Abstract

In Cold Type

The author, in this article, presents some information on human rights condition related to crisis in Arab world, especially the crisis in Israel. In 1992, from his seat on the Israeli Supreme Court president Ahron Barak, championed the Basic Laws that now serve the country as a kind of de facto constitution and give Israel one of the most progressive sets of human rights laws and precepts to govern any nation. But that was just a first step for this exceptional person. In May 1998, in a historic pronouncement, Barak declared that torture of Palestinian detainees was not legalized under Israeli codes. This meant that one day there would be no more "shabach," the technique of tying prisoners to kindergarten chairs, putting their heads in sacks and subjecting them to humiliation and psychological torture.