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Report On Israeli Jails
Prompts Controversy
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54
FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1991
New York (JTA) — An un-
published report on prison
conditions in Israel and the
occupied territories is at the
center of a controversy over
the objectivity of Middle
East Watch, a human rights
monitoring organization.
Rita Simon, a professor of
sociology at American Uni-
versity, suggests the report
she did for Middle East Wat-
ch was not published be-
cause it was "basically a
positive report" and such
reports are usually not
issued by the monitoring
group.
Syndicated newspaper
columnist Mona Charon has
charged that "Middle East
Watch wanted a smear.
When they got the truth,
they tried to suppress it."
But human rights officials
counter that Ms. Simon
engaged in sloppy research
practices, turned in a first
draft of "deplorable" quality
and sent a copy of her draft
report to Israeli police and
military authorities, some-
thing that "borders on the
unethical."
"She gave us a flimsy, un-
publishable piece of work,"
said Aryeh Neier, executive
director of Human Rights
Watch, which is composed of
five regional monitoring
groups, including Middle
East Watch.
"It was a very brief, im-
pressionistic account with
very little hard informa-
tion," said Mr. Neier, whose
organization tracks human
rights violations worldwide.
"We simply don't publish
work of such deplorable
quality."
Ms. Simon countered that
Middle East Watch was
judging her report on the
basis of a "rough draft,"
which was "meant to be
worked on."
She also said that in
academic circles it is normal
to send out draft copies and
solicit comments before final
publication.
Mr. Neier dismissed ac-
cusations that human rights
groups avoid publishing
positive reports, citing a re-
cently released study of
Poland's prison system,
which was "highly positive,"
he said.
He also attributed the
delay in the report's publica-
tion — close to nine months
after the research trip — to
the Persian Gulf crisis,
which required Middle East
Watch to shift its priorities
to investigating allegations
of Iraqi abuses, among other
things.
Ms. Simon and her
daughter, Judith Simon, a
lawyer who was part of the
three-person team that
visited the prisons, have
since released their 48-page
report privately.
It offers a general look at
prison and detention camp
conditions, with few refer-
ences to international law or
previously published reports
and news articles, which are
usually found in human
rights reports.
In the conclusion, the
Simons write that conditions
in the Israeli detention
centers are "neither in-
humane nor intolerable"
given the circumstances.
"My concern was and is
getting out an honest report,
and when I saw that it was
going to be shelved, I
thought that was not consis-
The author
suggests it was
not published
because it was
"basically a
positive report."
tent with" the time spent on
the trip, said the elder Ms.
Simon.
Middle East Watch,
meanwhile, has completed
and issued another report on
prison conditions in Israel
and the administered ter-
ritories. A letter from Mr.
Neier attached to the report
gives a brief description of
the controversy and explains
the delay in the report's
release.
The report, "Prisons in
Israel," was written by Eric
Goldstein, the group's
research director, who ac-
companied the Simons on
the 12-day fact-finding mis-
sion to Israel last summer.
The delegation visited 12
facilities between July 29
and Aug. 7, including five
prisons run by Israel Prison
Services, two police jails and
five Israel Defense Force
detention camps for Palesti-
nians in the administered
territories.
The report is close to
double the length of the
Simons' report and gives a
detailed critique of the
prison and detention center
system.
Mr. Goldstein's report
draws upon previously
published information as