"Israel" pressuring ill Palestinians to be informers

Source: Agencies, 26-10-2007
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip - Yasser Hiyya didn`t know why he was always so weak and tired until this summer, when doctors discovered a small hole in his heart. "Israel" gave Hiyya permission to leave the Gaza Strip last month and cross "Israeli" territory for immediate surgery in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank.
But when he arrived at the "Israeli" border crossing, he learned that there was a catch. In a daylong interrogation, Hiyya said, "Israeli" intelligence offered him a deal: Tell us about your brother, a wanted militant, and we`ll let you enter "Israel" for the operation you need.
When Hiyya refused, they turned him away.
Human rights groups charge that Hiyya`s case is one of nearly a dozen they`ve documented in which "Israelis" allegedly have tried to recruit ailing Palestinians as informers in the low-intensity war with the militant Islamic group Hamas.
Since Hamas won control of Gaza in a mid-June military rout of its rival, the secular group Fatah, "Israel" has worked to isolate the coastal strip and its 1.5 million residents. About the only people allowed out of Gaza these days are Palestinians who need emergency medical care.
Now, the rights groups charge, "Israel" is trying to turn them into collaborators.
"To prey on the most vulnerable is not only unlawful, it`s also despicable," said Fred Abrahams, a researcher at Human Rights Watch who documented some of the Gaza cases. "It`s a slow tightening of the noose, and people are dying."
Since June, at least five Palestinians have died after being denied permits to leave Gaza for emergency medical treatment, according to Physicians for Human Rights, an "Israeli" human-rights group that`s working to help patients in Gaza.
"Israel`s" General Security Service, better known as the Shabak, declined to discuss any of the cases or its strategy for collecting information, but it rejected allegations that it`s refusing to let critically ill Palestinians out of Gaza for treatment unless they became informants.
"The GSS`s policy regarding giving exit permits is not dependent on consent to become a collaborator," the service said in a prepared statement.
If and when Palestinians are turned away, the agency said, it`s because "Israel" has concerns about their links to terrorists.
It`s not clear how many people have been allowed out of Gaza.
On average, about 700 sick Palestinians have been given permission to leave Gaza each month since Hamas took control, according to the World Health Organization.
But fewer than 200 people were allowed out of Gaza during the last two weeks of September, when Hiyya was trying to leave, according to WHO figures compiled from "Israeli" reports.
Hiyya, 37, ran into problems because one of his younger brothers is a leading Fatah militant in Gaza whom "Israel" has tried to assassinate at least twice.
Hiyya said he`d never spent time behind bars and had kept clear of his brother`s affairs, something his "Israeli" interrogator refused to believe.
For 12 hours on Sept. 18 at the Erez border crossing, Hiyya said, he was strip-searched, taken to a below-ground interrogation room and grilled about his brother.
His interrogators called him a liar and accused him of helping his brother hide rockets that were to be launched into "Israel".
Hiyya tried three times in September to get to the West Bank for his surgery.
Each time, even though he had written approval, he was turned back. Doctors in Gaza so far have been unable to help him.
"If I don`t get to Nablus for my treatment, then I will die," he said. "I`m afraid. My soul is valuable to me."
Bassam Wahedi got permission for emergency eye surgery in "Israel" to save his sight.
Wahedi, 28 and a journalist, said he, too, was strip-searched at Erez and taken to an underground interrogation room with a two-way mirror on the wall. Wahedi said his interrogator offered to send him to a better "Israeli" hospital if he agreed to collect information on militants firing rockets at "Israel".
"You will never leave Gaza unless you support us and help us," Wahedi said his interrogator warned.
Like Hiyya, Wahedi refused the offer. "It would be a huge betrayal if I wanted to save my eyes and give information to `Israel`," Wahedi said.
Human Rights Watch`s Abrahams warned that the "Israeli" strategy could create risks for Palestinians who`re allowed out of Gaza because militants will suspect them of being collaborators.
"It casts a shadow of suspicion over those who succeed to leave Gaza," he said. "People will wonder what they did to be able to get out."
Shin Bet prevented medical care to Palestinian cancer patient
Meanwhile, the Shin Bet refused to allow a 21-year-old Rafiah man who is sick with cancer and in need of immediate medical care to come to "Israel", even though he obtained the proper permission the "Israeli" Military Coordination and Liaison Administration.
The Shin Bet also arrested the patient`s father, who accompanied him to the hospital.
Mahmoud Abu Taha was diagnosed with cancer of the small intestine in August 2007. Treatment in Gaza was unsuccessful, and he lost a third of his body weight. In addition, he is not taking all of the vitamins he needs because of the shortage of medications in Gazan hospitals.
Because of his serious condition, the doctors decided to postpone chemotherapy and send him to Tel HaShomer hospital in Ramat Gan. According to Mahmoud`s brother, Hanni Abu Taleh, on October 18, they received permission shortly after they filed a request with the "Israeli" Military. The father and his sick son drove in an ambulance to Erez Crossing, and after a half-hour wait, the father`s name was called on the loudspeaker.
According to the brother, the patient continued to wait in the ambulance, lying on a stretcher and attached to an oxygen tank and an infusion. After two hours, it was announced on the loudspeaker that he was denied entrance into "Israel".
They returned to the hospital in Khan Yunis. At the same time, a person who identified himself as an officer with the Shin Bet called Hanni and told him that his father had been arrested.
The family filed another request for Mahmoud to come for medical treatment at Tel HaShomer, but they still have not received a reply.
The Shin Bet maintains that "Abu Taha arrived at the Erez Crossing during a specific warning of a terror attack at the border crossing. Due to the fact that it was not allowed to carry out a security check on him, he was prevented from exiting to `Israel`."
The Shin Bet also said that the father of Mahmoud was arrested on suspicion of involvement in (so-called) terror activities.