In an unusual move, the Shin Bet security service has agreed to compensate Jamal al-Hindi, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, for a partial disability that he says is due to having been tortured by Shin Bet agents 15 years ago. The amount of compensation remains secret by court order.
On July 18, 1995, Ohad Bachrach, 18, of Beit El and Uri Shachor, 19, of Ra’anana were murdered as they swam in Wadi Kelt. The perpetrators shot them at close range.
Two weeks after the murder, the Shin Bet arrested al-Hindi, a PFLP member from Qalqilyah, as a suspect. Hindi had served three prison terms in the past − for throwing a firebomb, putting up PFLP posters and kidnapping Palestinians who allegedly collaborated with Israel.
In a lawsuit filed subsequently, Hindi detailed the torture he underwent, including being handcuffed in painful positions, deprived of sleep, shaken and slapped. He alleged that his interrogators threatened to kill him and destroy his home.
Arab and Islamic countries jointly condemned remarks by the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who...
