In the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, arrests and imprisonment of Palestinian men in their early adulthood are common practice. The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) collected thousands of testimonies of Palestinian men allegedly tortured or ill-treated by Israeli authorities. There are many types of torture, sexual torture being one of them. This study is based on the PCATI database during 2005-2012, which contains 60 cases-- 4% of all files in this period--with testimonies of alleged sexual torture or ill-treatment. It is a first in the investigation of torture and ill-treatment of a sexual nature, allegedly carried out by Israeli security authorities on Palestinian men. Findings show that sexual ill-treatment is systemic, with 36 reports of verbal sexual harassment, either directed toward Palestinian men and boys or toward family members, and 35 reports of forced nudity. Moreover, there are six testimonies of Israeli officials involved in physical sexual assault of arrested or imprisoned Palestinian men. Physical assault in most cases concerned pressing and/or kicking the genitals, while one testimony pertained to simulated rape, and another described an actual rape by means of a blunt object. The article provides illustrations of the various types of sexual torture and ill-treatment of boys and men in the light of existing literature, and recommendations.

The differences in attitudes found in the study highlight the importance of considering multiple facets of patients' rights and the extent to which attitudes about patients' rights are associated with each facet.

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The article which follows documents one of the first short-term support groups for HIV-infected people (PWH) in Israel. The group enabled its members to cope in a positive way with issues of life and death and with the daily hardships that accompany their condition, and became an essential supporting factor in their lives. Four main areas of difficulty emerged in the group pertaining to PWH encounters with the health service, of which all may have detrimental effects on compliance with treatment: (a) sensitivity to the patient; (b) ensuring the patient's privacy; (c) consistency in procedures and in providing information; (d) communication between doctor and patient. The importance of recognizing these difficulties and the need for improvement are underscored.