Thursday, April 03, 2014

Spy or Die

From Karim:  "I wonder if you have seen this horrific one on Gaza from IPS:
If you want to live and receive medical treatment, you have my number, so you can call me and agree to my request. You will then get medical help, and survive. The request, the patient said, was from an Israeli intelligence officer looking to recruit him in exchange for treatment.
The 28-year-old Fadi Al-Qutshan never did become a spy for Israel. And he did not survive long. […]
Blackmail of patients because of their need to travel through Israeli checkpoints has turned these checkpoints into traps for Palestinian patients, Ahlam Al-Aqra’, solicitor with the legal aid unit of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza, told IPS. Many needing to go through checkpoints are either arrested or pressured to work as spies, he said. This is against basic human rights, and it must stop.
The centre has documented several cases of arrest and manipulation of patients from Gaza needing to pass through the Erez crossing (at the intersection of Gaza, the West Bank and Israel), and of harassment of their family members or others accompanying them."