Sharon set to legalise torture

Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv

THE government of Ariel Sharon, meeting today for the first time, is to urge Israel's parliament to approve a law that would allow the security service to torture Arab detainees.

The use of "moderate physical pressure" during interrogation has been oulawed by the high court and Yossi Beilin, the former Labour justice minister, resisted demands by Shin Bet, the domestic security service, for its reintroduction.

Political sources said Sharon's administration, which was sworn in on Wednesday, was sympathetic to the demand and had enough support to push the measure through the Knesset.

Shin Bet officers say force is justified in "time bomb" cases when a prisoner is thought to have knowledge of a terrorist act that is about to be carried out.

"We interrogate hundreds of Palestinians every day, all supected of terrorism," said one Shin Bet source. "Last month we arrested a girl who lured an Israeli boy via the internet to Ramallah, where he was brutally murdered. It took us 30 days to get a confession out of her.

"If we had been allowed to apply physical pressure she would have confessed after a couple of hours. Physical pressure saves time and sometimes life."

Force was routinely used by the security services until 1984, when two Palestinians were murdered during a Shin Bet investigation. A commission of inquiry forbade further torture, but the continued use of "moderate physical pressure" was permitted until September 1999.

Political sources say the nation's mood has been changed by the tense military situation and the government would probably succeed in pushing the measure through. At least 343 Palestinians, 65 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising five months ago.

The move has come despite signs that the first meeting will soon take place between Sharon and Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader. Sharon's son, Omri, met one of Arafat's senior advisers secretly in Tel Aviv last week, apparently to discuss the violence. The Palestinian cabinet later said it was extending the hand of peace to the new Israeli government - but also called for an end to what it called Israel's policy of "siege and destruction".

In a concession, the Israelis yesterday allowed the Palestinian parliament to hold its first full session since the beginning of the uprising. Two members were barred from attending on the grounds that they had incited violence against Israel.

In a speech to the parliament, Arafat called for renewed peace talks - but only on the basis of "existing agreements and understandings".