US State Dept can't bring itself to condemn Israel's heavy-handed use of solitary confinement
by Kathryn Shihadah
This is the story of a young man who is experiencing a “slow form of execution” at the hands of Israel, and the US State Department that is so devoted to Israel, it can’t criticize the cruelty.
Ahmad Manasra was 13 when he and his 15-year-old cousin allegedly took knives to an illegal Israeli settlement. His cousin stabbed 2 Israelis, and was killed immediately. Then a mob of Israelis turned on Ahmad, beating him and calling for him to die. He was run over by an Israeli driver and suffered skull fractures and internal bleeding.
Israeli forces arrested him and, after hospitalization, subjected him to a (TW) cruel interrogation. The Israeli court delayed his hearing until he turned 14 – at which time he could be tried as an adult (Israelis are considered minors until the age of 18).
The court recognized that Ahmad had not participated in the alleged attack, but nevertheless charged him with attempted murder. In 2016, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison (later reduced to 9 1/2 years).
Since then, Ahmad Manasra has suffered from schizophrenia, and has tried multiple times to take his own life.
For the past 15 months, he has been in solitary confinement, which typically involves a 3-by-5-foot cell with bright lights, and no human contact except with interrogators.
Last week, the court decided to keep Ahmad in isolation for another 6 months. (Read more about Israel’s use of solitary confinement against children here; read about the 3-year-old Palestinian boy detained for his terror tee shirt here.)
Human rights watchdogs like Amnesty International and the United Nations have called for his release, as has the European Union.
The United States can’t seem to muster a modicum of empathy for this tortured young man.
State Department briefing, March 13, 2023
SAID ARIKAT (AL QUDS NEWS): Today an Israeli court added another 180 days to the Palestinian Ahmad Manasra, and of solitary confinement. He was in – he’s been in solitary for 480 days. I believe the internationally sanctioned solitary confinement thing is like 15 days. He’s been in prison since he was 13 years old. He is 20 today. He has mental issues. He has physical issues. He’s isolated. He cannot get visitation and so on. I want your reaction to such a draconian measure.
NED PRICE (STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN): Said, I am not immediately familiar with the details of the case, so I can’t offer an immediate reaction. But this is all part and parcel of what we have sought to encourage on the part of both sides…We’ve encouraged all parties to avoid steps that serve only to exacerbate tensions and raise the potential for even greater violence…As it pertains to this case, if we have a particular comment, we’ll let you know.
ARIKAT: But, Ned, I mean, we’re not asking Israel to stop imprisoning Palestinians or stop killing them. It would be nice if it did, but we’re not asking them that. We’re asking them to abide by international law when they imprison these boys – I mean, 13 years old and 14 years old – and keeping them under [solitary] confinement which nobody else in the world does except for the state of Israel…
PRICE: …[W]hat we have sought across the board is for our Israeli partners, our Palestinian partners, to avoid the type of steps that only serve to exacerbate tensions…So we’re deeply engaged and we’ll continue to use our voice and to meet with and to do what we can to see to it that the violence – the cycle of violence – comes to an end.
The message behind the words
State Department spokespersons never speak spontaneously. Every question is anticipated, every answer is choreographed. What did Ned Price’s word salad on March 13 actually say?
The phrases “on both sides” and “all parties” signal the State Department’s refusal to criticize Israel unless it is equally criticizing the Palestinians – even for actions that only Israel has taken. In this case, the Palestinians are not violating international law by holding anyone in long-term solitary confinement, but they are being scolded as though they were.
“Cycle of violence” is another expression that sidesteps the facts: Israeli violence is rampant, deadly, and state-sponsored, but Israel can not be called out for violence unless the Palestinians are too. 12 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians this year, while Israelis have killed 89 Palestinians. Israel has a trained military with advanced weaponry; meanwhile, a few Palestinian individuals, fed up with their oppression by Israel, carry knives or stones, and small resistance cells have a few guns (resistance against occupation is an internationally recognized right).
The phrase “cycle of violence” also obscures the fact that the conflict had a starting point: the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948, in which Israel took over 78% of the Palestinians’ historic homeland, and 85% of the Palestinian population – 750,000 people – were exiled.
The words “both sides” and “cycle of violence” blur the line between oppressor and oppressed, and falsely imply equal liability (an example of the actual asymmetrical nature of the conflict: since 2014, Israelis have killed about 750 Palestinian children; Palestinians have killed 8 Israeli children).
“Deep engagement”
The State Department’s so-called deep engagement in the Palestine-Israel issue consists of unconditional support for Israel’s every move (when occasionally the US tries to put its foot down, Israel embarrasses us) and financial backing for every military action to the tune of $10 million a day (in spite of laws that forbid our bankrolling of human rights abusers).
In short, Israel’s ongoing violation of international law has so far not deterred the United States from its staunch defense of that state.
On the other hand, US support for Palestinians consists of donations to UNRWA, the United Nations body tasked with providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees (the refugee population is a problem only because Israel has refused for 75 years to allow them to return), and to USAID – and even these forms of support have been halted at times.
Defense for Children International - Palestine (DCIP) reports,
Each year, the Israeli military prosecutes between 500 and 700 children in military courts. From the moment of arrest,Palestinian children encounter ill-treatment and torture at the hands of Israeli forces. Three out of four experience physical violence during arrest or interrogation. Israel is the only country in the world to automatically prosecute children in military courts that lack basic safeguards for a fair trial.
DCIP general director Khaled Quzmar adds,
International law is clear: children should only be detained as a last resort, for the shortest appropriate period of time, and under absolutely no circumstances should they be subjected to torture or ill-treatment. And yet, year after year, we see Palestinian children experiencing widespread ill-treatment and the systematic denial of their due process rights by Israeli forces and the military law framework.
Ahmad Manasra is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Israeli mistreatment of Palestinian children – and US complicity. The callousness of our government toward Ahmad and all Palestinian children, and its unquestioning financial support for this blatant human rights abuse by Israel, are unacceptable.