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ACTION SS-25
INFO OCT-01 ISO-00 SSO-00 /026 W
041434 010749Z /ll
R 301108Z NOV 78
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2239
INFO AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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11. INTERROGATION AND DENUNCIATION. A VICIOUS CIRCLE CAN BE
DISCERNED IN THE ISRAELI COURT RECORDS AND PERSONAL STATEMENTS
OF MANY OF THE TWENTY-NINE APPLICANTS: THE CIRCLE BEGINS WITH
ISRAELI SECURITY ORGANS ARRESTING AN INDIVIDUAL ON THE BASIS
OF A DENUNCIATION OBTAINED FROM HIS FRIEND UNDER INTERROGATORS; THEN, DURING THE NEW ARRESTEE'S INTERROGATION, THE INTERROGATORS DEMAND THAT HE COOPERATE WITH THEM AND DENOUNCE HIS ASSOCIATES; AND FURTHER ARRESTS RESULT. SEVENTEEN APPLICANTS WERE APPARENTLY ARRESTED ON THE BASIS OF DENUNCIATIONS, FIVE ALMOST CERTAINLY WERE NOT DENOUNCED, AND IN SEVEN CASES THERE IS INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION TO MAKE A JUDGEMENT ON THIS POINT. OF THE SEVENTEEN APPLICANTS DENOUNCED, TEN WERE DENOUNCED BY THEIR FRIENDS, WHO HAD BEEN ARRESTED AND INTERROGATED BEFORE THEM. FIVE SAID THAT THEY HAD BEEN DENOUNCED BY INFORMERS, PROBABLY FOR A MONETARY REWARD, AND IN TWO CASES THE ORIGIN OF THE DENUNCIATION IS UNCLEAR. IN THIRTEEN CASES, THE DENUNCIATION SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN THE SOLE FACTOR PROMPTING ARREST. NOT SURPRISINGLY, FOURTEEN APPLICANTS SPECIFICALLY STATED THAT DURING THEIR OWN INTERROGATIONS, THEIR INTERROGATORS HAD DEMANDED THAT THEY DENOUNCE ALLEGED ASSOCIATES. IT IS NOTEWORTHY THAT OF THE FIVE
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APPLICANTS WHO WERE NOT DENOUNCED, THREE WERE RELEASED WITHOUT
TRIAL AT THE CONCLUSION OF THEIR INTERROGATION, WHILE ON THE
OTHER HAND, ALL SEVENTEEN OF THE APPLICANTS WHO WERE DENOUNCED
WERE TRIED, CONVICTED, AND IMPRISONED. APPARENTLY, THE SECURING
OF DENUNCIATIONS IS A KEY POINT TO BE GAINED IN INTERROGATION. IN FACT, SOME APPLICANTS MENTIONED THAT WHILE THEY QUICKLY AGREED TO INCRIMINATE THEMSELVES, CONFESSING TO REAL OR IMAGINARY CRIMES, THEY CONSIDERED IT A POINT OF HONOR NOT TO NAME OTHER INDIVIDUALS -- AND THEI [sic] INTERROGATIONS DRAGGED ON FOR DAYS OR EVEN WEEKS AFTER THEIR OWN FATE HAD BEEN DECIDED, SOLEY [sic] ON THE ISSUE OF OBTAINING THE DENUNCIATIONS. IT APPEARS THAT AN INDIVIDUAL'S WILLINGNESS OR UNWILLINGNESS TO DENOUNCE ASSOCIATES MAY BE A CRUCIAL FACTOR IN DETERMINING THE SEVERITY AND INTENSITY OF THE INTERROGATION. FOR EXAMPLE, AN APPLICANT INTERROGATED AT NABLUS APPEARS TO HAVEEN [sic] SUBJECTED TO LEVEL THREE INTERROGATION, ALTHOUGH HE WAS CHARGE [sic] ONLY WITH HAVING GIVEN VERBAL CONSENT TO JOIN FATAH. HOWEVER, HE SAID THAT HE HAD STEADFASTLY REFUSED TO DENOUNCE ASSOCIATES. ANOTHER APPLICANT, WHO WAS INTERRROGATED FOR FIVE DAYS, DURING WHICH HE WAS NOT PERMITTED TO SLEEP, AND SPENT MOST OF THE TIME STANDING UP [was?] ARRESTED SHORTLY BEFORE MIDNIGHT AND TAKEN IMMEDIATELY FOR INTERROGATION[.] HE WROTE A CONFESSION INCRIMINATING ONLY HIMSELF BY MORNING. THE REMAINDER OF THE CONTINUOUS INTERROGATION, THE APPLICANT SAID, WAS DIRECTED TOWARD OBTAINING A DENUNCIATION, AND WHEN THIS WAS EXTRACTED ON THE FIFTHE [sic] DAY, THE INTERROGATION ENDED. A THIRD APPLICANT, ARRESTED AS A MEMBER OF A GROUP WHICH POSSESSED ARMS AND WHICH HAD ALREADY COMMITTED AT LEAST ONE ARMED OPERATION, DESCRIBED HIMSELF AS UNDERGOING LEVEL ONE INTERROGATION. HIMSELF ARRESTED ON BASIS OF INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY FRIENDS UNDER INTERROGATION, HE IMMEDIATELY FURNISHED HIS INTERROGATORS WITH A NUMBER OF ADDITIONAL NAMES.