I used to tell my husband, Ameer Makhoul, “One day, they’ll come for you.”
As chairman of the Public Committee for the Protection of Political Freedoms, he’d begun to organize an awareness-raising campaign to push back against the security services’ harassment of our community, the Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Come for Ameer they did late one night this May, pounding at our door, ransacking our house, and terrifying our two teenage daughters. And now I’ve joined the ranks of Palestinian prisoners’ wives, many thousands of us from the occupied territories as well as within Israel. His hearing – persecution really – could begin the legal nightmare that ruptures our family for many years. This is the likely course of events unless Ameer gets a fair trial and his coerced statements are rejected or suppressed by the court.
“Democracies don't fear their own people,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a speech in Poland at the 10th anniversary meeting of the Community of Democracies. “They recognize that citizens must be free to come together to advocate and agitate.” But the head of Israel’s General Security Services said three years ago that Palestinian citizens’ organizational efforts for equality constitute a “strategic threat,” even if pursued by lawful means.
That’s not how democracy works. We may be a minority of 20 percent, but our rights to organize and insist on full equality and civil rights ought to be sacrosanct. That’s what our entire community believes. The committee that Ameer chaired was established within the framework of the High Follow-up Committee for the Palestinian Citizens of Israel, the community’s overall coordinating body. It's a vital position and the leading organization protecting our civil rights.
And now he faces the most serious charges leveled against a Palestinian citizen of Israel since the creation of the state in 1948. He is accused of being a spy for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and having contact with a foreign agent. His trial will likely last for months.
After his arrest, Ameer was held incommunicado for 21 days and tortured. Then Israeli officials pressed their charges, based on the “confession” he made during this time, when he was deprived of sleep, shackled in a painful position to a small chair, and not allowed to see his lawyers.
Ameer denies all charges. As he said in his first letter from Gilboa Prison, he was “forced to explain to them in a very detailed way how exactly I did what I didn’t do, ever.” And if the prosecution needs any more information to make its case, all they have to do is use “so-called secret evidence, which my lawyers and I have no legal right to know about.”
Clinton’s Krakow speech focused on civil society: Ameer is a civil society activist. He directs Ittijah, the Union of Arab-Based Community Associations – a coalition that brings together 84 non-governmental organizations. Clinton criticized several governments by name – but not Israel – for intimidation and assassination of activists. Why does America’s drive to promote human rights stop at Israel’s door?
Throughout his life, Ameer has struggled for the rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel – there are more than 35 laws on the books that discriminate against us – as well as those of the Palestinian people overall. He has the ability to lead and to convene diverse viewpoints, bringing them together across sect and ideology. His ability to network locally, at the Arab level, and internationally, coupled with his clear strategic vision – this is what Israel is trying to silence.
The youth also look to him for leadership, which infuriates the security services. They told Ameer so when they hauled him in for questioning during our community’s protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza in December 2008-January 2009.
During that interrogation they threatened to put him away if he kept up his activism, saying, “We can ‘disappear’ you. You should know that the next time we bring you in you will not see your family again for a long time.”
The few times we’ve been allowed to visit him thick glass has separated us and our meetings were taped. Ameer asked me for a copy of my new book to read in jail, but they wouldn’t let me even take him that. My daughters really miss their father. They often say, “If only we’d been able to hug him before they took him away.” That’s one of the things that hurts them most, not being able to hug their father.
Ameer still suffers from the torture and abuse inflicted on him, and they still try to break his spirit. They only allow 20 people into the courtroom even though it can hold many more, so when he sees it empty, he thinks no one cares. But far more people want to attend the trial than they allow in – family, community activists, politicians, and supporters from all over the world.
I have never thought of myself as a “wife” but rather as Ameer’s partner in life and in activism. But these days, as I wait with the other wives for our allotted visit, I find myself reflecting on the traditional Christian marriage vows: “What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” No man, I think, unless he’s an Israeli jailer.
Clinton spoke of “the cowardice of those who deny their citizens the protections they deserve.” Ameer deserves the protection of the law: the right to meet his lawyers in private – Israeli officials have been taping those meetings too; the right to see the evidence against him, much of which the prosecution plans to withhold on security grounds; freedom from torture; and inadmissibility of confessions secured under torture. When will Clinton call for a Palestinian activist’s human rights and an end to his persecution?
Janan Abdu is a social worker, feminist activist, and researcher with Mada Al-Carmel, the Haifa-based Arab Center for Applied Social Research. Her husband was detained on 23 April on espionage and treason charges
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
The Treatment Of Palestinian Detainees During Operation “Cast Lead” (Full Text)
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel & Adalah:
The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
13 July, 2010The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
Countercurrents.org
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, released, today [July 6, 2010], a special report "Exposed" which discusses violations of detainee rights during "Cast Lead". The report relies on a significant number of testimonies given to PCATI and Adalah attorneys, most of the civilian detainees who were arrested by the Israeli army and interrogated in Israel. The testimonies provide give rise to a series claim that the Israeli Army systematically and deliberately violated their basic rights while disregarding domestic and international law.
Among its primary findings:
1. The State of Israel failed in it its international & domestic legal obligation to provide information regarding place of detention to detainee family members without delay to families of the detainees and to organizations dealing with detainees. Not only were detainee families harmed by this dereliction also the ability to monitor detention conditions and the application of detainee rights was harmed.
2. The detainees were held in wretched conditions. They were held in ditches and in cold and dark cells while be denied minimally appropriate nutrition and sanitary needs. This treatment forms the basis for the torture and ill treatment that many of the detainees experienced at various stages of their detention. These conditions allowed the army to break the spirit and to humiliate the detainees in addition to the violence that they suffered during interrogation.
3. The testimonies revealed that the army systematically used the Gaza residents as human shields in order to protect the soldiers while engaged in military activity, within the strip and for many days and even up to 10 days in some instances. At times the civilians were forced to go into homes ahead of the soldiers, to march next to the soldiers to shield them from gun fire.
4. Israel established a legal category for detainees, "unlawful combatant" which is unrecognized in international law. This special status allowed Israel to deprive the detainees of prisoner of war status and the conditions and rights that go with it while, at the same time, denying them the status and rights of protected civilians.
The report's conclusion a number of recommendations connected to detainee rights are made in order to prevent such a travesty of rights violations in the future. Among the recommendations is a call for the establishment of a governmental investigative committee that abides by international standards in order to investigate the violations of "Cast Lead" and to put on trial those suspected of committing offences. In addition the report recommends the establishment of standards for treatment of detainees, and to establish an efficient monitoring mechanism and to cancel the unlawful combatants law.
Research and Writing: Adv. Majd Badr, Adv. Abeer Baker
Editing: Adv. Irit Ballas, Adv. Bana Shoughry-Badarne
English Translation: Ron Makleff
Exposed-Treatment of Detainees Cast Lead_June 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Female prisoner Shirin Issawi beaten by Israeli offenders
| [ 13/07/2010 - 05:00 PM ] |
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| NABLUS, (PIC)-- The International Tadamun (Solidarity) Foundation for Human Rights, quoting prisoners in Hasharon prison, said that prisoner Shirin Issawi was attacked by a gang of female criminal offenders. Ahmed Beitawi, a researcher at the Tadamon foundation, noted the continued harassment prisoners are subjected to when leaving for court hearings, whether by the prison administration or Israeli inmates, pointing to the beating inflicted on lawyer Issawi by a group of civil prisoners in front of the Israeli Nahshon prison guards, who in turn did not move a muscle to stop the attacks. Beitawi said that the Issawi beating is not surprising, because the Israeli Prisons Authority (IPA) does not segregate security prisoners and criminal prisoners when transporting them to the buses, and there have been repeated cases with other prisoners. The foundation’s researcher clarified that Israeli female criminals are in most cases in detention for murder, theft, and drugs, and are usually violent and brutal in nature, and they deliberately harass Palestinian prisoners in order to justify their assaults against them. Abuse and Satire In the same context, female prisoner Ahlam Tamimi reported that the IPA violates prisoners’ privacy by reading letters sent by family and associates containing their feelings and emotions out loud in front of Israeli soldiers and other prisoners. Tamimi also underlined the IPA's deliberate acts aimed at embarrassing and provoking prisoners by making sarcastic remarks at some of the content of the letters, which in most cases are addressed to the prisoner’s husband or family, in a clear violation on the privacy of the prisoners, who feel that their letters are their only free space to express their feelings and emotions. |
Hamas condemns sentence against Sheikh Salah as political
| [ 13/07/2010 - 04:55 PM ] |
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| DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- Hamas strongly condemned the Israeli court's sentence against Sheikh Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic movement in 1948 occupied Palestine, describing it as political par excellence. Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) wants to absent Sheikh Salah's role in defense of occupied Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque. It charged the IOA with trying to block the Sheikh's efforts to expose its settlement projects and judaization practices in Jerusalem, describing such an attempt as "desperate". Hamas held the IOA fully responsible for the safety of Sheikh Salah, and urged all free people of the world to display solidarity with him and to foil the Israeli practices aimed at eliminating all leaderships that defend Jerusalem and the Palestinian people's rights, referring in this respect to the deportation order against four Jerusalemite deputies from their native hometown. The Israeli magistrate court in Jerusalem on Tuesday sentenced Sheikh Salah to five months imprisonment after his lawyers had appealed against a previous sentence of nine months imprisonment term. The Sheikh, commenting on the verdict, said that any ruling by an occupying power is null and void, adding that it fell in line with attempts to complete judaization of Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque in a bid to build the mythical temple of Solomon. He affirmed that the sentence would not deter him from pursuing his support for the Aqsa and Jerusalem until the end of occupation. |
Ahrar center calls for Palestinian moves to confront Shalit family's campaign
| [ 13/07/2010 - 12:10 PM ] |
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| NABLUS, (PIC)-- Al-Ahrar center for prisoners' studies and human rights called on families of Palestinian prisoners and human rights organizations to necessarily respond to the active moves made by the Shalit family to pressure their government to get their son released. The center called for taking action in response to the propaganda being made by the family of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who receive massive official and popular support. It urged the Palestinian authority and the Legislative council to develop joint plans to launch a national campaign in support of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails to confront the one being organized by Shalit family who behave as if their son is the only detainee in the world. The human rights center also suggested enacting a Palestinian law prohibiting the resumption of peace negotiations with Israel before finding practical solutions to the issue of prisoners in its jails. The center noted that the Palestinian detainees are exposed to slow systematic killing and the enormity of Israel's violations against them have reached intolerable levels. |
Palestinians exiled to Gaza demand pressure on Israel to return to their homes
| [ 12/07/2010 - 04:47 PM ] |
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GAZA, (PIC)-- A number of deportees to the Gaza Strip called on various international community organizations to take action in prosecuting Israel and ensuring their return to their homes. The exiles, from different localities in the West Bank and territories under occupation since 1948, in addition to the deportees of the Church of Nativity, were speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of a sit-in protest outside the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza City on Monday. They stressed their commitment towards their right to return to their homes, and announced plans to organize a number of popular functions to support their cause. “We were displaced by force from our land of origin, and the Israeli occupation is not entitled to deport us and remove us from our families,” the exiles said, in a statement read by one of them, noting that they live in difficult circumstances in the Gaza Strip due to their limited incomes. For his part, Amer Ghoussein, Director General of the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs, lashed out at Israel’s ongoing crime of exiling Palestinian civilians, some of whom live in territories under Palestinian sovereignty. Ghoussein said, “It is upon all international parties involved in the international conventions to shoulder their responsibilities towards the Palestinian people, who are being displaced by Israeli occupation forces, (a step) which is in opposition to these conventions.” He added, “Human rights organizations in Palestine and the world over demand at this time action in highlighting the suffering of the Palestinian people at all levels, particularly the deportation issue.” He noted the need for action in documenting deportation practices by forming an intensive legal and media campaign to be used to prosecute Israel for its war crimes. |
IOF troops arrest son, brother of Hamas detained leader
| [ 12/07/2010 - 04:41 PM ] |
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| AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested on Monday the son and the brother of detained Hamas leader Sheikh Ibrahim Jabr, 50, at a military roadblock near Al-Khalil city. The wife of the Sheikh said that the IOF soldiers detained her sole son Qutaiba, 19, along with his uncle Taiseer, 49, after searching the bus they were commuting, and stole 5,000 shekels that was in their possession. She said that Taiseer suffers a difficult health condition after surviving a stroke a month ago and undergoing a heart surgery. He is also living with one kidney and had an IOF bullet in his liver since the first intifada in 1987, she added. She appealed to human rights groups to pressure the IOF to release Taiseer in view of his bad health condition. Sheikh Ibrahim has been under administrative detention, without trial or charge, for the past 30 months. He had previously served 12 years in Israeli jails and had two sons one of them was killed in a clash with the IOF soldiers in Jenin refugee camp in 2003 while his father was in jail. |
Bardawil affirms consent to Clinton’s mediation in prisoner trade-off
| [ 12/07/2010 - 04:34 PM ] |
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| GAZA, (PIC)-- Hamas leader and parliamentary bloc spokesman, Dr. Salah Al-Bardawil, confirmed in a press release on Sunday that Hamas has no opposition in using former U.S. President Bill Clinton as a mediator to achieve the prisoner trade-off, emphasizing that Hamas will not back down on its proposed conditions. Bardawil, in his statement, accused Israel of aborting previous mediation attempts to clinch the deal, reiterating that Hamas is willing to deal with any mediating party to pick up the negotiations where they were left off. He said that "in principle we do not have in Hamas any objection to the mediation of any party, whether Clinton or others, in the subject of prisoners, but it is important that the mediator has a degree of fairness between both parties. And we are not talking about any conditions, but talking about resuming negotiations from the point reached in the last understandings before Netanyahu spoiled them." Bardawil denied that Hamas would back down from its stance on the prisoner trade-off, saying, "Our cause is just, and we have thousands of prisoners in Israeli jails, and our demands are limited, but Israel blocked the deal by talking about names and places of release, they are trying to buy time ... As for Hamas’s position, it is the same position as the prisoners themselves who refuse to compromise, and prisoners’ families, and the [Hamas] movement’s principles. All of these were restrictions which prevented the Palestinian negotiator from giving up the requested price to complete the swap deal, and talks about any back-downs or surrender to Netanyahu’s terms are completely false.” Israeli sources said yesterday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked former U.S. President Bill Clinton to participate in efforts to release Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held in Gaza for four years. |
UPDATED URGENT APPEAL - Administrative Detention
June 30, 2010  UPDATED URGENT APPEAL - Administrative Detention | | ||||||||||||||
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UPDATE: 30 June 2010 26 September 2010 - Possible release date 26 June 2010 - Second administrative detention order (3 months) 25 March 2010 - First administrative detention order (reduced by court to 3 months) 20 March 2010 - Date of arrest On 26 June 2010, Moatasem was issued with a second administrative detention order for three months. The stated reason for issuing Moatasem with a second order is 'because he endangers security of the region' . The order will now be reviewed by the Administrative Detention Court within 8 days of its issuing. Moatasem has been held without charge or trial since 20 March 2010, and he has no way of knowing how long his detention will last. Please continue to send urgent appeals on behalf of Moatasem. Background information Moatasem was arrested from the family home in the Qalandiya refugee camp, near Ramallah in the West Bank, at 3:00am, on 20 March 2010. He was asleep at the time and woke up to see heavily armed Israeli soldiers in his bedroom. A soldier immediately tied Moatasem’s hands behind his back without asking for his name. Moatasem was led out of the house and on his way saw that the front door had been broken down. Moatasem asked a soldier if he could put on warm clothes and shoes but was only permitted to put on sandals. He was then blindfolded and led 70 metres to the main road where a number of military vehicles were parked. Moatsem’s blindfold was removed and he was asked for his name and to confirm his identity from a photograph. His blindfold was then replaced and he was put into a military vehicle. At some point during his arrest a soldier insulted Moatasem by saying ‘son of an adultress.’ During his transfer, a soldier ordered Moatasem to place his head on his knees and slapped him every time he tried to sit up. Moatasem recalls that this caused him ‘extreme pain.’ At no time during this process was Moatasem told why he was being arrested, or where he was being taken. Inadequate clothing and shelter Moatasem was then transported to an unknown location and given a medical form to complete. He was then left tied up outside between two shipping containers. At some point in the night, Moatasem heard the sound of a weapon being cocked close by, followed by laughter. Moatasem recalls ‘it was very cold and I was shivering. The soldier who arrested me didn’t allow me to put on warm clothes. The entire time I was sitting there I kept hearing dogs and soldiers. In the morning a soldier brought a blanket and covered me with it when I was about to freeze.’ At around 2pm in the afternoon, Moatasem was placed in another military vehicle and transferred to Ofer Prison, near Ramallah. Strip searched and detained with adults On arrival at Ofer Prison, Moatasem was strip searched and ordered to sit naked on the ground until he was given a brown prison uniform. He does not know why. He was then taken to a cell containing adults and children, where he remained for three days. Sometime later Moatasem was placed in a vehicle and taken to Binyamin police station for interrogation Interrogation Moatasem waited to be interrogated at Binyamin police station, from 8:30am until 2:00pm. During this time his hands and feet were shackled. At 2:00pm he was taken into an interrogation room and kept tied and shackled the whole time. Moatasem recalls his interrogation as follows: ‘I sat in the chair in the interrogation room while my hands and feet were still shackled. Then, the interrogator started asking me about the plot without explaining what the plot was. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said to him and he asked me about the riot, bullets and weapons without giving any further explanation. I denied knowledge because I really didn’t know what he was talking about and I really had nothing to do with those things. Then, he asked me about the internet and a guy named Mohammad from Gaza I chat with. I told him I didn’t know Mohammad that well. I met him in some chat room and we talk about school and tests and so on. “Liar,” the interrogator said to me and kept focusing on asking me about this guy.’ The interrogator then threatened to send Moatasem to Al Mascobiyya interrogation and detention centre, a place notorious for its interrogations. The interrogator then handed him a handwritten paper to sign, but Moatasem refused as he could not read the writing. Administration detention order Moatasem was then sent back to Ofer Prison, and on 25 March 2010, was handed an administrative detention order for six months. Moatasem was taken to Ofer Military Court on 1 April, and the Court confirmed the order. Moatasem’s administrative detention order is dated to expire on 27 September 2010. Administrative detention Administrative detention is detention without charge or trial and is often based on ‘secret evidence.’ Israeli Military Order 1591 empowers military commanders to detain Palestinians, including children as young as 12, for up to six months if they have ‘reasonable grounds to presume that the security of the area or public security require the detention.’ The initial six month period can be extended by additional six-month periods indefinitely. This procedure denies the detainee the right to a fair trial and the ability to adequately challenge the basis of his or her detention. Moatasem and another boy are the first children to receive Israeli administrative detention orders since November 2009. There are currently at least 237 Palestinians being held by Israel without charge or trial in administrative detention. For more information visit the DCI-Palestine website at Freedom Now. Recommended action The detention of a child in these circumstances does not conform to Israel’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child or the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Please send Urgent Appeals urging:
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7-year-old boy summonsed by Shin Bet: wrong person, wrong house, wrong village.
Voices from the Occupation
Name: M
Date of Incident: 10 June 2010
Age: 7 years
Accusation: Unknown
At around 2:45am, on the morning of 10 June 2010, Israeli soldiers deliver a summons to the family of a 7-yearold
boy from Beit Ummar, near Hebron, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
„We woke up to banging on the front door of our house accompanied by people
shouting in Hebrew: “open the door, it‟s the IDF,”‟ recalls ‘Alia, the mother
of 7-year-old M. „My husband answered the door and three Israeli soldiers
stormed the house. One of the soldiers asked my husband, in mixed Arabic and
Hebrew, for our son M, our youngest child.
‘Alia’s husband informed the soldier that M was seven years old, and showed
the soldier his birth certificate. „The officer read the date of birth, which is on
17 September 2002, and laughed, but still handed him the summons „inviting‟
my son to Etzion Interrogation and Detention Centre the next morning because
he is “wanted for interview,”‟ recalls ‘Alia.
The document handed to ‘Alia’s husband is a standard form document printed in Hebrew and Arabic with specific
details filled in handwritten Hebrew. The unsigned document appears to have been issued by the Israeli District
Coordination Office on behalf of the ‘Israeli Defense Forces’ at Etzion. The document is an ‘invitation’ for M ‘to
attend to meet Captain Tamir at ‘Etzion Centre’ at 2:00pm, later on the same day. Etzion Centre is a place well known
to the local residents as an Israeli Interrogation and Detention Centre, located inside the settlement of Gush Etzion,
halfway between Hebron and Bethlehem, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Seven year old M slept through the night time raid by the Israeli army, but was told what had happened the next
morning by his mother. „My siblings and my mother were shocked to know that the soldiers wanted me to go to Etzion
Centre because I am very young,‟ recalls M, „I am still in the second grade and after the summer break I‟ll be in the
third grade. I don‟t want my father to take me to the Centre because I know, and hear people saying, that it is a
prison, and if I go there, they will take me away from my family.‟
M’s father had to visit a relative in hospital later that day and did not take his son to the interrogation centre as
requested. „I still don‟t know if my father will take me there or not,‟ worries M, „my family doesn‟t know whether the
soldiers will come back to the house and ask me why I haven‟t gone. Israeli soldiers often come to our town. Six
months ago they came and took my uncle, and he‟s still in prison. They also took my cousin, and he‟s still in prison.
Prison has rooms surrounded with bars and its doors are always closed so that prisoners can‟t leave the rooms and so
stay trapped inside.‟
The Israeli army routinely arrests and serves documentation written in Hebrew on the families of Palestinian children
during the night. In 2009, children were arrested between midnight and 4am in 65 percent of cases handled by DCIPalestine.
Night time raids conducted by the Israeli army into Palestinian villages in occupied territory, creates fear
and uncertainty within the local population, and especially among the children. It transpires that the summons was not
intended for 7-year-old M, and the name on the document, written in Hebrew, is that of another person. It appears the
Israeli army delivered the summons to the wrong house, in the wrong village. The family has not received an
explanation or apology from the Israeli authorities. This case was recently reported in Haaretz Newspaper.
1 July 2010
Name: M
Date of Incident: 10 June 2010
Age: 7 years
Accusation: Unknown
At around 2:45am, on the morning of 10 June 2010, Israeli soldiers deliver a summons to the family of a 7-yearold
boy from Beit Ummar, near Hebron, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
„We woke up to banging on the front door of our house accompanied by people
shouting in Hebrew: “open the door, it‟s the IDF,”‟ recalls ‘Alia, the mother
of 7-year-old M. „My husband answered the door and three Israeli soldiers
stormed the house. One of the soldiers asked my husband, in mixed Arabic and
Hebrew, for our son M, our youngest child.
‘Alia’s husband informed the soldier that M was seven years old, and showed
the soldier his birth certificate. „The officer read the date of birth, which is on
17 September 2002, and laughed, but still handed him the summons „inviting‟
my son to Etzion Interrogation and Detention Centre the next morning because
he is “wanted for interview,”‟ recalls ‘Alia.
The document handed to ‘Alia’s husband is a standard form document printed in Hebrew and Arabic with specific
details filled in handwritten Hebrew. The unsigned document appears to have been issued by the Israeli District
Coordination Office on behalf of the ‘Israeli Defense Forces’ at Etzion. The document is an ‘invitation’ for M ‘to
attend to meet Captain Tamir at ‘Etzion Centre’ at 2:00pm, later on the same day. Etzion Centre is a place well known
to the local residents as an Israeli Interrogation and Detention Centre, located inside the settlement of Gush Etzion,
halfway between Hebron and Bethlehem, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Seven year old M slept through the night time raid by the Israeli army, but was told what had happened the next
morning by his mother. „My siblings and my mother were shocked to know that the soldiers wanted me to go to Etzion
Centre because I am very young,‟ recalls M, „I am still in the second grade and after the summer break I‟ll be in the
third grade. I don‟t want my father to take me to the Centre because I know, and hear people saying, that it is a
prison, and if I go there, they will take me away from my family.‟
M’s father had to visit a relative in hospital later that day and did not take his son to the interrogation centre as
requested. „I still don‟t know if my father will take me there or not,‟ worries M, „my family doesn‟t know whether the
soldiers will come back to the house and ask me why I haven‟t gone. Israeli soldiers often come to our town. Six
months ago they came and took my uncle, and he‟s still in prison. They also took my cousin, and he‟s still in prison.
Prison has rooms surrounded with bars and its doors are always closed so that prisoners can‟t leave the rooms and so
stay trapped inside.‟
The Israeli army routinely arrests and serves documentation written in Hebrew on the families of Palestinian children
during the night. In 2009, children were arrested between midnight and 4am in 65 percent of cases handled by DCIPalestine.
Night time raids conducted by the Israeli army into Palestinian villages in occupied territory, creates fear
and uncertainty within the local population, and especially among the children. It transpires that the summons was not
intended for 7-year-old M, and the name on the document, written in Hebrew, is that of another person. It appears the
Israeli army delivered the summons to the wrong house, in the wrong village. The family has not received an
explanation or apology from the Israeli authorities. This case was recently reported in Haaretz Newspaper.
1 July 2010
Detainees mark 18th, 17th year in Israeli custody
Gaza - Ma'an - The Gaza prisoners council marked the anniversary of two prisoners on Sunday, lamenting the continued incarceration of Gaza men detained since 1993 and 1994.
Eyad Salem Al-Ar’eir, now 37 years old, was born in the Gaza City neighborhood of Ash-Shujayyieh. He was detained on 11 July 1993 and sentenced to a life term. The man was convicted of stabbing a soldier during clashes with troops, he was shot in the foot during the clash.
At the time of his imprisonment, Al-Ar'eir was a student at the Islamic University in Gaza, and was a member of the student group affiliated with Islamic Jihad, the prisoners center statement said.
One year later, Jalal Al-Louh, now 36 years old, was detained during clashes in Gaza City. He marked his 17th year in prison alongside Al-Ar'eir.
Prison food below standard, society says
Jerusalem - Ma'an - The Israeli Prison Service is providing Palestinian prisoners with sub-par quantities and quality food in the Ashkelon jail, a prisoners' society said Friday.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society said detainees are offered one piece of fruit daily, depending on the season. Daily prisoner demands led to the IPS changing the type of bread provided to inmates, after inmates complained for the poor quality, the society added.
The society called on the IPS to immediately increase the quality and quantity of food rations in Ashkelon prison.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society said detainees are offered one piece of fruit daily, depending on the season. Daily prisoner demands led to the IPS changing the type of bread provided to inmates, after inmates complained for the poor quality, the society added.
The society called on the IPS to immediately increase the quality and quantity of food rations in Ashkelon prison.
Egypt releases 2 Islamic Jihad detainees
Gaza – Ma'an – Egyptian authorities released two Islamic Jihad detainees on Thursday night, a party source told Ma'an.
The detainees were released following negotiations with Egypt, which remain ongoing to free nine other party members in Egyptian custody, the source said.
In mid-May, Egyptian authorities released six Palestinian prisoners after several months of detention, prompting Palestinian factions to call for further releases, officials said.
Islamic Jihad praised the release, saying it hoped "Egypt would continue with such positive steps and release the rest of those who have been detained," a statement read.
Shortly after, party officials said several supporters were detained at Cairo airport and kept in Egyptian custody without charge.
Meanwhile, Hamas leader Salah Al-Bardawil denied Thursday that Cairo banned Hamas officials from traveling through the Rafah crossing.
Rebuffing reports on the travel ban, Al-Bardawil said such a move "would not serve conciliation nor push [Hamas] to change their stance on the Egyptian proposal," a statement read.
The senior official said that while "Egyptian authorities deal with Palestinians traveling through Rafah with discrimination, even with patients, it is not an official stance from Cairo targeting Hamas."
However, Hamas-affiliated patients have been prevented from crossing into Egypt, he said.
"The rhetoric on targeting Hamas is now meaningless because the movement represents 60 percent of the Palestinian people. If the ban were in place, then the majority of Palestinians would be affected."
Such a ban would constitute "collective punishment," he said, adding "no state has the right to prevent us from moving. If it is our fate to pass through Egypt, then Egypt has no right to prevent us from doing so."
Diplomatic ties between Egypt and Hamas have remained strained, with reports surfacing in mid-May that Cairo severed ties with the Islamist movement. The rumors were rebuffed by Hamas, later saying that relations had been downgraded after the Gaza government said a suspected Egyptian security agent was caught by security forces attempting to gather information.
The detainees were released following negotiations with Egypt, which remain ongoing to free nine other party members in Egyptian custody, the source said.
In mid-May, Egyptian authorities released six Palestinian prisoners after several months of detention, prompting Palestinian factions to call for further releases, officials said.
Islamic Jihad praised the release, saying it hoped "Egypt would continue with such positive steps and release the rest of those who have been detained," a statement read.
Shortly after, party officials said several supporters were detained at Cairo airport and kept in Egyptian custody without charge.
Meanwhile, Hamas leader Salah Al-Bardawil denied Thursday that Cairo banned Hamas officials from traveling through the Rafah crossing.
Rebuffing reports on the travel ban, Al-Bardawil said such a move "would not serve conciliation nor push [Hamas] to change their stance on the Egyptian proposal," a statement read.
The senior official said that while "Egyptian authorities deal with Palestinians traveling through Rafah with discrimination, even with patients, it is not an official stance from Cairo targeting Hamas."
However, Hamas-affiliated patients have been prevented from crossing into Egypt, he said.
"The rhetoric on targeting Hamas is now meaningless because the movement represents 60 percent of the Palestinian people. If the ban were in place, then the majority of Palestinians would be affected."
Such a ban would constitute "collective punishment," he said, adding "no state has the right to prevent us from moving. If it is our fate to pass through Egypt, then Egypt has no right to prevent us from doing so."
Diplomatic ties between Egypt and Hamas have remained strained, with reports surfacing in mid-May that Cairo severed ties with the Islamist movement. The rumors were rebuffed by Hamas, later saying that relations had been downgraded after the Gaza government said a suspected Egyptian security agent was caught by security forces attempting to gather information.
Bil'in leader remains in jail after term ends
Bethlehem - Ma'an - Bil'in protest leader Adeeb Abu Rahma is being held in Israeli custody until the prosecution's appeal against him is heard, despite having served his term in full, a statement read Friday.
Abu Rahma, a taxi driver and organizer of the weekly anti wall protests in the central West Bank village of Bil'in near Ramallah, was sentenced to 12 months, a further 12 months of suspended sentence, and ordered to pay a fine on Thursday, in the first of a series of trials against Palestinian protest organizers.
"The sentencing followed a yearlong show-trial, held amidst a massive Israeli arrest campaign, that ended with a conviction of incitement, activity against the public order and entering a closed military zone," the statement read, adding that "Abu Rahmah's case relied heavily on the forced confessions of four minors arrested during a night raid by Israeli soldiers."
According to the statement, the minors were questioned unlawfully, without their parents being present and, in same cases, late at night.
Abu Rahma was detained on 10 July 2009 and was supposed to be released immediately according to the decision. The prosecution filed an appeal in the Military Court of Appeals, asking that he remains incarcerated despite having served his sentence.
The presiding military Judge Lieutenant Colonel Benisho of the Military Court of Appeals decided to remand Abu Rahmah until a decision in the appeal was issued, saying that "This is an appeal filed to set the proper punishment in a unique case regarding which a general punishment level has not yet been set," the statement read.
Gaby Lasky, Abu Rahmah's attorney, said that "A man remains imprisoned today, even despite having served his sentence fully. The only reason for that is the Military Prosecution's will to use legal procedures as a political tool to crack down on demonstrations, and the Military Court's cooperation with these ambitions.
"The Court of Appeals completely ignored Supreme Court precedents determining that once having served a sentence, a person should only be remanded in very extraordinary situations. This is not the case here."
The conviction does not conform to Israeli legal precedent, the statement read, noting that the Israeli Supreme Court convicted a Jewish settler with incitement to murder, who was sentenced to eight months suspended term.
Abu Rahma, a taxi driver and organizer of the weekly anti wall protests in the central West Bank village of Bil'in near Ramallah, was sentenced to 12 months, a further 12 months of suspended sentence, and ordered to pay a fine on Thursday, in the first of a series of trials against Palestinian protest organizers.
"The sentencing followed a yearlong show-trial, held amidst a massive Israeli arrest campaign, that ended with a conviction of incitement, activity against the public order and entering a closed military zone," the statement read, adding that "Abu Rahmah's case relied heavily on the forced confessions of four minors arrested during a night raid by Israeli soldiers."
According to the statement, the minors were questioned unlawfully, without their parents being present and, in same cases, late at night.
Abu Rahma was detained on 10 July 2009 and was supposed to be released immediately according to the decision. The prosecution filed an appeal in the Military Court of Appeals, asking that he remains incarcerated despite having served his sentence.
The presiding military Judge Lieutenant Colonel Benisho of the Military Court of Appeals decided to remand Abu Rahmah until a decision in the appeal was issued, saying that "This is an appeal filed to set the proper punishment in a unique case regarding which a general punishment level has not yet been set," the statement read.
Gaby Lasky, Abu Rahmah's attorney, said that "A man remains imprisoned today, even despite having served his sentence fully. The only reason for that is the Military Prosecution's will to use legal procedures as a political tool to crack down on demonstrations, and the Military Court's cooperation with these ambitions.
"The Court of Appeals completely ignored Supreme Court precedents determining that once having served a sentence, a person should only be remanded in very extraordinary situations. This is not the case here."
The conviction does not conform to Israeli legal precedent, the statement read, noting that the Israeli Supreme Court convicted a Jewish settler with incitement to murder, who was sentenced to eight months suspended term.
Israel frees Fatah leader
Jerusalem – Ma’an – Fatah parliament chief Azzam Al-Ahmad was briefly detained Tuesday at a protest in Jerusalem, onlookers said.
Israeli police attempted to disperse a sit-in at the Red Cross and detained Al-Ahmad for reasons that were not immediately clear.
Palestinian Legislative Council secretary-general Ibrahim Khreisha condemned the detention of Al-Ahmad, which he termed "a provocative step."
Police also released Mu'tasem Totah, the brother of Jerusalem lawmaker Muhammad Totah, who was recently declared along with three others an illegal resident of Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967. The arrest was apparently a case of mistaken identity, our correspondent said.
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