International Solidarity Movement

On Monday 3rd December a 25 year old man from An Nabilyas near Qalqilya was released from Naqab prison – one of the 429 prisoners released by Israel as a so-called “goodwill” gesture for the Annapolis peace talks. Mousa had served 6 years of his 12 year sentence. Whilst happy to be free, Mousa’s story highlights the torture techniques implemented by the Israeli forces, and the brutal conditions Palestinian prisoners endure in Israeli prisons.

Arrested in Azzoun, Mousa was initially taken to Petakh Tikva for interrogation – which lasted 78 days. He reports that for the first two days he was interrogated without pause, and was continually beaten. Mousa recounts that up to sixteen Shabbaq members would beat him at a time – kicking and punching him. He was denied sleep, with Israeli forces beating him if he fell asleep. He was regularly suspended from the ceiling by his bound wrists – with just the tips of his toes touching the ground, “like ballet”. For the next eight days he was still beaten continuously, but was occasionally allowed sleep in solitary confinement (known as “zinzana”) for around 30 minutes at a time. After the first ten days the beatings decreased, but he was kept suspended from the ceiling for approximately 14 hours each day whilst being interrogated.

Throughout his interrogation period, threats were made that his whole family would be jailed, with specific threats involving the abuse of his mother and sisters. Attempts were constantly made to force confession for crimes he did not commit, such as specific murder cases. Mousa’s only response would be “I didn’t do it”, which earned him more beatings.

Visits to the bathroom were determined by the mood of the interrogators – sometimes he would be allowed to use bathroom facilities, other times denied for long periods. The only drinking water available to him was in the bathroom, which seemed to him unsafe as it was murky and foul-smelling. Unlike some other prisoners who have reported being starved during their interrogation period, Mousa was fed twice each day, but with only two small pieces of bread, a spoon of yoghurt and half a tomato – barely enough to keep him alive.

After 78 days of interrogation, Mousa was moved to six different prisons during his six years of incarceration. He was finally taken to Naqab (Ketziot) prison where most of the prisoners chosen for the Annapolis release were held. Prisoners were told that they would be released on 21 st November, but this date came and went without release. In fact there were four false promises of release before finally prisoners were freed last Monday. During this time prisoners were kept in inhumane conditions, with insufficient food and blankets. Mousa reports that he was 72kgs when he was sent to Ketziot, but was only 60kgs when released.

Upon release, none of Mousa’s possessions were returned to him – not even his identification card. Prison officials claim that these have been lost, rendering Mousa stranded until he can procure a new identification – a process that can take approximately one month, or longer. Until then Mousa’s situation is extremely precarious, as he can be arrested and returned to jail if he ventures out onto the street without identification.

Mousa claims to be one of only 150 prisoners released who had a significant period of their sentence remaining. The rest, he claims, had only one to two months left, or had even finished their sentences and were kept an extra week or two to be included in the release, a criticism echoed by Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti in a complaint made to visiting Israeli Knessett members. Mousa was also extremely critical of the fact that 1818 Palestinians have been arrested since July, and that currently more than 100 men and boys from Azzoun are imprisoned by Israeli forces, stressing that his release was nothing more than a publicity stunt.

Whilst extremely happy to be with his family (his cousin noted: “He has not smiled like this for six years”), Mousa is shocked at the Palestine he has encountered upon his release. For though his parents had told him about the apartheid wall, he was stunned to discover it was so close to his village and just how much Palestinian land it had taken. “I have come from the inside prison to the outside prison.”

During the Israeli army’s latest crackdown on the residents of Azzoun village, undercover police abducted a youth of 16 years for extended interrogation interspersed with beating.

The Azzoun teenager, Mahmoud Radouan, was riding in a friend’s donkey cart on road 55 just outside Izbat at Tabib, en route to the friend’s agricultural land in nearby An Nabi Elyas, when undercover police dressed in Palestinian civilian clothes and driving what appeared to be a Palestinian taxi stopped the two youths, pointing a handgun at them and forcing them to sit on the road beside the guardrail. After 30 minutes, Mahmoud’s friend was released but he was kept, the police reportedly telling him: “we have something on you; we know you make problems.”

The subsequent interrogation, in the police taxi and at the Ariel police station where he was then taken, revolved around accusations of stone-throwing at cars on highway 55 as well as at police and military jeeps when they invade Azzoun. Mahmoud was threatened repeatedly, interrogators telling him he must confess to throwing stones if he wanted to return home or else he’d be taken to court and fined. He was repeatedly threatened that the Israeli police would “make problems” for him and his family. He was further repeatedly cursed, profanities used against him and female family members.

Interrogators pulled Mahmoud’s jacket over his head, winding the sleeves around his neck and tightening them to choke the detained youth. He was then punched repeatedly in the abdomen, side, and head, as well as struck on his leg with the butt of an M16. He was interrogated thus for 2 hours, beaten each time he denied the allegations. Despite the beating which accompanied his interrogation, Mahmoud continued to proclaim his innocence, denying the allegations and declaring that he had not taken part in stone throwing.

The teen’s interrogators continued in their efforts to coerce Mahmoud into confessing by threatening him with solitary confinement and further threatening that he would be bound and hung from the ceiling and further tortured by 4 men.

Eventually, having failed to coerce a confession, Mahmoud was taken to a corridor where he was made to sit, one leg bound to the metal bench, for another approximately 4 hours. Around 10 pm, Mahmoud was led to a military vehicle and dropped off near the village of Harris, far from his own village of Azzoun. After an hour of waiting on the road near Harris, locals lent the youth a phone on which to call his family. Another 10 minutes later, Mahmoud was able to flag down a taxi heading to Azzoun, finally arriving near midnight. The ordeal, led on baseless accusations, lasted nearly 10 hours and exemplifies what many young Palestinian men undergo as a result of Israel’s policy of targeting youths without cause and evidence.

This is not the first time Mahmoud has been unjustly subjected to beatings and interrogation. Just one year prior, in winter, Mahmoud, then 15, was arrested in his home at 1 am. Israeli forces knocked on his family door, initially asking for his brother, Mohammed, but returning 15 minutes later to seize Mahmoud instead, taking him to Ma’ale Shamron settlement police station for interrogation. Two other youths, aged 14, from Azzoun were also taken for questioning at the same time. At Ma’ale Shamron, police began a file on the youths, then taking them to the Ariel settlement police station. During the nearly hour-long ride, soldiers beat Mahmoud with batons on his head and all over his body, cursing his family and making accusations of stone-throwing, the pretext for the detention.

At Ariel, Mahmoud was taken to the roof where 2 Israeli interrogators put a plastic bag put over his head, pushed him to the ground, arms handcuffed behind his back and feet bound, and subsequently kicked and punched him all over his body for approximately 20 minutes. All the while, the two men continued to accuse Mahmoud of stone-throwing and to curse his mother and family.

The youth was finally taken inside to a bench where he was made to sit, still handcuffed and feet bound, from 3 am until 6 am. Passing police would hit him as he sat, slapping him awake when he dozed.

When Israeli intelligence officers arrived after 6 am they began to interrogate all 3 youths separately. Mahmoud was 3 times taken for interrogation, lasting 30 minutes each time. During these periods of questioning, his interrogators would ask the same questions, lob the same accusations, and would repeatedly try to coerce Mahmoud into confessing to stone-throwing. “You throw stones. Where is your gun? Your friend said you throw stones.” These statements and accusations were likewise put to the other two youths, in attempts to trick them into confessing into actions they deny having committed.

At around 4 am, Mahmoud was taken to Qedumim settlement for another 20 minutes before finally being released near the village of Jinsafut, approximately 8 km east of Azzoun.

These two personal incidents are not isolated but rather illustrate on-going and systematic policies and practices which serve to vilify and terrorize Palestinian youths. Residents suspect that along with the ongoing imposition of curfews and roadblocks on Azzoun, interrogation attacks like these are another element of the long-term strategy to fabricate a history of violence in the village in order to justify the construction of a separation barrier blocking the main entrance to Azzoun and cutting off access to road 55.

Azzoun village was again subject to curfew on Sunday, December 2. The Israeli army invaded the village at 3pm, with approximately 8 vehicles, including a large armored personnel carrier, a hummer, and several jeeps.

For the next three hours, the army vehicles circled the village, unleashing a multitude of sound bombs and firing rubber bullets at youths. In direct contradiction of Israeli and international law, tear gas was fired extensively in the village streets and also into people’s homes. One 79 year old man was overwhelmed by tear gas as he was working in his garden, the canister landing just 2 metres away from him. This is the second time in 10 days soldiers have fired tear gas inside the walls of his property, the first choking him in his sleep.

Army jeeps returned again at 7 pm, 8:30 pm, and later at 10pm, again firing sound bombs.

This makes the 14th major invasion in 33 days, and marks the 4th time in the same period that Israeli soldiers have used tear gas in civilian areas, including at school gates, in house courtyards, and in the streets between houses.

Two weeks ago, an Israeli army commander assured that Azzoun would no longer be subject to curfews. Yet despite these assurances, curfews have continued to be imposed –forcing residents to close their businesses and remain in their homes under threat of “punishment”. This punishment has repeatedly included arrest, beatings, shootings, and destruction of property.

While Azzoun has suffered from numerous such invasions and curfews, these actions are not isolated to this village alone. Indeed, many villages within the Qalqilya district, such as Al Funduq, Kafr Laqif, Jinsafut, Haja, Baqa Al Hatab, Immatin and Kafr Qaddum, have also been subject to ongoing curfews, invasions, and harassment. Road closures, another example of collective punishment (illegal under international law), have become ubiquitous in the region, with major checkpoints such as Qalqilya also being closed, thereby severely restricting freedom of movement. This, as such, regularly prevents access to work, medical services, and education among other things.

Earlier in the day, a military bulldozer imposed a fourth roadblock on Azzoun, blocking access to an agricultural road which had become an alternate route out of the village after the main entrance had been blocked by the Israeli army. These closures affect not only the residents of Azzoun, but also those from surrounding villages who travel through Azzoun to reach Qalqilya and Nablus.