Date: 26 / 03 / 2009 Time: 13:40
Tubas - Ma'an - Israeli soldiers at the Ofer prison beat a prisoner so badly his pelvis was broken, Head of the Detainees Society in Tubas Mahmoud Sawafta said Thursday.
The family of Hassan Youssef Dabak from Tayasir in the northern West Bank contacted the society last week after visiting their son in prison and observing his extremely poor health conditions. The improperly healed break in his pelvis causes him immense pain when he tries to walk.
Dabak was stalked by Israeli troops for four years and detained on 12 April 2008. He was transferred from the Jericho to the Ofer prison during the winter.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Comrade Samir Al-Attar released from Zionist jails
http://www.pflp.ps/english/?q=node/1018
Comrade Samir Al-Attar, who was arrested by the Israeli occupation forces during its war of aggression against our people in Gaza Strip, was released on March 26, 2009 after he spent three months in the Negev desert prison.
The PFLP issued a statement today regarding his release, saying that "Comrade Al-Attar returned to his family and his friends and loved ones in the Atatra area west of Beit Lahia in the northern sector of the Gaza Strip."
The PFLP participated in the welcoming reception with the family and friends of Comrade Samir, and renewed its demand to release all of our brave prisoners in the occupation jails, who have practiced their legitimate right to resist the occupier and struggle for the freedom of our people and our land, a natural right protected by national and international laws.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Israel puts two Hamas affiliates in administrative detention
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Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Likud, Kadima MK’s submit bill to worsen conditions of Palestinian detainees
Tuesday March 24, 2009 10:45 by IMEMC & Agencies
Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported o Monday that Likud member of Knesset (MK), Yariv Levin, and Kadima MK, Yoel Hasson, submitted a bill that calls for worsening the living conditions of imprisoned Hamas members.
File, Palestinian detainee - Image by Maan News Agency
They said that those who are responsible for “terrorist attacks, and for holding captive Gilad Shalit, should be denied all privileges”, Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported.
The bill calls for placing some detainees in solitary confinement for extended periods, denying visitations, issuing Administrative Detention orders against the detainees who finish their terms, and barring detained students from continuing their education.
Several members of Knesset already declared their support to the new proposal. The MK’s who expressed support to the illegal bill are of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party, Shas Party, National Union Party, the Likud, and the Jewish Home.
It also aims at increasing Israel’s bargaining power over Hamas in talks for the release of the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, Haaretz said.
The two MK’s claimed that Palestinian detainees imprisoned by Israel “are living in better conditions than the captured soldier”.
Likud MK, Levin, who used to the vice-president of the Israeli Bar Association, claimed that the bill “would be balanced, and will be in line with the international law”.
He also claimed that the bill will not violate the Geneva Convention. He said that the Convention only applies to prisoners of war and Israeli does not recognize the Palestinian detainees as prisoners of war.
Furthermore, Haaretz reported that a ministerial committee in Israel urged on Thursday the government to revoke some right of Palestinian detainees in order to increase the pressure on Hamas.
Such a decision is a violation to the basic rights of the detainees and constitutes collective punishment. Israel claims this decision is against detained Hamas members, but on the ground all detainees are imprisoned together and face the same aggression.
All Palestinian detainees are prisoners of war as Israeli is illegally occupying the Palestinians land and fully ignores and disregards the international law which labels occupation as a war crime.
Hundreds of detainees died in Israeli prisons since 1967. Most of them died due to extreme torture, while the rest died as the Israeli Prisons Authority denied them access to adequate medical treatment.
Israeli legalizes torturing detainees to obtain confessions, and several detainees died due to torture. Approximately 10.000 Palestinians, including hundreds of women and children, are imprisoned by Israel. The number of Israelis imprisoned by the Palestinians in One.
Palestinian detainees to protest Israeli decisions against them
Tuesday March 24, 2009 13:02 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News
The Prisoners Center for Studies (PCS) reported on Tuesday that Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons have decided to protest against the Israeli decisions against them, specifically calls for placing some in solitary confinement, and denying them visits and the right to education.
The Prisoners Center for Studies
The PCS said that the decision came after the Israeli government decided several measures of collective punishment were taken against them following failed prisoner-sap talks with Hamas.
The measures also include barring prisoners from watching al-Jazeera new agency, and placing some of them in solitary confinement for indefinite periods, in addition to denying the detainees the right to education.
The center said that the detainees will not surrender and will not accept that Israel removes achievements they obtained through years of struggle and hunger strikes.
Furthermore, the PSC stated that there will be cooperation between the detainees and several factions and institutions in Palestine in order to organize massive protests marking April 17, the Palestinian Prisoners Day.
Ra’fat Hamdouna, head of the center, said that there are serious threats and violations against the detainees, especially the recent decision of the Israeli government to impose further restrictions on them.
Hamdouna appealed to the international community and different human rights groups to intervene and stop Israel's violations of human rights and international treaties that call for protecting detainees.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Israeli settlers block Palestinians from visiting political prisoner family members
NETANYA, Israel, March 23 (UPI) -- Israeli demonstrators demanding the release of a kidnapped soldier blocked visitors from seeing Palestinian prisoners Monday, witnesses said.
The protesters blocked the entrance to the Sharon prison near the northern Israeli town of Netanya, demanding that the same conditions be placed on high-security Palestinian prisoners as Cpl. Gilad Shalit's Hamas captors have imposed on him, Ynetnews.com reported.
The group, led by the Im Tirtzu extra-parliamentary movement and joined by the World Likud, the Beitar Movement and representatives of the Kibbutz Movement, demanded that government recommendations for sanctions against Palestinian security prisoners be imposed to speed up Shalit's release.
"The government talks and the citizens do -- we will not allow prison visits," the demonstrators chanted.
"This must be done today already," Yoel Marshak of the Kibbutz Movement told Ynetnews. "We are here to protest and arouse public opinion and to show Hamas that we can also block visitation to their prisoners, as long as they are not allowing anyone to see Gilad Shalit."
© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The protesters blocked the entrance to the Sharon prison near the northern Israeli town of Netanya, demanding that the same conditions be placed on high-security Palestinian prisoners as Cpl. Gilad Shalit's Hamas captors have imposed on him, Ynetnews.com reported.
The group, led by the Im Tirtzu extra-parliamentary movement and joined by the World Likud, the Beitar Movement and representatives of the Kibbutz Movement, demanded that government recommendations for sanctions against Palestinian security prisoners be imposed to speed up Shalit's release.
"The government talks and the citizens do -- we will not allow prison visits," the demonstrators chanted.
"This must be done today already," Yoel Marshak of the Kibbutz Movement told Ynetnews. "We are here to protest and arouse public opinion and to show Hamas that we can also block visitation to their prisoners, as long as they are not allowing anyone to see Gilad Shalit."
© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Israel to punish Hamas, Islamic Jihad detainees
Thursday March 19, 2009 07:43 by IMEMC News
A “special” Israeli Ministerial Committee is looking into ways to punish Hamas and Islamic Jihad detainees, as a means to pressure the movements into releasing the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit,
Hamas fighters - Gaza parade; image, worldpress.com
Although the act itself as a direct violation to the International Law, the ministerial committee is weighing the needed measures to practice pressure on detainees of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad Movements, Israeli Ynet News reported.
The committee held its meeting on Wednesday afternoon and listened to a number of proposals including, but not limited to, lowering the amounts of money allowed to be transferred to the detainees, reduce and limit their visitations, limit the usage of TV and Radio, and prevent any sort of physical contact between the detainees and their visitors.
The new punishment proposal did not stop there, but is also targeting the education of the detainees as it will also limited the educational opportunities of the detainees.
The Minister of Justice in Israel, Daniel Friedman, said that one of the options is to limited transferring goods into the Gaza Strip as a means to practice the detainees and their families.
Israeli sources reported that the committee decided to form a professional team headed by a a representative of the attorney general in order coordinate the new sanctions with the Prison Administration, the Security Services, and the Israeli Army.
Further discussions and considerations are still needed and the committee intends to conclude its decision within two weeks, but it still has the power to carry certain measures immediately.
The Public Committee against Torture in Israel urged on Wednesday Justice Minister Friedman and Israel's Attorney General, Menahim Mazuz, to dissolve this committee as it constitutes a form of collective punishment and imposed “unequal and illegal punishment”, The Ynet added.
On January 28 this year, the Public Committee reported that seven Israeli Human Rights groups filed an appeal to the the Military Judge Advocate General, Brigadier General Avichai Mandelblit, and to Attorney General Menahim Mazuz, asking them to ease the living conditions of detainees Israel kidnapped during the war on Gaza.
The Committee stated that the detainees are being held under inhuman conditions and are subjected to human rights violations.
It stated that the detainees were subjected to inhuman treatment from the time of their arrests until they were moved to the custody of the Prison Services.
In their letter, the groups provided details on what was described as “shocking and inhuman, degrading conditions Palestinian prisoners were subjected to during the first days of their detention.
The detainees were forced into pits dug into the ground, they would remain there several hours and sometimes for several days. They would be exposed to the cold weather while they are handcuffed and blindfolded.
They were rarely provided with food, rarely allowed to use the toilet, and were not provided with sanitary facilities.
Some detainees were held near tanks as human shields which also violates the International Law.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Bardaweel: “Deportation and exclusion of detainees in exchange deal unacceptable”
Wednesday March 18, 2009 01:52 by IMEMC & Agencies
Salah Bardaweel, a political leaders of Hamas, slammed Israel for its decision to exclude some detainees from the prisoner-swap deal, and its decision to deport some of them after they are released.
Salah Bardaweel - Image by Palestine-Info
In an interview with the Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Information Center, Bardaweel said that Hamas is demanding the release of 1,500 detainees, and added that this number, "is just a little bit more than 10 percent of the 11,000 detainees Israel is holding captive.
He confirmed that Hamas insists on its demands and insists on the release of detainees who have spent years behind bars, and that the movement will not abandon any detainees on their list.
“The occupation is mistaken if it believes that Hamas will make concessions on this issue, especially after the recent war on Gaza, if the occupation believes we are rushing to achieve a prisoner swap deal before Netanyahu comes to power, then its is mistaken and unrealistic,” Bardaweel said.
At the end of his statement, the Hamas leader said that Hamas will not accept excluding some names from the prisoner exchange, and will not accept Israel's condition to deport some of the detainees who would be released.
The outgoing Israeli government is moving towards closing the swap deal file and transferring it to the upcoming government.
Israel publishes names of detainees it will not free
Wednesday March 18, 2009 00:54 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies
On Tuesday evening, the Israeli government published a list containing names of Palestinian detainees they are not willing to release under any circumstances. Israel also presented a list containing names of detainees it is willing to release.
The detainees Israel is willing to release under a prisoner exchange with Hamas will only be freed under the condition that they should be deported.
One of the detainees who tops Israel's “rejection list” is Baheej Bader, who is believed to be behind two bombings; a 2003 bombing in Jerusalem in which several Israelis were killed, and an attack in Tisfarim settlement in the same year. Baheej was sentenced to eighteen consecutive life terms.
The second detainee is Raed Khodary, whom Israel claims recruited volunteers for attacks. The third detainee is Hasan Salama, who was sentenced to 38 consecutive life terms after Israeli convicted him of planning several attacks, including an attack on an Israeli bus.
Also on the list, detainee Abdullah Barghouthi, who is believed to be behind a number of attacks, including planning two bombings targeting a restaurant and a coffee shop in Jerusalem, was sentenced to 67 consecutive life terms.
The “no release list” also includes Mohammad Omran, believed to be behind several attacks, including a coffee shop bombing.
Another name is Ibrahim Hamid, one of the leaders of the al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas in the West Bank. Israel believes that Hamid is responsible for the death of 82 Israelis.
Also, Abbas al-Sayyid, head of the al-Qassam brigades in Tulkarem, is on the rejection list as Israel claims he is the mastermind behind a number of attacks.
The list also includes Mohannad Shreim, a Hamas leader in the West Bank, believed to be behind a bombing in Netanya; Jamal Abu al-Haija of Hamas, who was seriously injured during the 2002 Israeli invasion of the Jenin refugee camp, and was sentenced to 26 life terms; Moath Bilal, who is believed to be in charge of dispatching suicide bombers, including Ben Yehuda and Mahne Yehoda bombings, in which 21 Israelis were killed.
Yet, Israel also agreed to release a number of detainees who were sentenced to high terms under the condition that they are deported out of Palestine.
Some of them were identified as Lateef Shqeir and Mohammad Taher who is believed to be behind a 2001 bus bombing in Haifa in which 15 Israelis were killed. Taher was sentenced to 15 life terms and an additional twenty years.
The list also includes Nasr Nazzal, sentenced to two life terms and 30 years. He is believed to be behind several attacks, including Bar Elan attack in 2002, in which one Israeli was killed and twenty others were wounded.
Another name on the list is Sa'id Badarna, who is believed to be the mastermind of an attack at the Central Bus Station in Khodera in 1994.
Urgent: Ahmad Sa'adat transferred to solitary confinement in Asqelan prison!
On March 18, 2009, Ahmad Sa'adat was suddenly transferred from Hadarim prison and to Asqelan prison, where he is being held in solitary confinement.
Ahmad Sa'adat alongside 11,000 other Palestinian prisoners, has been repeatedly subjected to solitary confinement and punitive measures at the behest of the Israeli regime. Sa'adat has been moved repeatedly from prison to prison, and often placed in solitary confinement or isolation.
Palestinian lawyer Buthaina Duqmaq, president of the Mandela Association for Palestinian prisoners, stated that this is part of the Israeli policies towards Palestinian prisoners. Sa'adat has been particularly targeted because he is both a Palestinian national leader and a leader among the prisoners, whose presence within the prison strengthens the prisoners' unity and steadfastness.
Furthermore, Ahmad Sa'adat is suffering from back injuries that require medical assistance and treatment. Instead of receiving the medical care he needs, the Israeli prison officials are refusing him access to specialists and engaging in medical neglect and maltreatment. Now, they are returning him to isolation where he will face even more serious medical neglect and injury.
The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat demands an end to this isolation and calls upon all to write to the International Committee of the Red Cross and other human rights organizations to exercise their responsibilities and act swiftly to demand that the Israelis ensure that Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian prisoners receive needed medical care and that this punitive isolation be ended. Email the ICRC, whose humanitarian mission includes monitoring the conditions of prisoners, at jerusalem.jer@icrc.org, and inform them about the urgent situation of Ahmad Sa'adat!
The imprisonment of Sa'adat, facing a 30 year sentence for his powerful and political leadership of the Palestinian people, is a symbol of Israel's attempts to isolate and target the Palestinian people and their national movement for liberation, through massive imprisonment. They have not succeeded in breaking the will of the people of Palestine, through imprisonment, massacres, and siege, and will never succeed in breaking the will of Sa'adat, the Palestinian prisoners, or the Palestinian people.
Freedom for Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian prisoners now!
The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat
http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Palestinian mother's solidarity with 40 adopted prisoners
posted on Electronic Intifada
Eman Mohammed writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 17 March 2009
Adopting more children seemed to be an unusual thing to do for Handoma Wishah, known as Umm Jaber, as she had already raised six children of her own and got most of them into college. Yet she says it was easy to make what could have been a tough decision. Umm Jaber "adopted" about 40 adult men of several Arab nationalities without hesitation. The story began in the 1980s, after four of her sons were jailed by the Israeli army.
Yasir, then 20, was sentenced to three years, Basem, 24, to a year and a half, Ziad, 38, to two years and Jaber, 35, to life -- all of them for charges that they jeopardized Israel's "security." Despite the hardship of having four sons imprisoned, she maintained her composure and like other mothers of detained Palestinians, went to visit them.
"Behind the Israeli bars in Shatta prison, I heard from my son Basem about a prisoner from Lebanon called Bilal Dakruk who had no one to visit him, and was on the edge of breaking down. He suggested I start visiting him and I said yes, of course."
Soon, Umm Jaber surprised the Israeli prison guards by handing them a list of about 10 other prisoners she wanted to visit. It was an even bigger surprise when she got the approval, not knowing that the number would increase even further over time.
Umm Jaber remembers the look on her friends' faces when she told them the details of her first visit to these lonely prisoners. "They all began to arrange other visits on which they would accompany me next time," she said. "I felt so optimistic after seeing everyone getting excited about this idea. Not long after we started to organize protests in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross, hunger strikes and demonstrations near the Israeli settlements. Eventually some of my adopted sons were freed and we all knew it was going to work so we had to do more."
Visits to Dakruk were among Umm Jaber's happiest moments: "I knew he had a mother who was concerned about him somewhere in Lebanon and I felt as he was one of my family too, so I had to take care of him. I'm no hero for doing so, because Bilal spent 14.5 years in Israeli jails without being charged. The least I could do is to comfort him there. You should have seen how his face would light up every time I came for a visit."
One day in the summer of 1990, Umm Jaber heard an aggressive knock on her door. The Israeli army came to arrest her and her daughter Shama who was then 17. The arrest warrant allowed the army to hold them for only about five hours, but it was enough time for five Israeli officers to interrogate and attempt to terrorize her.
Through this experience she understood how prisoners felt while living the constant nightmare over and over again, each day. She recommitted herself to carry out what she started until no prisoner of any nationality would have to go through it again.
As soon as she was freed, Umm Jaber went to visit her adopted son Ahmad Khalifa, from Libya, and Ali Jumaa from Syria. Days after her release Umm Jaber received a letter from Yasir Shaker, a prisoner in al-Jalma prison, asking his adopted mother to pay him one last visit. He had just been diagnosed with kidney failure.
She recalled, "I rejected that this visit would be the last. I went directly to various human rights centers asking for their help so my son Yasir would get treated abroad, and then I went to tell him that it was not going to be my last visit to him!" Umm Jaber and Shaker had to wait for about a year to get a response from the Israeli government. Luckily Shaker's health held up during that time and the day he was sent to France for an operation was also his release from incarceration.
"I danced and sang victory songs that day, knowing that somewhere far away Yasir's family was doing the same," she said.
Umm Ibrahim, a friend of Umm Jaber, remembers the shock she and other prisoners' mothers felt when they heard about the 1993 Oslo agreement which did not say anything about their sons' prospects for freedom -- a key Palestinian demand. "Umm Jaber and I felt so disappointed, we went out in the streets near settlements and lay there, declaring a hunger strike after the Oslo announcement. It was the only hope we had for the Palestinian prisoners. However we never stopped visiting Umm Jaber's adopted sons, in addition to a few extra ones like Sultan Abd al-Rasoul from Egypt, Ali al-Baiaty from Iraq and Farouq al-Shara from Jordan. It was so clear that the numbers of [illegally-held] prisoners were increasing but it didn't break us down."
Another chapter of Umm Jaber's story was related to Samir Kuntar, the Lebanese prisoner who was among those included in the July 2008 exchange between Israel and the Lebanese resistance organization Hizballah. Samir Kuntar was imprisoned by Israel for nearly three decades for his role in the killing of an Israeli man, his young daughter and a policeman, though Kuntar claims the man was killed by Israeli fire and denies responsibility for the death of the girl.
"I met Samir while I was visiting my son in 1986," Umm Jaber explained. They were sitting in the visitors' area and she noticed a young man speaking to a woman across the table. "I heard him asking her not to come anymore because he didn't want to tire her by coming and going to the Israeli jails and getting frisked every time. At that moment I felt an instant feeling of responsibility towards him, so I told the woman not to worry because from now on he is my other son. I adopted him then, and since that moment I loved him and looked after him like I did my other children."
Kuntar had been sentenced to five back-to-back life terms in prison, a total of 542 years. So for the 19 years of his imprisonment, Umm Jaber went to visit both her sons. After Umm Jaber's son Jaber was released, she returned to Hadarim prison, this time with papers just to visit Kuntar. She was turned away. Israeli prison officials gave the reason that such visits posed a "security threat."
Umm Jaber went to an Israeli court asking for the right to visit Kuntar. She argued that since she had been allowed to visit him for 19 years during her own son's detention, the state had no right to stop her visits now.
"I kept hoping that the Israeli government might let me see Samir, I told them he is my adopted son."
Although Kuntar wasn't released in 1999 with other Palestinian prisoners, she kept waiting for a miracle as the one that brought 10 of her adopted sons home. She hosted 10 of her adopted sons who had nowhere else to go after prison cells had been the only home they knew for years. Umm Jaber and Hisham Abed al-Razeq, himself a prisoner inside Israel for nine years, started to demand that the Palestinian Authority provide houses for them.
Umm Jaber expressed bittersweet feelings the day she got them another home: "when we managed to get them apartments it was a very tiny step on the way to having their lives back. I felt the pain they had inside while leaving my house, they became a part of my family and me, they were like the bird leaving the nest."
From 1980 up to the present, Umm Jaber has never missed a single protest for prisoners' relatives and families, believing that no negotiations will end the suffering of her adopted sons in Israeli jails along with 11,000 other prisoners. She believes that their families' demonstrations, holding up their pictures and calling for their release, can be a force that breaks prison bars.
Eman Mohammed is a Jordanian-Palestinian freelance photojournalist and reporter based in the Gaza Strip since 2005.
Eman Mohammed writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 17 March 2009
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| Umm Jaber (left) and Umm Ibrahim at one of the weekly demonstrations in solidarity with political prisoners in Israel. (Eman Mohammed) |
Adopting more children seemed to be an unusual thing to do for Handoma Wishah, known as Umm Jaber, as she had already raised six children of her own and got most of them into college. Yet she says it was easy to make what could have been a tough decision. Umm Jaber "adopted" about 40 adult men of several Arab nationalities without hesitation. The story began in the 1980s, after four of her sons were jailed by the Israeli army.
Yasir, then 20, was sentenced to three years, Basem, 24, to a year and a half, Ziad, 38, to two years and Jaber, 35, to life -- all of them for charges that they jeopardized Israel's "security." Despite the hardship of having four sons imprisoned, she maintained her composure and like other mothers of detained Palestinians, went to visit them.
"Behind the Israeli bars in Shatta prison, I heard from my son Basem about a prisoner from Lebanon called Bilal Dakruk who had no one to visit him, and was on the edge of breaking down. He suggested I start visiting him and I said yes, of course."
Soon, Umm Jaber surprised the Israeli prison guards by handing them a list of about 10 other prisoners she wanted to visit. It was an even bigger surprise when she got the approval, not knowing that the number would increase even further over time.
Umm Jaber remembers the look on her friends' faces when she told them the details of her first visit to these lonely prisoners. "They all began to arrange other visits on which they would accompany me next time," she said. "I felt so optimistic after seeing everyone getting excited about this idea. Not long after we started to organize protests in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross, hunger strikes and demonstrations near the Israeli settlements. Eventually some of my adopted sons were freed and we all knew it was going to work so we had to do more."
Visits to Dakruk were among Umm Jaber's happiest moments: "I knew he had a mother who was concerned about him somewhere in Lebanon and I felt as he was one of my family too, so I had to take care of him. I'm no hero for doing so, because Bilal spent 14.5 years in Israeli jails without being charged. The least I could do is to comfort him there. You should have seen how his face would light up every time I came for a visit."
One day in the summer of 1990, Umm Jaber heard an aggressive knock on her door. The Israeli army came to arrest her and her daughter Shama who was then 17. The arrest warrant allowed the army to hold them for only about five hours, but it was enough time for five Israeli officers to interrogate and attempt to terrorize her.
Through this experience she understood how prisoners felt while living the constant nightmare over and over again, each day. She recommitted herself to carry out what she started until no prisoner of any nationality would have to go through it again.
As soon as she was freed, Umm Jaber went to visit her adopted son Ahmad Khalifa, from Libya, and Ali Jumaa from Syria. Days after her release Umm Jaber received a letter from Yasir Shaker, a prisoner in al-Jalma prison, asking his adopted mother to pay him one last visit. He had just been diagnosed with kidney failure.
She recalled, "I rejected that this visit would be the last. I went directly to various human rights centers asking for their help so my son Yasir would get treated abroad, and then I went to tell him that it was not going to be my last visit to him!" Umm Jaber and Shaker had to wait for about a year to get a response from the Israeli government. Luckily Shaker's health held up during that time and the day he was sent to France for an operation was also his release from incarceration.
"I danced and sang victory songs that day, knowing that somewhere far away Yasir's family was doing the same," she said.
Umm Ibrahim, a friend of Umm Jaber, remembers the shock she and other prisoners' mothers felt when they heard about the 1993 Oslo agreement which did not say anything about their sons' prospects for freedom -- a key Palestinian demand. "Umm Jaber and I felt so disappointed, we went out in the streets near settlements and lay there, declaring a hunger strike after the Oslo announcement. It was the only hope we had for the Palestinian prisoners. However we never stopped visiting Umm Jaber's adopted sons, in addition to a few extra ones like Sultan Abd al-Rasoul from Egypt, Ali al-Baiaty from Iraq and Farouq al-Shara from Jordan. It was so clear that the numbers of [illegally-held] prisoners were increasing but it didn't break us down."
Another chapter of Umm Jaber's story was related to Samir Kuntar, the Lebanese prisoner who was among those included in the July 2008 exchange between Israel and the Lebanese resistance organization Hizballah. Samir Kuntar was imprisoned by Israel for nearly three decades for his role in the killing of an Israeli man, his young daughter and a policeman, though Kuntar claims the man was killed by Israeli fire and denies responsibility for the death of the girl.
"I met Samir while I was visiting my son in 1986," Umm Jaber explained. They were sitting in the visitors' area and she noticed a young man speaking to a woman across the table. "I heard him asking her not to come anymore because he didn't want to tire her by coming and going to the Israeli jails and getting frisked every time. At that moment I felt an instant feeling of responsibility towards him, so I told the woman not to worry because from now on he is my other son. I adopted him then, and since that moment I loved him and looked after him like I did my other children."
Kuntar had been sentenced to five back-to-back life terms in prison, a total of 542 years. So for the 19 years of his imprisonment, Umm Jaber went to visit both her sons. After Umm Jaber's son Jaber was released, she returned to Hadarim prison, this time with papers just to visit Kuntar. She was turned away. Israeli prison officials gave the reason that such visits posed a "security threat."
Umm Jaber went to an Israeli court asking for the right to visit Kuntar. She argued that since she had been allowed to visit him for 19 years during her own son's detention, the state had no right to stop her visits now.
"I kept hoping that the Israeli government might let me see Samir, I told them he is my adopted son."
Although Kuntar wasn't released in 1999 with other Palestinian prisoners, she kept waiting for a miracle as the one that brought 10 of her adopted sons home. She hosted 10 of her adopted sons who had nowhere else to go after prison cells had been the only home they knew for years. Umm Jaber and Hisham Abed al-Razeq, himself a prisoner inside Israel for nine years, started to demand that the Palestinian Authority provide houses for them.
Umm Jaber expressed bittersweet feelings the day she got them another home: "when we managed to get them apartments it was a very tiny step on the way to having their lives back. I felt the pain they had inside while leaving my house, they became a part of my family and me, they were like the bird leaving the nest."
From 1980 up to the present, Umm Jaber has never missed a single protest for prisoners' relatives and families, believing that no negotiations will end the suffering of her adopted sons in Israeli jails along with 11,000 other prisoners. She believes that their families' demonstrations, holding up their pictures and calling for their release, can be a force that breaks prison bars.
Eman Mohammed is a Jordanian-Palestinian freelance photojournalist and reporter based in the Gaza Strip since 2005.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Israeli justice: arrest young boys for toy guns and unfounded allegations of “stone throwing”
Kristen Ess for Palestine News Network
The author expresses her thanks to IWPS for copious information provided for this article
The report comes three days after the arrests of several children, but is of no less import as invasions are on the rise in Hares as IWPS told PNN Sunday.
The unfortunate events of this particular night illustrate a very precise example of what is meant when PNN reports news flashes such as: “Israeli forces arrest four Palestinians during pre-dawn invasions of the West Bank.”
It was Thursday/Friday night (12-13 March) in the northern West Bank’s Hares. Israeli forces hit the area near the village old mosque. Residents report the time of the invasion as being between 1:30 and 3:00 am. Incursions are becoming alarmingly more frequent in the town according to the international women’s house that keeps a 24 hour presence in the town.
Israeli soldiers broke into a sleeping home, assaulted a family, and arrested a child who suffers from kidney malfunction, as IWPS tells PNN.
According to the family’s report, “the army came to their house at around 2:10 am, threw sound bombs at the veranda behind the kitchen, and then forced their way into the house, breaking down the door.”
The elder brother of the 17 year old who was arrested from that family was also assaulted: thrown on the floor. It was the middle of the night and the family, naturally, had been sleeping. Israeli soldiers also beat the mother.
The family of 14, including a three month old baby and pregnant woman, were then forced at gunpoint into the street. Israeli soldiers made them sit on the road in the cold, dead of night, while continuing to lob concussion grenades.
Soldiers threw a sound bomb at the pregnant women who doctors confirm luckily suffered only bruising.
The soldiers were “searching for something” amidst the belongings of this family living in their own home in the northern West Bank village of Hares.
Israeli forces took identification from all of the brothers in the family and also stole away with what the family referred to as an “important document.”
These soldiers claimed that the 17 year old boy had a weapon, but after tearing apart the house and its surroundings they found nothing more threatening than a toy gun.
The soldiers then changed their tactic and claimed that the boy had “thrown stones.”
However, on the dates that the Israelis claim the boy was out throwing stones he was in fact at work in Ramallah and Biddya, facts that are confirmed.
This is the third time this year that Israeli forces have attacked this particular family’s home: the first time was in January, the second again in February. The boy, who is 17 years old and in Israeli interrogation, had never before been arrested by the military.
IWPS volunteers told PNN that they visited the house and witnessed the contents as being “turned upside down.”
The following day, Friday, IWPS interviewed other families from which boys were arrested that night.
“A 13 year old was taken but released two hours later after being driven around during that time by the army,” said an international volunteer. He was dumped from a military jeep miles from home but managed, at 13 years old, to hitchhike back to his family. He arrived at 10:00 am that morning, several hours after his nighttime arrest.
A 15 year old boy was also arrested and taken to the Israeli military prison of Huwara, built on the lands of Nablus, also in the northern West Bank.
On the same night, still Thursday, a 14 year old boy was arrested for the second time in his short life. The international volunteers at the IWPS house told PPN, “He was the first of the four boys to get arrested and was driven in a jeep around the village while the army was arresting the rest of the boys. He was taken that night to Ofar Prison [built on Ramallah lands].”
He had been released from the Israeli prison, infamous for torture, just a month ago after his family came up with 2,000 NIS (400 euros) to garner his release after two months under interrogation.
Palestinian children are among the political prisoner population of 11,000 currently held by the Israelis.
The author expresses her thanks to IWPS for copious information provided for this article
The report comes three days after the arrests of several children, but is of no less import as invasions are on the rise in Hares as IWPS told PNN Sunday.
The unfortunate events of this particular night illustrate a very precise example of what is meant when PNN reports news flashes such as: “Israeli forces arrest four Palestinians during pre-dawn invasions of the West Bank.”
It was Thursday/Friday night (12-13 March) in the northern West Bank’s Hares. Israeli forces hit the area near the village old mosque. Residents report the time of the invasion as being between 1:30 and 3:00 am. Incursions are becoming alarmingly more frequent in the town according to the international women’s house that keeps a 24 hour presence in the town.
Israeli soldiers broke into a sleeping home, assaulted a family, and arrested a child who suffers from kidney malfunction, as IWPS tells PNN.
According to the family’s report, “the army came to their house at around 2:10 am, threw sound bombs at the veranda behind the kitchen, and then forced their way into the house, breaking down the door.”
The elder brother of the 17 year old who was arrested from that family was also assaulted: thrown on the floor. It was the middle of the night and the family, naturally, had been sleeping. Israeli soldiers also beat the mother.
The family of 14, including a three month old baby and pregnant woman, were then forced at gunpoint into the street. Israeli soldiers made them sit on the road in the cold, dead of night, while continuing to lob concussion grenades.
Soldiers threw a sound bomb at the pregnant women who doctors confirm luckily suffered only bruising.
The soldiers were “searching for something” amidst the belongings of this family living in their own home in the northern West Bank village of Hares.
Israeli forces took identification from all of the brothers in the family and also stole away with what the family referred to as an “important document.”
These soldiers claimed that the 17 year old boy had a weapon, but after tearing apart the house and its surroundings they found nothing more threatening than a toy gun.
The soldiers then changed their tactic and claimed that the boy had “thrown stones.”
However, on the dates that the Israelis claim the boy was out throwing stones he was in fact at work in Ramallah and Biddya, facts that are confirmed.
This is the third time this year that Israeli forces have attacked this particular family’s home: the first time was in January, the second again in February. The boy, who is 17 years old and in Israeli interrogation, had never before been arrested by the military.
IWPS volunteers told PNN that they visited the house and witnessed the contents as being “turned upside down.”
The following day, Friday, IWPS interviewed other families from which boys were arrested that night.
“A 13 year old was taken but released two hours later after being driven around during that time by the army,” said an international volunteer. He was dumped from a military jeep miles from home but managed, at 13 years old, to hitchhike back to his family. He arrived at 10:00 am that morning, several hours after his nighttime arrest.
A 15 year old boy was also arrested and taken to the Israeli military prison of Huwara, built on the lands of Nablus, also in the northern West Bank.
On the same night, still Thursday, a 14 year old boy was arrested for the second time in his short life. The international volunteers at the IWPS house told PPN, “He was the first of the four boys to get arrested and was driven in a jeep around the village while the army was arresting the rest of the boys. He was taken that night to Ofar Prison [built on Ramallah lands].”
He had been released from the Israeli prison, infamous for torture, just a month ago after his family came up with 2,000 NIS (400 euros) to garner his release after two months under interrogation.
Palestinian children are among the political prisoner population of 11,000 currently held by the Israelis.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
DCI concerned by sharp increase in detention of children
March 11, 2009  DCI concerned by sharp increase in detention of children | | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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[RAMALLAH, 11 March 2009] – According to the latest figures compiled by DCI-Palestine from sources including the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), the number of Palestinian children detained in Israeli prisons and detention centres inside Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory rose sharply in February. At the end of February, there were 423 Palestinian children in the custody of the Israeli authorities - including seven girls and six children held without charge or trial in administrative detention.
This figure represents a 37.8% increase over the corresponding period in 2008.
On 6 March 2009, the President of Defence for Children International (DCI) wrote to the Israeli Minister of Justice, Daniel Friedmann, seeking an explanation for the sharp increase in the number of Palestinian children being detained by Israel and notified the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child of these developments. In a further disturbing development, since the beginning of 2009, DCI-Palestine has observed an increase in the number of Palestinian children as young as 12, being arrested and detained for throwing stones, including throwing stones at the Wall. A copy of DCI’s letter to the Israeli Minister of Justice can be read here. |
Underage detainees facing hardships and abuse
Wednesday March 11, 2009 01:11 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies
One of the lawyers for the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) stated Tuesday that he managed to visit a number of underage detainees in Hasharon Israeli prison. The detainees complained of ongoing violations against them.
The lawyer met with Suheib Issa al-Habal, age 15, from Ramallah. al-Habal said that he was kidnapped by the Israeli Army on November 26, 2008. He was charged with throwing stones at the military and of attacking an officer.
His parents have not been allowed to visit him since he was kidnapped and detained, and he was not informed of the reason behind barring him from his visitation rights.
He stated that when he was detained, the soldiers cuffed and blindfolded him, and then took him to Ofer detention camp.
He was placed in a small room with 12 other detainees, all barred from showering, and in many cases barred from even using the toilet.
Nearly 45 days later, he was transferred to the underage detainees section at the Ofer prison.
Also, detainee Qais Azizi Musleh, from Kharbatha al-Misbah village, was kidnapped by the Israeli Army on November 26, 2008. He told his lawyer that he is subjected to misstatements by the soldiers.
He stated that the soldiers repeatedly forced him and other detainees to stand naked in the prison yard.
Musleh also said that one soldier struck him on the head, and attacked him with his rifle.
Israel claims that Musleh hurled stones and Molotov Cocktails at the soldiers, in addition to accusing him of writing graffiti on the walls of his village.
The PPS stated that there are several underage detainees who are still being detained, and are still under interrogation, and are not allowed to see their lawyers.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Farawna: “March 8th a day of solidarity with Palestinian female detainees”
Friday March 06, 2009 23:51 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies
Palestinian researcher, specializing in the issue of detainees, Abdul-Nasser Farawna, stated on Friday that, March 8th, International Women's Day, should be a day of solidarity with the Palestinian women detained by Israel.
File - Palestinian woman kidnapped by soldiers, image, Palestine-info
“The world marks this day to salute women and their important role, struggle and achievements,” Farawna said, “but it forgot that there are thousands of Palestinian women suffering under Israeli occupation, imprisoned and abused.”
He added that the world must understand that the detained Palestinian women are facing harsh treatment in Israeli prisons and are deprived from their basic human rights.
“They face torture, both physical and psychological,” Farawna said, “[s]ome of them are even sexually harassed during interrogation.”
He also said that dozens of women are still imprisoned by Israel; some of them have given birth in prison, while others have left children behind, while a number of them are below the age of 18.
Detainee Amal Jom’a has cancer and is not receiving proper medical attention; her condition is deteriorating. She was kidnapped five years ago and was sentenced to eleven years imprisonment.
Farawna also said that a number of female detainees have been sentenced to multiple life terms, such as Ahlam Tamimi, sentenced to 16 consecutive life terms, Qahera Al Sa’ady, sentenced to three life terms and an additional thirty years, in addition to Amena Mona, Sana’ Shihada, Dua’ Al Jayyousi and several other detainees who are sentenced to at least one life term.
The Israeli Army has kidnapped more than 10,000 Palestinian women since 1967. 800 of them were kidnapped during the al-Aqsa Intifada. There are currently 85 female detainees still imprisoned by Israel.
Furthermore, Farwana said that Israel is still holding the bodies of some Palestinian women who died in attacks against Israeli targets. Some of them are buried in what is known as the “numbers graveyards”.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Medical neglect on the rise in Hadarim Prison, nine more refugee camp arrests/raids
Ramallah / PNN – During early morning invasions of the West Bank Israeli forces arrested nine Palestinians.
Break-ins included Nablus and it’s Balata Refugee Camp. Jalazone Refugee Camp in northern Ramallah was also hit along with the southern city of Hebron.
An Israeli military source said the Palestinians were on a list of the “wanted,” which at times is said to include thousands of people.
Currently some 11,000 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons, many without charge or trial. Medical neglect is rampant, along with violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society reported today that the Israeli prison administration in Hadarim Prison has increased restrictions on Palestinian political prisoners and is engaging in more widespread medical neglect.
Break-ins included Nablus and it’s Balata Refugee Camp. Jalazone Refugee Camp in northern Ramallah was also hit along with the southern city of Hebron.
An Israeli military source said the Palestinians were on a list of the “wanted,” which at times is said to include thousands of people.
Currently some 11,000 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons, many without charge or trial. Medical neglect is rampant, along with violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society reported today that the Israeli prison administration in Hadarim Prison has increased restrictions on Palestinian political prisoners and is engaging in more widespread medical neglect.
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