B3H 2V4

3 March 1999

The Editor

Dear Editor:

Re: "Arab Crime, Arab Court, Arab Justice" [March 3].

Bob Tarplett is right in saying that complaints should be addressed to Yasser Arafat, for imposing upon the Palestinian people the oppressive Security Court system dictated to him by Israel.

Mr. Tarplett states had the crime happened in Israel, an appropriate standard of legal procedures would follow. He should ask about that the thousands of Palestinians who have been held for years in "adminisrative detntion" in Israeli gaols without charge or trial, or the thousands who have stood trial before Israeli military courts having been brutally tortured and denied any form of legal process.

Israel has the unique distinction of being the only country in the world where torture is systematically practiced by legislation, as confirmed by Amnesty International and Israel’s own B’Tselem human rights organisation.

Yours Sincerely

Ismail Zayid, M.D.