A Surprising Source on Shalit's Treatment

In the wake of the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held captive by Hamas for five years, The Guardian (of all newspapers) issues a report concerning Hamas' treatment of detainees:

Hamas has been criticised for its treatment of Palestinian detainees. A youth activist detained in August, Mohammed Matar, told Human Rights Watch that he was kept in a cell too small to allow him to lie down to sleep and given food "that was so bad that I threw up when I tried to eat it". 

Palestinian human rights organisations have repeatedly accused the security services in Gaza of arbitrary detentions and torture and complained that the Gaza courts rarely reject prosecutions built on confessions extracted under torture.

Clearly this is an understatement (and given The Guardian's track record of reporting the Middle East conflict one might be forgiven for wondering if such understatement is purely down to the classic British focus on a rhetorical device). Of course, the report is also careful to qualify its assessment of yesterday's pictures of a gaunt Shalit juxtaposed with busloads of far healthier-looking and somewhat more belligerent former Israeli prisoners. Yet the report is useful stab at honesty nonetheless.

The full report is available here.