GIVEN Israel's track record regarding Palestinians dying mysteriously in Israeli prisons, it is imperative that the United Nations intervenes. The UN did weigh in on the death of Arafat Jaradat, calling for a thorough probe and saying it expects the autopsy to be followed by an independent and transparent investigation into the circumstances of the death. However, the UN should conduct its own investigation. There has to be an outside, credible party involved. We cannot take the word of one side alone, especially the side accused of the death. Israel claims Jaradat died of a heart attack, but the preliminary autopsy findings did not include a cause of death, the United Nations said. Israel says Jaradat died of cardiac arrest during interrogation. However, Palestinian officials and forensic experts say they are 100 percent certain that Jaradat was tortured to death at the hands of Israeli Shin Bet interrogators. Because as many as 250 Palestinians are believed to have died as a result of torture in Israeli jails, the Israeli side of the story must be thoroughly investigated by a neutral panel. While protests in support of Palestinian prisoners, especially those on hunger strike in Israeli jails, had already been building, the sudden death in his cell of 30-year-old Jaradat gave the demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip new momentum. Jaradat's death has raised fears in Israel of a new uprising. The sound and fury of old were loud and clear: Masked Palestinian gunmen fired in the air as thousands marched at the West Bank funeral of Jaradat. A rocket fired from Gaza into southern Israel, the first such attack since a cease-fire took hold in November between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, was a warning that there would be retaliation if a prisoner died or was harmed while in Israeli custody. Tension has been fueled by Palestinian frustration over Israel's settlement expansion in the West Bank, and a peace process in limbo since 2010. All signs are reminiscent of the seven-year Intifada that started in 2000 after peace talks failed. Another uprising could begin if confrontations with Palestinian protesters turn deadly. The previous two Intifadas were the result of a large number of dead during protests. Fatalities are a proven recipe for a sharper escalation. The death of Jaradat came amidst a prolonged showdown between Israel and the Palestinians over the plight of thousands of Palestinian political and resistance activists languishing in Israeli jails and detention camps. There have been several highlighted cases of prisoners on the verge of death following prolonged hunger strikes protesting unlawful open-ended incarceration by Israel. Israel has consistently refused to free Palestinian inmates, justifying its position by invoking the usual mantra of Palestinian terror. But after dispossessing Palestinians of their homeland, destroying their homes, murdering tens of thousands of them, and banishing millions all over the world, Israel is in no position to accuse Palestinians of terror. So worried are Israeli authorities about the heightened tension in the occupied territories that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office passed an unequivocal demand to the Palestinian Authority to calm down the West Bank. But even the best efforts by the PA may not be sufficient to pacify a restive people reeling under a sharp economic crisis with no sign of tangible peace efforts being made, in addition to perpetual Israeli repression and humiliation.
