THE United Nations Committee Against Torture called on Israel yesterday to stop interrogating Palestinian detainees with methods including sleep deprivation and violent shaking, which the panel said constituted torture and broke international law.
The committee said the 1987 Convention Against Torture, which Israel has signed, ruled out invoking the threat of terrorism as justification for cruel treatment, and told Israel to report back on steps taken by September 1st.
But the Israeli ambassador, Mr Yosef Lamdan, rejected the committee's conclusions, saying they were based on the "hearsay evideuce" of non-governmental organisations.
"It is absolutely not the case that Israel uses torture or any methods tantamount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in interrogating suspected terrorists," Mr Lamdan said in a statement. "Israel has nothing to hide on this issue."
The UN committee listed seven interrogation methods which "appear to be applied systematically" and said Israel had neither confirmed nor denied reports of their use. The committee, therefore, must assume them to be accurate."
Practices reported by Amnesty International and other groups which have interviewed people interrogated by Israel's General Security Services were: restraining people in very painful conditions; hooding; playing loud music for prolonged periods; sleep deprivation; threats including death threats to the victim and others; violent shaking; and using cold air to chill detainees.
Prof Peter Burns, the committee's rapporteur investigator on Israel, said: "Individually and in combination the methods constitute torture. Clearly they are cruel and degrading."
Dr Bent Sorensen, vice-chairman of the committee, said the conclusions were also based on "medical evidence" contained in autopsy reports and official Israeli court records showing the length of sleep deprivation.
Dr Sorensen cited the example of a detainee who died in 1995 during interrogation. His autopsy was seen by Prof Dale Pounder, a senior forensic expert, who attributed death to brain damage caused by shaking, a controlled method of torture.
Prof Burns said that the committee could not accept Israel's "defence of necessity" to justify cruel methods.
Ms Nili Arad, director-general of Israel's Ministry of Justice, told the committee on Wednesday her country was in a constant struggle to strike a balance between protecting civilians from terrorist violence while also respecting human rights.
Applying moderate use of physical pressure" during some interrogations, allowed under Israel's Landau Commission rules, bad helped investigators to foil 90 plans for large-scale terrorist attacks, she added.
. Israel and Jordan said last night their leaders had met secretly at a Jordanian resort for several hours late at night to begin patching up a water dispute and to try to salvage Middle East peace-making.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, and Jordan's King Hussein met at the Red Sea port of Aqaba,
"I believe we also found solutions and I want to emphasise there was no concession on Israel's part," said Mr Ariel Sharon, who attended the meeting as Israel's national infrastructure minister responsible for water.
It was the first time King Hussein had met Mr Sharon, a former general, who told Israel Radio: "To my regret my meetings in the past with the Kingdom of Jordan were in different circumstances of war and fighting."
It was unclear why the summit between two countries at peace for nearly three years took place in secret. But the last planned public meeting, on Tuesday, was cancelled.
Jordan's Crown Prince Hassan cancelled the meeting with Mr Netanyahu because of disagreements over water supplies Israel promised the parched Arab kingdom under their 1994 peace treaty.