Category: Nablus - Page 29 - International Solidarity Movement

An overview into the lives of Palestinian prisoners and their families

23rd April 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Occupied Palestine

The 17^th of April was declared a day of commemoration and remembrance of Palestinian political prisoners in 1974. According to updated statistics from Addameer (Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association), there are currently over 5,200 Palestinian political prisoners, 28 of which are under 16 years old.

These prisoners are systematically transferred in most cases to prisons or facilities located within the current state of Israel, which is against the Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Article 76. Geneva, 12 August 1949). The Israeli state has ratified this Convention and is therefore bound by its obligations.

Palestinian Authorities attempted to access this Convention in 1989, but the ambiguity of Palestine’s status in the international community has hampered the protection of its population by international law. As part of mobilisations that have taken place these days, both internationally and in Palestine, it is always worth taking some time to get to know the stories behind the statistics.

Name: Maroan Mahmmod Salim

Town: Azun

Age: 36

Arrested: 26^th December 2001. Has been in prison three times, the first time when he was 17 years old.

Sentence: His current prison sentence is 1 year and 8 months. The first time he served 10 months. His second time in prison was 22 months, which was without a legally precise accusation. The Israeli army found an Al-Quds magazine on his roof, thus sentencing him to 4 months and an additional 18 months for being a “reoffending” convict.

Prison: Naqab

Story: Belonged to a political organization (Fatah), which led to problems with Israeli forces. Accusation alleges that he shot at settler cars.

Visits: His parents, due to their advanced age, find it very difficult to travel all the way to the prison; they have not seen their son in 6 years. However his brother visits him every month.

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Name: Abu Ali (family)

Town: Azun

Age: 18 when arrested

Sentence: 3 years (Saed)

Released: August 2013, approximately

Prison: Meggido

Story: The Abu Ali family has a history of repression from the Israeli forced because of their involvement with the PFLP (Popular Front of Liberation Palestine). There are four sons in the family. One of them was shot in the head by Israeli forces and now suffers from schizophrenia: he has lost 69% of his mobility. His left hand is incapacitated; he also suffers from insomnia, sleeping during the day, and has isolated himself from both family and acquaintances.

The second son was wanted by the Israeli forces but is now under the protection of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Their third son was murdered on the 9^th of October 2000 at the main entrance of the village: he was shot in the back of his head. He was an active member of the PFLP and involved in prisoner support networks.

Finally, Saed had been sent to prison with a sentence of 3 years, although it is not his first time in prison. During this time the family was not allowed visit him, possibly because of the family’s involvement in the PFLP.

Visits: None allowed.

The third son of the family, who was murdered by Israeli forces in October 2000

Name: Mages Hajim

Town: Azun

Age: 22

Arrested: 2^nd April 2014

Sentence: Currently unknown. He could face 2 to 5 years according to his father.

Prison: Huwwara and al-Jalami. Exact location unknown, but it’s very likely he is under interrogation.

Story: The Israeli army arrested Mages on the 2^nd of April at 02:30 in the morning. According to Mages’ father, he had a rib broken during the arrest. The Israeli army has accused him of possessing a gun and pointing a weapon at illegal settlements. One of the witnesses is a captain in the Israeli army. The family did have a gun, but handed it to the PA when they were asked about it, no weapons have been found by the Israeli forces.

Visits: None so far, possibly once a month if convicted.

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Name: Tamer Besan

Town: Azun

Age: 18

Arrested: 4^th May 2014

Sentence: Currently unknown, next court hearing in approximately 1 month.

Prison: Huwwara, Meggido and Shita

Story: Tamer spent the first two weeks in Megiddo prison where he was able to send news to his family through the prison doctor. Once transferred to Shita, no contact has been possible and the family doesn’t know much about Tamer’s situation. His lawyer says that in a month the family will know the sentence. He is still under interrogation and is therefore not allowed to have any contact with his family.

Right before he was arrested he was planning to sign in to university in Tulkarem. He is accused of stone throwing at the Israeli army, however this accusation relates to events that occurred a year ago. The town of Azzun receives almost daily visits from the Israeli Army since there are illegal Israeli settlements less than a kilometer away.

Visits: None since he was arrested.

Name: Mohammed Abdull Alaziz

Town: Azun

Age: 25

Arrested: 10^th April 2013

Released: 14^th April 2014

Sentence: 1 year and 3 days

Prison: 8 months in Megiddo, 2 months in Ofer and 2 months in Naqab

Story: Mohammed was arrested on the 10^th of April 2013 while he was sleeping. The Israeli army assaulted his house both through the door and the roof. He woke up with an automatic weapon pointed at his face.

That same night, the Israeli Army began looking for money and visa cards around the house. Two mobile phones and a computer were confiscated which have not been returned. The accusation against Mohammed was that he was politically active against the occupation.

Mohammed described the food within the prison as both “unhealthy and insufficient”. They could buy groceries and other utilities but these are at least twice the retail price. Prisoners were allowed out of their cells twice a day, for two hours each time.

Visits: Once a month, however frequency of visits depends on the prison.

Name: Raes Abdat

Town: Awarta

Age: 25 (22 when arrested)

Arrested: 2011

Released: 21 March 2014

Sentence: 3 years, although he was imprisoned for 2 years and 2 months without a sentence

Accusation: Stone throwing and belonging to an organization, PLFP

Prison: 2 months of interrogation in Betah Tikfa, then 2 years and a half in Megiddo before a further 5 months in Naqab

Story: Arrested in Awarta at 14:00. At the time there were no witnesses in his house to witness his kidnapping. Raes was interrogated for 2 months. The judge accused him of stone throwing and belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and called for a sentence of 5 years in prison. During the trial he refused to testify and with the help of the lawyer the sentence was reduced to 3 years.

Belonging to the PFLP is synonymous with high sentences, since the Israeli state considers this organization as a “security threat”.

Life in prison is “difficult to describe in words” said Raes. Prison guards and management don´t consider them human. For instance strawberries are forbidden inside prisons since they are considered a “security threat”.

Prisoners cannot speak to their families until they have visit permits granted and there is limited amount of food to eat or buy.

Interrogation takes place in a dungeon of approximately 1 square meter, without lights and with black walls. There are around 12 or 13 rooms like this in Betah Tikfa. Raes has breathing problems but he was confined with another prisoner, which exacerbated his condition. Soon both prisoners asked to be taken out of that cell due to the precarious conditions brought about by the lack of oxygen/air. The interrogator arrived with a soldier (carrying pepper spray, no gun) to address the air issue. Since it wasn´t resolved, they began a hunger strike (18 days), which then lead to a reaction by prison management.

During interrogation there is no access to a lawyer. If you do not answer the interrogator´s questions, prisoners are forced to sit down with their hands and legs cuffed, sometimes on a chair or even the floor. This can carry on for days leading to serious pain, especially in the lower back. Interrogators may continue with this exercise for as long as two weeks.

Direct physical torture may also happen, beating prisoners in sensitive areas.

After interrogation he was taken to prison. He recalls being woken up at 6AM, at that time prisoners had to be standing up, if not, beatings were common. The Israeli army then counts the prisoners at 10 am and 8PM, doing cell searches at 9 am and 6 pm.

Finally, some spontaneous visits can happen at 1 am in the morning. Israeli soldiers generally don´t carry live ammunition weapons inside prisons, although sometimes they do.

On the 11^th of April a prisoner was shot dead in Naqab according to Raes. Inside prisons, the use of pepper spray and rubber coated steel bullets is common.

Food is both of low quality and quantity. Prison management, according to Raes, has banned eggs and potatoes, leaving only beans for breakfast every day. Dinner was 2 yoghurts to be shared between 10 prisoners. A third meal would generally consist of fruit and/or vegetables, sometimes in bad condition, such as tomatoes and peppers. For 6 months, prisoners would be given oranges, for the remaining 6 months of the year, apples. Sometimes some bread was also given with the meals, although this is not the case during Passover.

Raes went on a second hunger strike, lasting for 23 days, to liberate an imprisoned leader of the PFLP (Ahmad Sa’adat) from solitary confinement.

Visits: Megiddo once every two weeks, Naqab once every month.

Name: Ahmed Hussein

Town: Nablus

Age: 33 (21 when arrested)

Arrested: November 2002

Accusation: Injured an Israeli soldier, armed resistance.

Sentence: 30 years, sentenced without a lawyer.

Prison: Hadarim and Gilboa

Story: During the Second Intifada, Ahmed was a police officer of the PA. Nablus was under attack from the Israeli army, an Israeli military tank was mobilized and stationed near the Old City Market in April 2002, where Ahmed lived. Ahmed’s father, Hussein, was in fact injured at this time. He has live ammunition bullet injuries in his legs, and shrapnel affected other parts of his body.

In August 2002, the Israeli army was stationed in a hill overlooking Nablus. The Israeli army opened fire on the city market and killed Hussein’s brother (Ahmed’s uncle) while he was standing on the roof of his house. Ahmed managed to jump out of the line of fire to save his life. At this point, Ahmed decided to defend his city at a time when there was no clear leadership in the PA, according to Hussein. He planted a bomb to avoid Israeli incursions getting further into the city of Nablus. Ahmed got into crossfire with Israeli soldiers, injuring one of them.

In November 2002, Ahmed was arrested while he was sleeping in his sister’s house. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison without the right to a legitimate legal defence (Article 72 of the Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949). The Israeli soldier claimed that he fired warning shots, but that Ahmed fired upon them.

According to his father, he was attacked by dogs in the prison of Hadarim, which has had led to internal bleeding, possibly related to anxiety and physical injuries. Only in the last two years has Ahmed had access to a lawyer, which has been provided by the family at a very high cost. Given Ahmed’s case, the lawyer and the family are fighting to get him out of prison this year. Ahmed has a 10 year-old sister whom he has only met through the prison’s windows.

Visits: None during the first 4 years. Currently one every 6 months but can be up to 2 years without a visit. Father and sister have permits for visits.

Israeli forces shoot tear gas into houses in Awarta village

20th April 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team| Awarta, Occupied Palestine

One child of Awarta after suffering from tear gas inhalation (photo by ISM)

On the 20th of April, five Israeli jeeps entered the village of Awarta. The Israeli forces broke into four houses and shot several tear gas and stun grenades inside the houses, leaving several families with no other alternative than to sleep elsewhere until the tear gas clouds dispersed, which could take weeks.

The Israeli soldiers beat several people and broke furniture during this event. A 26-year-old Palestinian was violently arrested and detained for two hours with no reason given.

Two days later, Israeli soldiers once again entered houses in Awarta and shot several tear gas grenades inside. 20 Palestinians, including children, were taken to the hospital due to large amounts of tear gas inhalation

Palestinians from Awarta state that vandalism of their property and violence from the Israeli soldiers is not uncommon, but this exact approach from the soldiers seems somewhat planned. “They just come and shoot, and then they leave” said a Palestinian after having his house filled with tear gas, used stun grenades covering the floor.

Khan-al-Luban: Israeli army attack

20th April 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team| Khan al-Luban, Occupied Palestine

On Monday 21 April 2014 two International Women’s Peace Service [IWPS] volunteers were playing uno [a card game] outside with two children of the Abu Jamal family in Khan al-Luban, close to the Nablus-Ramallah road. Their elder brother Jimmy was plastering the bathroom and their mother was inside doing house chores.

IWPS and ISM volunteers have kept a permanent presence in Khan al-Luban this past week, as the family has been the target of attacks by the Israeli military and Israeli settlers from the surrounding illegal settlements. The family has been especially worried since the father,was arrested last Wednesday. Their fears proved to be well founded.

Below is the eyewitness account by IWPS volunteers of yesterday’s events:

At 6:45pm an Israeli army jeep pulled in front of a building across the street from the family house, then backed out of the driveway and drove along the road towards the back of the house. We all went into the center area and shut the doors, but went outside to photograph what they were doing as the three Israeli soldiers got out of the jeep and started coming over the fence and onto the roof. We climbed to the roof area where they had come onto the property. They asked one of the human rights volunteers to show her passport but she refused.

Jimmy stayed inside because he thought they might be looking for him. One of the young sons talked to the soldiers on the roof and the army called for back up.

After the soldiers began shouting at the mother and her child, Jimmy came out to the roof area, no longer able to stay hidden. He told the soldiers that they were on his family’s property and that they should stop yelling at his mother and younger brothers.

The soldiers became belligerent and hit him with their hands. They then attempted to handcuff Jimmy, and dragged him partway across the roof; by that time the cuffs were fully on. At that point they knocked him down and hit him on the head with the back of a rifle. Jimmy was unconscious from that time on and appeared to convulse slightly. They continued to beat him after he collapsed.

We all yelled at them that he needed an ambulance and the mother attempted to get one; she also called the neighbours on the phone. Some passing cars pulled over and three Palestinian men came to try to help the family. The soldiers responded by throwing a stun grenade.

Two more jeeps arrived, bringing an additional 8-9 soldiers; one of the jeeps had a siren on, leading us to believe that it was an ambulance until it arrived. The soldiers were fully armed with rifles, tear gas, and stun grenades. One threw a stun grenade that landed on the roof, a few feet away from unconscious Jimmy and his hysterical mother. The ambulance that she had phoned also arrived. At this point several soldiers grabbed Jimmy, still unconscious, by his arms and legs, attempting to put him in one of their jeeps, however the emergency services and the other Palestinians were able to take over, and got him into the ambulance instead. The mother went with her son to Rafidiya hospital in Nablus. An army jeep followed the ambulance.

The soldiers arrested one of the Palestinians and took him away in the first jeep. Another stun grenade was thrown directly at those of us on the roof as the army drove away.

As of 9:30pm, Jimmy was awake and in stable condition, although x-rays showed that he suffered from several broken ribs and multiple fractures.

Settlers set fire to Palestinian chicken farm

20th April 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team| Madama, Occupied Palestine

On Friday 18th April, during the night in the village of Madama, settlers from a nearby illegal settlement entered a Palestinian farm and sat fire to a newly built chicken house. The damage totaled $12,500 for the 3,500 chickens and their food, as well as $100,000 for the building itself. The Palestinian owner of the chicken house sold his car and some of his land in order to buy this costly farm, it is now completely destroyed.

The farmer described the day this incident occurred, stating how he finished his work and went home, passing two Israeli military jeeps on the road. When he returned to the farm at 4am on Friday, he found his chicken farm burnt to the ground, all 3,500 chicks dead. The fire was started near a window of the farm, most likely started with gasoline.

The owner said that he recently brought a lot of new chicks, and that he felt the attack was probably was planned. As a result of this attack the farmer now has no income.

The village of Madama has been continually attacked by settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Yizhar, as have the nearby villages of Burin and Assira. In Madama, the settlers have recently burned several cars, two houses, and several olive trees; vandalism on Palestinian property is unfortunately common.

The illegal settlement of Yizhar is notorious for its violent settlers, in 2011, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded the largest number of attacks against Palestinians from this settlement.

“A message of peace” from the village of Qaryut met with violence from the Israeli army

19th April 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team| Qaryut, Occupied Palestine

The people of Qaryut began weekly demonstrations three weeks ago, due to the Israeli military’s decision to close the main road near to the village.

Yesterday, the 18^th April, approximately 300 from the village, of which 100 were children, decided to come to the hill to pray rather than to march. Israeli soldiers arrived immediately, with one soldier yelling: “Go back home!” A resident of Qaryut responded; “Insh’allah [If God wills it], this is our home.”

The prayer began despite the provocative military presence on the hill, during the prayers Israeli soldiers surrounded the gathering, one solider removed a Palestinian flag from its place in the ground.

As prayers finished, one of the villagers declared to the army that it was their intention to leave the area, repeating over and over that they brought “a message of peace”.

However, within a few steps of the people’s return to the village, Israeli soldiers started shooting tear gas at their backs. Due to the rocky terrain, many were unable to get away from the tear gas that the soldiers continued to fire. 15 people had to be treated by paramedics due to several tear gas inhalation, however it was difficult to access those in need because of the difficult conditions underfoot. Stun grenades were also used extensively by the Israeli forces.

Qaryut is surrounded by a number of large illegal settlements, including Eli and Shilo. The road closure could mean losing the part of the hill where prayers took place today. Loss of the road leading to the main route from the village to Ramallah has already caused significant economic hardship and many other problems.