1.   For years, international human rights groups had condemned Israel for allowing its security police to use physically coercive methods to interrogate Palestinian detainees.

2.   Hamas members accuse Israel of refusing to release its prisoners, even as secular Palestinian detainees supporting Arafat are set free.

3.   In Geneva on Wednesday, though, Israeli officials provided an example of a militant act prevented through the use of information obtained under coercion from a Palestinian detainee.

4.   The debate is an old one in Israel, and human rights groups have documented many cases of physical coercion against Palestinian detainees.

5.   The Israeli policy has resulted in the torture of thousands of Palestinian detainees since it was established, they claim.

6.   The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, an independent organization, said Alayan had also been involved in the torture of Palestinian detainees.

7.   Palestinian police have arrested two military intelligence officials in the torture death of a Palestinian detainee, Palestinian police sources said Wednesday.

8.   Palestinian officials, however, say the agreement would also have to include arrangements for Palestinian detainees.

9.   Palestinian detainees are routinely deprived of sleep for long periods, tied up in painful positions and severely beaten to extract confessions, the group has said.

10.   Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on Thursday compared Palestinian detainees to prisoners of war, indicating Israel might eventually free most of them.