In recent months activists on the ground have witnessed an escalation of violence directed at Palestinians. There is an urgent need for international volunteers to support grassroots, non-violent Palestinian popular resistance to the Israeli Occupation. Continue reading Join The Resistance! Join the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine
Tag: Prisoner
Imprisoned Voices: corporate complicity in the Israeli prison system
20th April 2015 | Corporate Watch |
This briefing was published on 17 April 2015 to coincide with the annual day of solidarity with Palestinian prisoners.
It collects the memories of the pain, suffering and resilience of Palestinians who have been imprisoned by Israel.
In 2013, Corporate Watch visited the West Bank and Gaza Strip and interviewed released prisoners about their experiences. The 11 accounts give a glimpse of the struggles of Palestinian prisoners.
They have been collected together here to inspire readers to take action in solidarity with them and against the companies profiting from their suffering.
The first part of this briefing compiles interviews with prisoners from the Gaza Strip. The second part focuses on the West Bank. The final part summarises the companies providing equipment and services that aid the arrest and imprisonment of Palestinians and gives detailed profiles of two of the biggest culprits: G4S and Hewlett Packard.
We dedicate this briefing to all those who remain imprisoned.
The briefing is currently published online and can be read here or downloaded here. It will be available to buy in the coming weeks from www.corporatewatch.org
Prisoners’ day at weekly Bil’in demonstration
17th April 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Bil’in, Occupied Palestine
Over 300 people attended the Prisoners’ Day demonstration in Bil’in. The Israeli army fired endless amounts of teargas and shot one person in the chest with a live ammunition.
After the prayer, protesters marched towards the apartheid wall and the illegal settlement of Modi’in, situated just outside of Bil’in. A truck loaded with a sound system led the chanting crowd. Most were either waving Palestinian flags, holding up banners in support of the Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons to mark Prisoners’ Day, or were holding posters of Bassem, a local who was killed six years ago by the Israeli army. As the march got closer to the wall, Israeli forces fired over 50 rounds of teargas canisters towards the protesters. The area was heavily clouded with this gas during most of the afternoon, which caused many to suffer from its inhalation. The shooting of this teargas also caused the dry grass between the olive trees to repeatedly catch fire.
During the protest, one person was shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet, while a 17 years old boy was shot in the chest with live ammunition. He was immediately taken to hospital by the ambulance. His condition is stable.
The 17th April is Prisoners’ Day in Palestine. Thousands of Palestinians are arrested arbitrarily on a daily basis by the Israeli forces, despite prohibition by international law. According to B’Tselem, “at the end of February 2015, 5,609 Palestinian security detainees and prisoners were held in Israeli prisons”. Since 1967, when Israel furthered its occupation to the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, an equivalent of approximately 20% of the total population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), and 40% of all males have been detained (CEPR). While in prison, they are subject to wide-ranging violations of their rights and dignity. Such practices may include physical and psychological torture, deprivation of family visits, denial of access to lawyers and unlawful transfer out of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, among many other things. The Israeli occupying forces continue to violate the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, in particular against the Palestinian prisoners.
Today also marked the 6th anniversary of Bassem Abu Rameh’s death. Nicknamed Pheel, he was a much loved figure in the town of Bil’in. On the 17th April 2009, the Israeli army shot him with a teargas canister projectile which killed him shortly after. Aged 30, Pheel had been to all the non-violent protests, activities and creative actions against the apartheid wall in his town. Those who knew him remember him as a caring person who made everybody laugh and had the heart of a child, says Mohammad Khatib, a member of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements.
According to the report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs within the occupied Palestinian Territories, 442 people in the West Bank and 15 people in Gaza have been injured by the Israeli forces since the beginning of this year. On top of this, five people have been killed.
Stories from Al Arroub refugee camp
28th March 2015 | International Women’s Peace Service | Al Arroub refugee camp, Occupied Palestine
Situated along the main Hebron-Jerusalem road, across the street from a University, sits the heavily fenced and concrete blockaded main entrance to Al Arroub Palestinian refugee camp. Taysir, a 39 year old former prisoner of the Israeli government and resident of the camp, waits out front of the camp entry way to give an intimate and shocking view of Al Arroub which is home to over 10,000 refugees living on less than a square mile of land and originating from nearly 3 dozen villages from as far away as Gaza.
Al Arroub, a maze of crumbling buildings and graffiti telling the story of Palestinian resistance to occupation, was established in 1949 and remained as tented housing until concrete living structures were built in 1956. Just steps into the camp, laid the remnants of a fired rubber-coated steel bullet laying near a post which bore the scar from the shot. Taysir lifts the bullet, “Violence here explodes within moments.” A few more steps and along the building sits a small cement structure to mark the spot where a 17 year old Palestinian boy was murdered, but he is not alone- throughout the camp there are photos, posters and spray paint stenciled portraits of those Palestinians whose lives were ended violently by Israeli soldiers. Palestinian refugee camps are the heart of the resistance and the birthplace of both intifadas; this is evidenced in a colorful section of wall which calls out in Arabic, “Enough! We want freedom!”
There is one children’s center in the camp and from the outside you can see the cage like fencing around the play area for dozens of young children, their ecstatic yells echoing through the bars. Proud mother’s lead the way upstairs to a room for infants where babies born to an occupied nation lay napping. The children sing, change into traditional Palestinian dress and rush excitedly around one another in the cramped center. One of the main issues facing the refugees of the camp is overcrowded schools. UNRWA’s camp profile cites three schools in Al Arroub; along with high unemployment rates and the lack of an appropriate sewage network.
IWPS members are introduced to Nazaar, whose 28 year old brother Eid, married just one year, was shot two dozen times by occupation forces during a raid in the camp as last year’s war in Gaza raged to a fever pitch. The murder took place on the first day’s Eid celebration of the Ramadan month of fasting as Nazaar was driving his brother’s to a family meal. He stands beside the poster of his murdered brother as he recalls the horror, “This was an execution. They killed him in the streets in front of everyone. Why? He was happy, he loved life. This was a tragedy.”
Just over a week ago, violent clashes were reported in Al Arroub when solidarity protests for Ibrahim Jamal, a prisoner of Israel’s Eshel prison, lost sight and speech after hitting his head on the end of an iron bed, occurred in the camp and Israeli forces responded by firing tear gas bombs and rubber-coated steel bullets indiscriminately at the protesters. Jamal, already suffering from an uncurable disease, received no treatment despite being injured in the prison. Violence stemming from Israeli incursions has seemingly touched every life inside the camp. Between raids, kidnappings and collective punishment, the personal stories are as seemingly endless as the occupation itself.
The day is ended at the home of a woman who has had every one of her children imprisoned. Two of which still languish in administrative detention. In the room is Taysir, imprisoned four years- A young Palestinian who was kidnapped from a field near school and imprisoned two years along with a film maker and actor who spent “just a year” in Israeli detention. The young man still bears the scars from his time in jail, two on his knee- for which he didn’t receive medical attention for three days, and many others on his arm- but these were self inflicted. “Before my time in jail, I was happy and gentle. Now I feel rage over the smallest thing. I began to cut myself. I didn’t feel relief until I saw the blood.” He goes on to expose a sinister issue that is eating away at the very fabric of life at Al Arroub and indeed all over occupied Palestine.
“Yes, we love life and freedom. But we are not afraid of dying for our rights and for the absolute truth. “
“When I was released from prison, I had drug withdawal symptoms and had no idea why.” He fears he was drugged during his time in Ben Yamen, Asharon and Demoon Prisons- It is common for Palestinians to be moved from prison to prison, it is a disorienting and unnerving tactic. “They called me three times since I have been released offering me money, a car and a pass to work inside of Israel if I sell ketamine for them. We don’t need you to collaborate with us, you are our brother, let’s just be friends, they told me.” Collaboration has been reported as a huge point of harrassment, especially for child prisoners, coming from elements of the Israeli military. And drug abuse is rising among residents of Palestinian refugee camps.
Torture is also a common tactic utilized in Israeli prisons, ranging from psychological and emotional abuse to violently imposed physical trauma. Taysir recalls the hours he spent in a chair, sleep deprived and in isolation. He was seated in a room where he could hear prisoners screaming in pain and calling for help. “You can hear the torture and you fear that this will happen to you next. They do this on purpose.” Taysir went two years in detention before he received a court date. Two years later, he was released through a prisoner exchange agreement. “The pain during interrogation may go away quickly but the pain of the life you spent in prison never goes away.”
At the heart of Palestinian resistance to occupation, Israeli violence, military presence and poor living conditions continues to be the reality of day to day life for refugees living inside of Al Arroub refugee camp as well as the many other refugee camps located in occupied Palestine.
“We believe in a bright future…a future when our children will be free” – Kufr Qaddum resident released from prison
29th January 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Nablus, Occupied Palestine
Murad Eshtewi was released from prison on January 22, 2015. He was arrested on April 29th, 2014, serving 10 months in Israeli military prison. In order to secure his release, he was forced to pay a fine of 10,000 shekels (approximately $2500 USD), a fine that reduced his sentence in jail. Murad, a resident of Kufr Qaddum, was charged with organizing demonstrations and encouraging Palestinians to participate in political action. The village of Kufr Qaddum has held a weekly demonstration every Friday since 2011, in protest of the closure of their main road to Nablus by Israeli forces for the neighboring illegal settlement Qedumim.
On April 29, 2014, at 2:30am, Israeli forces surrounded Murad´s family house. Knowing that he was going to be jailed for a long time, Murad asked the soldiers if he could kiss his children goodbye. Israeli soldiers then covered his mouth, and made him walk 1.5 km in the dark to a nearby illegal Israeli settlement, where he was detained for 9 days. During this period, has was given very little water or food, and he lost 10kg.
He was eventually transferred to Megiddo, an Israeli military prison. Murad describes the horrible conditions he faced there; prisoners were not given enough food or blankets and any other necessities had to be purchased from the prison canteen at grossly inflated prices. The food that was provided did not constitute a balanced diet. Food and blankets brought in to prisoners from visitors were not permitted. Existing medical facilities in the prison were extremely limited; Murad described his own medical issues and the failure to receive adequate treatment. Facing shoulder pain, he was given only moderate pain-relievers, and told to drink water. His pain increased to the point that he was unable to lift his arm. The medical practitioners distributing ´care´ were often the same soldiers who had beaten prisoners earlier that week. Prison conditions gave no opportunity for activity to those detained; Murad recounts having nothing to do except ¨count the days, seconds, until freedom. I could not see the sky.¨
Prisoners detained for legal violations, such as theft, are permitted to work and call their families, whereas those detained under Israeli military law (political prisoners) are not awarded the same privileges. Their contact with the outside world is limited to one 45 minute visit from family, every two weeks, if that. Murad expressed feeling like a ¨dead man¨ while imprisoned, and that he has been ¨born again¨ since his release.
This was Murad´s fourth arrest, with the longest sentence and highest fine. Before receiving his final sentence, he had 19 court dates over eight months in Israeli military courts. Despite all that he has endured under direct Israeli repression, Murad is adamant in his determination to continue the struggle for Palestine. He sees the issues facing his village of Kufr Qaddum as symbolic of the bigger issues of the Israeli occupation: restricted movement, injuries, house damage, arbitrary arrest, imprisonment and murder of Palestinians. But he asserts: ¨In the face of this bad situation, we will do anything. We do not deny the right of anyone to live happily in their land. Let Israel do that in their state. Just let Palestinians do the same. No one can prevent me from my right [to do this], except death. I will not be ready to let my son or friends live under occupation. [I have made] an internal promise between me and me, and between me and Palestine to fight for Palestine.¨
Murad´s house was flooded with visitors upon his release, happy to welcome him home and back to his village. Murad is ecstatic to be re-united with his family and children, and continue the struggle for Palestine´s freedom. ¨The smile is still on our faces, because we believe in a bright future. A future when our children will be free, and we will continue to fight for this future.”