter 6, section 6.5). 147Some information has come from released prisoners, and more fromIsraeli sources to which we turn directly. The few released prisonersinterviewed by the press report “sardine-like” overcrowding, with prisonersrequired to lie on the ground day and night. Some report that theywere required to hold their hands over their heads and forced to “barklike the dogs you are” and shout “Long live Begin, long live Sharon.”Jonathan Randal, who reports these facts, states that “there appear tobe virtually no Palestinian men between the ages of 16 to 60 free insouthern Lebanon,” an observation confirmed by other reporters andvisitors. Released prisoners allege that many prisoners died of torture.One, who was in Ansar for 155 days, reported in an interview withLiberation (Paris) that prisoners were laid “on special tables that haveholds for legs and arms,” then beaten with sticks and iron rods. Heclaims to have seen deaths as the result of torture. A London Timesinquiry reported in Yediot Ahronot led to the discovery of 7 young menapparently killed in an Israeli detention camp near Sidon in the earlyweeks of the invasion, their bodies found with hands tied and signs ofAnsar, sometimes as many as 20 a week. The head of the prisoners’ committeesays: “At first this place was hell. Then there were improvements... I will notsay that this is Auschwitz, but it is a concentration camp.” He also says that“There is no torture now in Ansar.” See also Uri Avneri’s report on the Ansar“concentration camp,” including interviews with guards who regard theprisoners as “subhuman,” etc.; and Mary Arias, reporting degrading conditions,electric torture, efforts to induce psychological disorientation by variousmeasures, etc. 147Classics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky