Arab Investigation Centres
Encyclopedia
Arab Investigation Centres were torture
centres established by the British
administration during the 1936-1939 Great Arab Revolt in Mandate Palestine
.
The Centres were established on the authority of Sir Charles Tegart
, a senior police officer
‘headhunted’ from British India. Victims were warterboarded
and generally given the ‘third degree’
until they ‘spilled the beans’. One such centre in a Jewish quarter of West Jerusalem was closed only after colonial official Edward Keith-Roach
, the governor of Jerusalem, complained to the High Commissioner
. Keith-Roach argued that ‘questionable practises ’ were counter-productive both in terms of the information gathered and the effect on local people's confidence in the police
.
The Anglican
Archdeacon
in Palestine believed police abuses were the cause of the violence rather than a response to it. He detailed the daily complaints from Arabs of beatings at the hands of rampaging police officers in a letter to the Mandate Chief Secretary
in 1936. An Anglican chaplain in Haifa
also wrote to the Lord Bishop in Jerusalem, Graham Brown
, in December 1937 about an incident he witnessed in which a suspect whose teeth were already knocked out before he was brought into the station was given another brutal beating:
Palestinians themselves also made complaints to the authorities. There are accounts in Arabic
of suspects being tortured, being beaten until they were unable to walk, being blown to bits, being left in open cages in the sun without sustenance, being beaten with wet ropes, ‘boxed’ and having their teeth smashed, of having their feet burnt with oil and of ‘needles’ being used on suspects and of dogs being set upon Arab detainees. British and Jewish auxiliary forces
maltreated Arabs by having them hold heavy stones and then beating them when they dropped them. Guards also used bayonet
s on sleep-deprived men and made them wear bells around their necks and then dance.
Arab prisoners jumped to their deaths from high windows to escape their captors, had their testicles tied with cord, were tortured with strips of wood with nails in, had wire tightened around their big toes, hair was torn from their faces and heads, special instruments were used to extract fingernails, red hot skewer
s were used on detainees, prisoners were sodomised, boiling oil and intoxicants were used on prisoners, as were electric shocks, and water was funnelled into suspects’ stomachs. There were also mock execution
s.
Despite protests and revulsion expressed even by British officials and Anglican clergy extrajudicial executions, torture, beatings and general violence remained commonplace responses by the police during the Arab revolt.
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
centres established by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
administration during the 1936-1939 Great Arab Revolt in Mandate Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
.
The Centres were established on the authority of Sir Charles Tegart
Charles Tegart
Sir Charles Augustus Tegart KCIE KPM , the second son of Rev. Joseph Poulter Tegart, was a colonial police officer in India and Mandatory Palestine, variously earning praise for his industry and efficiency, and notoriety for his brutality and use of torture.-Early Life:Tegart was the son of a...
, a senior police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
‘headhunted’ from British India. Victims were warterboarded
Waterboarding
Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over the face of an immobilized captive, thus causing the individual to experience the sensation of drowning...
and generally given the ‘third degree’
Third degree (interrogation)
The third degree is a euphemism for the "inflicting of pain, physical or mental, to extract confessions or statements". In 1931 the Wickersham Commission found that use of the third degree was widespread in the United States. No one knows the origin of the term but there are several hypotheses. The...
until they ‘spilled the beans’. One such centre in a Jewish quarter of West Jerusalem was closed only after colonial official Edward Keith-Roach
Edward Keith-Roach
Edward Keith-Roach . British Colonial administrator during the British mandate on Palestine. served as the governor of Jerusalem from 1926 to 1945. Nicknamed "Pasha of Jerusalem"...
, the governor of Jerusalem, complained to the High Commissioner
High Commissioners of Palestine
High Commissioners of Palestine were the highest ranking authority representing the United Kingdom in the British Mandate of Palestine. They were based in Jerusalem...
. Keith-Roach argued that ‘questionable practises ’ were counter-productive both in terms of the information gathered and the effect on local people's confidence in the police
Palestine Police Force
The Palestine Police Force was a British colonial police service established in the British Mandate for Palestine on 1 July 1920, when High Commissioner Herbert Samuel's civil administration took over responsibility for security from General Allenby's Occupied Enemy Territory Administration...
.
The Anglican
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
Archdeacon
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
in Palestine believed police abuses were the cause of the violence rather than a response to it. He detailed the daily complaints from Arabs of beatings at the hands of rampaging police officers in a letter to the Mandate Chief Secretary
Chief Secretary
The Chief Secretary is the title of a senior civil servant in members of the Commonwealth of Nations, and, historically, in the British Empire. Prior to the dissolution of the colonies, the Chief Secretary was the second most important official in a colony of the British Empire after the...
in 1936. An Anglican chaplain in Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
also wrote to the Lord Bishop in Jerusalem, Graham Brown
George Francis Graham Brown
The Rt Rev George Francis Graham Brown OBE DD was an Anglican Bishop in the second quarter of the twentieth century.Graham-Brown was educated at Monkton Combe School and St Catharine's College, Cambridge...
, in December 1937 about an incident he witnessed in which a suspect whose teeth were already knocked out before he was brought into the station was given another brutal beating:
A second man came in who was in plain clothes, but whom I took to be one of the British Police, and I saw him put a severe double arm lock on the man from behind, and then beat him about the head and body in what I can only describe as a brutal and callous way. Once or twice he stopped and turned to the other people in the station, and in an irresponsible and gloating manner said "I'm so sorry"—"I'm awfully sorry." And then proceeded to punch the prisoner round the station again. A third man came in. He was in plain clothes, and was wearing a soft felt hat. He was, I think, British, and may have been a member of the Police Force, but I thought at the time that he was a soldier in civilian clothes .... But this man also made a vicious and violent attack on the prisoner, and punched him about the head and body .... I am gravely disturbed at the possibility that one of the men who was in the station, and who beat up the first person who was brought in was not a member of the police force, but a soldier—this was the man who was wearing a soft felt trilby hat .... I was for two years Chaplain to a prison in EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and in the course of my duties not infrequently witnessed the methods which police and prison warders were compelled to use with men detained or serving long terms of imprisonment, and can only say what I saw on this occasion sickened me and filled me with the gravest misgivings.
Palestinians themselves also made complaints to the authorities. There are accounts in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
of suspects being tortured, being beaten until they were unable to walk, being blown to bits, being left in open cages in the sun without sustenance, being beaten with wet ropes, ‘boxed’ and having their teeth smashed, of having their feet burnt with oil and of ‘needles’ being used on suspects and of dogs being set upon Arab detainees. British and Jewish auxiliary forces
Jewish Supernumerary Police
The Jewish Supernumerary Police were a branch of the Guards set up by the British in Mandate Palestine in June 1936. Around 22,000 Notrim were appointed, armed and equipped by the British to act as a protective militia for Jewish settlements...
maltreated Arabs by having them hold heavy stones and then beating them when they dropped them. Guards also used bayonet
Bayonet
A bayonet is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit in, on, over or underneath the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear...
s on sleep-deprived men and made them wear bells around their necks and then dance.
Arab prisoners jumped to their deaths from high windows to escape their captors, had their testicles tied with cord, were tortured with strips of wood with nails in, had wire tightened around their big toes, hair was torn from their faces and heads, special instruments were used to extract fingernails, red hot skewer
Skewer
A skewer is a thin metal or wood stick used to hold pieces of food together. They are used while grilling or roasting meats, and in other culinary applications....
s were used on detainees, prisoners were sodomised, boiling oil and intoxicants were used on prisoners, as were electric shocks, and water was funnelled into suspects’ stomachs. There were also mock execution
Mock execution
A mock execution is a stratagem in which a victim is deliberately but falsely made to feel that his execution or that of another person is imminent or is taking place. It may be staged for an audience or a subject who is made to believe that he is being led to his own execution...
s.
Despite protests and revulsion expressed even by British officials and Anglican clergy extrajudicial executions, torture, beatings and general violence remained commonplace responses by the police during the Arab revolt.
Further reading
- Horne, Edward (2003). A Job Well Done: A History of the Palestine Police Force, 1920-1948. Book Guild. ISBN 1857767586 (First published 1982 by the Palestine Police)