150 Palestinian prisoners were wounded when Israeli Prison Service
officers stormed the Ofer military prison near Ramallah on January 21. A
day later, thousands of Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza
rallied in support of the prisoners who, in response to Israeli
repression, staged a mass hunger strike.
The latest ordeal was instigated by the Israeli government when Public
Security Minister, Gilad Erdan declared on January 2 that the ‘party is
over’, meaning that Israel will ‘worsen’ already horrific conditions for
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
According to the Palestinian prisoners’ rights group, Addameer, there
are nearly 5,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including 230
children and 54 women. 481 prisoners are held without trial, governed by
an unlawful Israeli practice known as ‘administrative detention.’
One certainly does take the Israeli minister’s comments seriously,
despite the fact that the conditions under which thousands of
Palestinians are held in Israeli jails – which itself is a violation of
the Fourth Geneva Convention – are already at a stage that can only be
described as inhumane – they fail the minimum standards of international
and humanitarian laws.
Palestinian prisoners are amply able to describe Israeli prison
conditions, having experienced every form of physical and psychological
torture, and spent years, sometimes decades, fending for their humanity
every hour of every day.
Three freed Palestinian prisoners shared their stories, with the hope
that the world would understand the true context of Erdan’s latest
‘plan’ and the ongoing crackdowns on Palestinian prisoners in Ofer and
elsewhere.
‘They detained my family’
Shadi Farah was merely 12 when he was arrested from his home in the
Palestinian city of Jerusalem. He was accused of trying to kill Israeli
soldiers with a knife they found at his house.
I was arrested on 30 December 2015, when I was only 12-years-old and was
released on 29 November 2018. At the time, I was the youngest
Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails.
My interrogation took place in the Maskoubiah prison in Jerusalem,
specifically in Cell No. 4. After days of physical torture, sleep
deprivation and severe beating, they imprisoned my whole family – my mom
and dad and sisters and brothers. They told me that my family was held
captive because of me and they would only be released if I confessed to
my crimes. They swore at me with profanities I cannot repeat. They
threatened to do unspeakable things to my mom and sisters.
After each torture session, I would return to my cell so desperate to
sleep. But then soldiers would wake me up by slapping my face, kicking
me with their boots and punching me in the stomach.
I love my family, and when they used to prevent them from visiting me, it broke my heart.
‘I Was Tortured in Cell #9’
Wafa’ Samir Ibrahim al-Bis was born in the Jablaiya refugee camp in
Gaza. She was 16-years-old when she was detained on May 20, 2005. She
was sentenced to 12-years in prison after being convicted of attempting
to carry out a suicide mission targeting Israeli soldiers. She was
released in 2011 in a prisoner swap between the Palestinian Resistance
and Israel.
I was only 16 when I decided to wear an explosive belt and blow myself
up among Israeli occupation soldiers. It was all I could do to avenge
Mohammed al-Durrah. When I saw him huddling by his father’s side, as
soldiers showered them both with bullets, I felt powerless. That poor
child. But I was arrested, and those who helped me train for my mission
were killed three months after my detention.
I was tortured for years inside the infamous Cell #9, a torture chamber
they designated for people like me. I was hanged from the ceiling and
beaten. They put a black bag on my head as they beat and interrogated me
for many hours and days. They released dogs and mice in my cell. I
couldn’t sleep for days at a time. They stripped me naked and left me
like that for days on end. They didn’t allow me to meet with a lawyer or
even receive visits from the Red Cross.
They had me sleep on an old, dirty mattress that was as hard as nails. I
was in solitary confinement for two years. I felt like I was buried
alive. Once they hanged me for three days nonstop. I screamed as loud as
I could, but no one would untie me.
When I was in the Ramleh prison, I felt so lonely. Then one day, I saw a
little cat walking among the cells, so I kept throwing her food so that
she would be my friend. Eventually, she started coming inside my cell
and would stay with me for hours. When the guards discovered that she
was keeping me company, they slit her throat in front of me. I cried for
her more than I cried for my own fate.
A few days later, I asked the guard for a cup of tea. She came back and
said, “stick your hand out to grab the cup”. I did, but instead she
poured boiling water on my hand. Third-degree burns have scarred my hand
to this day. I need help treating my hand. I cry for Israa’ Ja’abis,
whose whole body has been burned yet she remains in an Israeli jail.
I often think of all the women prisoners I left behind.
‘My mother died proud of me’
Fuad Qassim al-Razam was born in the Palestinian city of Jerusalem. He spent 31 years in prison.
I have experienced both psychological and physical torture in Israeli
jails, which forced me to confess to things I did and didn’t do.
The first phase of detention is usually the most difficult because the
torture is most intense and the methods are most brutal. I was denied
food and sleep and I was left hanging from the ceiling for hours. At
times I was left standing in the rain, naked, tied to a pole, with a bag
on my head. I would be left in that condition the whole day, while
occasionally getting punched, kicked and hit with sticks by soldiers.
I was forbidden from seeing my family for years, and when I was finally
allowed to see my mother, she was dying. An ambulance brought her to
Beir Al-Saba’ prison, and I was taken in shackles to see her. She was in
terrible health and could no longer speak. I remember the tubes coming
out of her hands and nose. Her arms were bruised and blue from where the
needles entered her frail skin.
I knew it would be the last time I would ever see her, so I read some
Quran to her before they took me back to my cell. She died 20 days
later. I know she was proud of me. When I was released, I was not
allowed to read verses from the Quran by her grave as I was deported to
Gaza immediately after the prisoner exchange in 2011.
One day I will visit her grave.
(Abdallah and Yousef Aljamal contributed to this article)
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
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