Tag: Prisoner

Family fears their son is dying within Israeli prison

by Alistair George

 6 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Mohammad Awad is a 16 year old Palestinian boy, he is in an Israeli jail and he is gravely ill – his family believe that he is not receiving the right treatment and that he may be dying.

As they sit in their house in Beit Ummar, a village near Bethlehem,  Mohammad’s parents Ali and Amina, grow visibly angry and distressed as they recount their son’s treatment.

Documents showing the fines that the Awad family must pay to secure the release of their sons Mohammad (left, 3000 shekels) and Ahmad (right, 1000 shekels).

“He has fever, he sweats very much, he can’t sleep on the bed – he has to sleep on the ground to get some cold – he overheats and he cant move at all” says Ali.  Despite the fact that he is barely eating, Mohammad’s weight has ballooned from 58kg to 92kg since he has been in prison.

Mohammad suffers from Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF), an inherited condition characterized by recurrent episodes of painful inflammation in the abdomen, chest, or joints. These episodes are often accompanied by fever and sometimes a rash. Without treatment to help prevent attacks and complications, a buildup of protein deposits (amyloidosis) in the body’s organs and tissues may occur, which can lead to kidney failure or congestive heart failure.

Amina and Ali Awad – parents of Mohammad – at their home in Beit Ummar.

Ali says that Mohammad was first arrested in February 2011 after he attended a peaceful protest in Beit Ummar.  He was severely beaten by Israeli soldiers during his detention and was subjected to extreme cold.  Amina says, “They beat him so badly, and he was shouting and screaming and crying ‘Please stop you’re hurting me’ but they said ‘no’.  I believe that is the cause of his current condition – he had the fever [FMF] in the past but it was not serious as the thing he has now.”

Ali added that, ” When he told the solider that he had hurt him in the waist they beat him again and again on purpose in his liver and they caused internal bleeding.”  The bleeding in his liver was so severe that Mohammad required a blood transfusion.  He was released from prison in June, only to be arrested 14 days later and sentenced to six months imprisonment for attending a demonstration in the village and throwing one stone.

 Mohammad is currently being held in Ofer Prison but the family has learned that he has been repeatedly sent to hospital at Ramle or Hadassah during the past two months and then returned to prison.

 In the immediate family, only Mohammad’s sister Rahaf, 7, has been allowed to visit him.  She first alerted the family that Mohammad’s condition had deteriorated when she visited him in prison with a cousin – she returned saying that her brother was swollen and dreadfully ill.

 On 2 November 2011, Mohammad had a court hearing which his mother attended – but Mohammad was not in the court. “We didn’t get information why he wasn’t there,” said Ali,  “but the manager of the prison himself came to the judge – we knew this from the lawyer – and told the judge that [the prison] can’t be responsible if anything happens to Mohammad, [since] he’s now in hospital, in very bad condition, and we recommend  that we release him.”  The judge also recommended that he be released, but he needed approval from the Israeli intelligence – and they refused.”

According to Ali, “The manager of the prison himself called [him].”

“He told me, ‘your son is in a very bad condition and we can’t do anything for him so I will try to release him to be treated on the Palestinian side.’ So I’m afraid that my son is dying.”

Amina last saw her son in court on 28 November 2011. “He was very bloated and swollen all over his face and body, and it was not normal at all.”

 Mohammad’s parents believe that the prison authorities have been giving Mohammad the wrong treatment that may be harming him even further. “When he was released for the first time, he smuggled some drugs out that he was being given [in prison]” says Ali, showing ISM the Allopurinol tablets given to Mohammad.  “We asked a doctor what these was for, and he said these pills were for another disease, not for Muhammad’s condition.  The doctor told him that it is vey dangerous to take this drug, and we’re sure now that they are giving him the same drug.”

 The family has asked the prison authorities for Mohammad’s medical reports but they have refused to produce them.  There is no cure for his condition but when he was out of prison Mohammad was taking Colchicine and antibiotics to manage his symptoms.  Yet his rapidly deteriorating health and the statements from the prison manager suggest he is not receiving the correct medical attention.

 The Israeli team of Physicians for Human Rights has attempted to visit Mohammad in prison but has so far been denied access by prison authorities.  The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem picked up some medicine for Mohammad but was also denied access to the prison by the Israeli authorities. The family claims that they have not been able to give him any supplies at all whilst in prison.

 Mohammad is due to be released on 22 January 2012 – however, the family must pay 3000 shekels as a fine to secure his release.  If they are unable to do so, he will serve a further three months in jail.  His parents believe that his life is in danger and if he spends much more time in jail, without receiving correct treatment, the likelihood is that he will die.  Mohammad’s brother Ahmad is due to be released from prison in three months but the family must find a 1000 shekel fine to secure his release, otherwise he will serve an extra month in jail.  Ahmad also suffers from Familial Mediterranean Fever but his health is much better than Mohammad’s.  If they do manage to pay the fines, the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners usually pay it back – but Ali says this only happens around three years later.

 As Ali shows us the documents from the military detailing the fines, he says that he doesn’t have the money and has no way to raise it as he is currently unemployed. “We are suffering from a very bad economic situation” he said. “I cant work inside settlements or inside the green line and most of the work is there. Also I am ill – I have asthma and I have heart problems now and can’t work.”

 The targeting of the family

 Mohammad’s parents have not been allowed to visit him in prison and they have difficulty getting information.  Two of Mohammad’s brothers, Saddam, 21, and Ahmad, 19, are also in prison.  Mohammad’s younger brother Hamza, 15, is not allowed to visit. When he was 14, he visited Mohammad during his first sentence, yet Israeli authorities detained and interrogated him for three days and then banned him from visiting in the future.

 Now that all of his brothers are in jail, Hamza is terrified that he will soon be arrested.  At night he paces around the house, looking out the windows for the Israeli military.  “I am very depressed,” said Hamza, “I don’t have any hope that I will stay here at home, the Israeli army can come here at any time and detain me and take me to jail.”

 The military has arrived in the night to arrest members of the family before – Ali has been detained eighteen times, although he claims that he has only resisted the occupation nonviolently by attending peaceful protests.  “The detention of our children caused a medical condition for my wife,” said Ali – “She takes drugs for her nerves as she’s always worried and the doctor told her this is very serious.  She’s on medication for anxiety and depression.”

 The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a “child” as “every human being below the age of eighteen years.”  According to Israeli military order 132, Palestinian children aged 16 and older are tried and sentenced by Israeli military courts as adults. By comparison, juvenile legislation defines Israeli children as age 18 or younger. A Palestinian child’s sentence is decided on the basis of the child’s age at the time of sentencing, not when the alleged offence was committed.

According to Addameer,  a prisoner support and human rights organisation, there were approximately 176 Palestinian children (under the age of 18) detained in Israeli prisons, as of September 2011 and around 700 Palestinian children from the occupied West Bank are prosecuted every year through Israeli military courts. Since 2000, more than 6,500 Palestinian children have been detained.  The most common charge brought against children is for throwing stones – an offence which can incur a 20 year prison sentence.

Addameer reports that “the majority of children report being subjected to ill-treatment and having forced confessions extracted from them during interrogations. Forms of ill-treatment used by the Israeli soldiers during a child’s arrest and interrogation usually include slapping, beating, kicking and violent pushing. Palestinian children are also routinely verbally abused.”

With three of their four sons in prison, it seems that the family has been singled out and targeted by the Israeli authorities.

“All Palestinians are targeted, not just my family” said Ali. “But from the first Intifada I have been a member of a legal movement – I’m not doing anything illegal, I’m just demanding my people’s rights. I don’t do anything to hurt anyone, I just demonstrate.”

Amina says that she believes that the Israelis are doing this as “revenge.”  “My sons are innocent and they don’t do anything bad.”  Ali added that he believes it to be “revenge against all Palestinians, but we are a special case as I was detained [so often] in the past. Also I have land near Karmei Tzur [an illegal Israeli settlement] and they are trying to take this land.  They have made me many offers to buy the land and I refused so they hate me. I told them go to hell this is my land I will stay here, and I will die here.”  Ali also shows us the protruding bone in his hand which was broken by the Israeli military a few months ago after he was detained during a peaceful protest in Beit Ummar.

Ali is trying to stay hopeful but he admits that it is difficult.  “My son is only 16 years old, he is very ill, he needs medical treatment but they don’t care.  My son is ill, I have a problem with my heart, my wife has a problem with her nerves, but I thank God that we are still alive.”

Alistair George is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Bittersweet Eid

by Lydia de Leeuw

19 November 2011 | A Second Glance

Donkey carts lined up opposite the market in Jabaliya refugee camp (Photo: Lydia de Leeuw, A Second Glance) – Click here for more images

Last week Eid al Adha was celebrated in Gaza and other Muslim communities worldwide. Eid al Adha is one of the most important holidays in Islam, marking the end of the Haj (annual pilgrimage to Mecca) season and symbolizing sacrifices for Allah as well as asking for forgiveness. The official day of Eid al Adha, which fell on Sunday 6 November this year, is celebrated by ritually slaughtering animals, such as cows and sheep, and parents giving their children a new outfit and some pocket money to buy toys. The meat of the slaughtered animals is divided among families and neighbours, and especially shared with those who cannot afford to buy meet.

While spending a wonderful time with friends and their families during Eid, I reflected on the essence of holidays. Regardless of the location, religion or traditions, celebrations of holidays seem to have three core elements in common: spending time with family, giving to others and a feeling of happiness. But what does a holiday look like without those?

Many families in the Gaza Strip had to celebrate another Eid without their brother, son, father, daughter, or sister. Following last month’s prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas, there are still about 5,500 Palestinians[1] languishing in 22 Israeli prisons and detention facilities.[2] Over 700 of these prisoners are from Gaza and have not seen their relatives for many years as the Israeli occupation authorities have not allowed any family visits. On the second day of Eid several relatives (mostly mothers) of Palestinian prisoners gathered in front of the Red Cross Office in Gaza city. They held a weekly sit-in demonstration in support of their imprisoned family members. They have been coming together in solidarity, holding pictures of the sons, every Monday morning for the past 17 years. The constant sadness over the absence of their relatives seemed even more tangible during this important holiday. A woman sitting next to me showed me a picture of her son, saying she had not seem him for four years and that she always kept hoping that he would come home again the following day. She had been cherishing this hope for the past eleven years. There seems to be no other consolation than to hope that one day she would see him again, so we just repeated together “insh’allah” (God willing).

For Eid al Adha it is tradition to buy  a new outfit for your children and to give them some money for buying toys. However, the suffocating closure of the Gaza Strip has made increasingly difficult for parents to provide for their families, let alone giving their children something extra. The closure has brought the Gaza economy to a standstill and has driven the unemployment rate up to a staggering 42,5%. Approximately 75% of the people in Gaza receive humanitarian aid of some sort. So for many parents in Gaza Eid means more struggling and juggling; more borrowing, and trying to figure out a way to give their kids the traditional Eid gifts. Even more than usual, the high food prices were a ‘hot topic’ for conversation and everyone was eager to find out where to go for the best deal.

Two days before Eid, when I was on my way to visit a friend in the north, I learned about another absurdity of the circumstances in Gaza. Throughout the streets and fields I noticed there was an unusual number sheep, cows and goats. Since there is not a lot to eat here for those animals and many of them were grazing around rubbish dump sites, I started wondering: where had these herds of fluffy Eid meals come from? Turned out that a lot of the animals for Eid are smuggled (yes, smuggled) in through the tunnels with Egypt. Even though I could have expected this, I was still shocked. Even the holiday meals have become a smuggled commodity. Looking at these goats, sheep and cows and visualising their trip through the tunnels, the absurdity of the policies once again hit me.

Besides the absence of loved ones and the financial struggles, there is the ever present risk of army attacks from the border, the sea, and especially air. A week before Eid, 15 year old Rawand Tayseer Abu Mughassib was on her way to her grandmother’s house nearby, for an evening visit. They all live close to the border area in the central Gaza Strip. As Rawand headed for the front gate, separating the house from the road in front of it. Suddenly, an Israeli plane fired a missile which landed four to five meters away from her, on the road. She was lucky to be one step away from the gate, with the wall protecting her from most of the deadly shrapnel. The gate was blown out of the wall and only just missed Rawand.  She was injured in her left hand, and three houses (including that of her family) were damaged. The missile apparently targeted Palestinian fighters in the area. Since the attack, Rawand and her siblings are very anxious, especially after sunset, and are afraid of being alone. Rimas, Rawand’s little sister wakes up crying from nightmares every night and has started bedwetting. The father, Tayseer, says he does not know how he can comfort his children when they are so full of fear: “there is nothing I could do or say, instead of just being there with them”. He says he is also struggling with his own fears, but that he insists to no show this to his children. Rawand and her family started their Eid with fear, feeling abandoned and unprotected.[3]

In a place like Gaza holidays seem as much a test of the people’s resilience and strength as a time of joy and celebration.

[1] Among those thousands are 251 children, 37 women, and at least 124 prisoners who are detained for long periods without charges.

[2] Most of these prisons and detention facilities are located within Israel. The imprisonment of Palestinians from the occupied territories (Gaza Strip, West Bank) in Israel is illegal under international law and violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, particularly Article 76, which stipulates that “Protected persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein.”

[3] The Israeli occupation army often uses heavy airstrikes to target fighters in the densely populated Gaza Strip, often risking to cause civilian casualties, who will then be called ‘collateral damage’. Since January this year 18 civilians were killed and 16 injured in airstrikes which targeted fighters in the Gaza Strip. Of those who were killed, 3 were children.

Palestinian woman struggles for proper medical treatment

by Wahed Rejol

14 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

In 2004 Amal Jamal was sentenced to 12 years in Israeli prison. A year later the Palestinian woman from Nablus was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Today from a hospital in Nablus she awaits a decision from Israel authorities that will determine whether she will be permitted to travel outside of Israeli controlled territory to receive medical treatment.

Prisoner rights worker Myassar Atyani and Amal Jamal in a Nablus hospital.

In 2005 Jamal began to suffer from severe pain and bleeding as a result of her illness. Yet she received little treatment from the Israelis. She was given only medication for pain and an unidentified sedative that affected her mental stability. Her diabetes went untreated altogether resulting in later complications.

After suffering more than four years Jamal was transported to Hiafa where she underwent surgery for her cancer. But the surgery was unsuccessful.

Last month Jamal was released by the Israelis as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas where 1,027 Palestinian political prisoners were released in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Jamal has refused further treatment within Israel and is instead awaiting permission from the Israelis to travel to France via Jordan to receive medical attention.

Wahed Rejol is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

“Only one half of me is free, but the other half is still there, locked up behind Israeli bars”

by Shahd Abusalama

13 November 2011  | Palestine from My Eyes

A beautiful halo around Gaza’s full moon

In a nice restaurant overlooking Gaza’s beach, beneath a full moon with a beautiful halo surrounding it, I sat with my new friends who recently were released from Israeli prisons. Their freedom was restricted by Israel’s inhumane rules, including indefinitely deportation from the West Bank, away from their families and friends. However, they all shared one thought: “The problem is not here.  Both the West Bank and Gaza are our homeland. The problem is that our freedom will not be complete until our land and people are totally free.”

I listened carefully to their prison stories and memories of their families in other parts of Palestine. One of the most interesting things for me to hear was the warm, strong, and caring friendships they remembered from inside the painful cells. These unbreakable friendships were their only distractions from the wounds that used to hurt them deeply inside.

One of my new friends is Chris Al-Bandak, the only Christian of the released detainees, who was freed in the first stage of the swap deal. After I was introduced to him, I congratulated him on regaining his freedom, and he faked his smile and replied, “Only one half of me is free, but the other half is still there, locked up behind Israeli bars.”

I didn’t know much about Chris, except for his religion, but many things about him made me want to get to know him more closely. I was quite certain that this impressive 32-year-old man had many interesting stories to tell and learn from.

Chris said that he was one of the people besieged by the Israeli Occupation Forces at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002. That alone made me impatient to hear the rest of his story. “The siege lasted for 40 days. It got more unbearable as time passed, with the food and first aid equipments dwindling. The injured people were under the threat of death, and the others’ lives were endangered as well as the IOF’s pressure increased.”

As Chris spoke, his eyes evoked anger and sorrow as they wandered to his right. He sounded like he was replaying a tape of his most difficult memories. Then he suddenly began stuttering as he said, “My best friend, Hafith Sharay’a, was one of the injured people.” I reminded him that he didn’t have to speak about it if it made him feel bad.

He pulled himself together and kept telling his story. “On the 28th day of the siege, we were on the top floor of the Church of the Nativity, responsible for the lives of the people downstairs and guarding the church, when he was shot in the right side of his stomach. With every drop of blood he lost, my soul burned inside. I couldn’t watch him die and do nothing.” Impatiently I interrupted, asking, “Was he killed?” He shook his head and continued. “His injury left me only two choices: let him bleed to death, or send him to the Israeli Army for treatment, while I was certain that he would afterwards receive at least a life sentence.”

Each option was worse than the other. Chris thought that if Hafith died, he would never see him again. If he was treated and then imprisoned, he might meet him, even though the chance was very small. Hafith and Chris were like soul mates. They didn’t share many things in common. Hafith is older and a Muslim, while Chris is a Christian. However, they prioritized their deep passion for Palestine above everything else. This overcame all their differences, and they share a magical strong friendship which will last forever.

So Chris chose to put his emotions aside and rescue Hafith from death by delivering him to the Israeli army. “On the 29th day, I somehow managed to sneak out of the church and escape.  But ten months later, I was kidnapped by the Israeli Entity’s army.”

Palestinians in Bethlehem are protesting in solidarity with Chris who is deported to Gaza

Chris described in detail the horrible story of his capture. He had gone to visit some of his relatives. Within 20 minutes of his arrival, the Israeli army arrived in great numbers and surrounded the house. He faked a name for himself and answered the police’s questions in a very sarcastic way. He told all his relatives to say his name was Fady if asked, which they did. He refused to admit that he was Chris. After several hours of investigation, pressure, and threats of bombing the house and arresting his mother and brother, one of the children was shedding tears out of fear. Seeing this, a policeman used the child’s innocence and tricked him. After the policeman said that the soldiers would leave if he said the real name of Chris, the child admitted it.

Chris was persistent, and didn’t admit his identity until they were about to bomb the house in front of his eyes. After his confession, he was asked where he had been sleeping at night. He replied, “You bombed my house, so where did you expect me to go? I spent my nights in the cemetery.” The interrogator was very shocked at his reply and asked him, “Weren’t you afraid among all dead bodies in their graves?” He answered, with an angry, challenging look in the Israeli soldiers’ eyes, “One shouldn’t fear the dead. They are dead. But we should be afraid of the living people whose conscience is dead!”

Then they blindfolded him, pushed him inside one of their Gibbs vehicles, and headed to an interrogation center, where he was psychologically and physically tortured for 43 days. Chris constantly thought of his friend Hafith, and hoped that his imprisonment would allow him to meet his best friend again.

This happened in a very narrow cell in Ramla Prison, as he waited to learn in which prison he would be jailed. The detainees were having “foura”, an hour-long break that detainees take daily outside their jails in a hall, and a very small window, closed with a revealing cover, separated him from the hall. Suddenly he glimpsed his friend Hafith and found himself screaming his name loudly to get his attention. “Our re-union was so emotional, especially behind a fenced barrier,” he said with a broken smile.

Their happiness didn’t last long, as they had to separate once the foura was done. Chris was transferred to Asqalan Prison, then to Nafha. “I stayed away from Haifith for over a year, but during that time, I never stopped hoping that God would be kind enough to bring us together again.”

Chris was in Nafha when his friend was transferred there, finally uniting them. Then they went through a series of separations keeping them apart for a total of four years. “A prison offers no sense of stability.” Chris said. “When we were imprisoned, we didn’t stop our struggle, but we started another stage of resistance of a different kind, determination and persistence mixed with hope.”

During the period before Chris was released, he shared a prison cell with Hafith. “Other detainees received the news of their freedom with screams of joy and happiness, but I received it with tears. I didn’t even feel 1% happy, as I realized that only I was included in the swap deal. Even now, I feel like my body is outside but my heart is still inside the prison with Hafith and all the other detainees,” Chris said with sadness on his face.

“I am very grateful for having Hafith as a big brother. But I am broken inside because he didn’t get his freedom back. I am sure that he’s such a steadfast man that nothing can depress his spirit,” he said, attempting to console himself.

Their friendship amazed me. It can’t be described in words. I pray that Haifith, along with all the Palestinian political prisoners, will be freed soon. I hope Hafith maintains his strength which used to inspire and strengthen Chris. Chris said that Hafith made him believe in his principle that “the prison’s door must unlock someday. It’s only an obstacle, and is bound to fade away at some point.” I hope it will be unlocked soon to let all prisoners breathe the sweet fragrance of freedom again.

Palestinian Scouts welcome exiled prisoner to Gaza

by Joe Catron

12 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Christian al-Bandak – Click here for more images

Palestinian Scouts and their families rallied in the Gaza YMCA Friday afternoon to honor former political prisoner Christian Al-Bandak and welcome him to Gaza.

Al-Bandak, who donned a Scout neckerchief to receive a commemorative plaque, is one of 477 prisoners already released by Israel in its ongoing exchange of prisoners with the Palestinian government in Gaza.

After sentencing Al-Bandak to four lifetimes in its occupation prisons in 2003, Israel illegally exiled him to the Gaza Strip from his home in Bethlehem following his release, along with over 160 other West Bank residents.

The only Christian among the released prisoners, he had remained behind in Gaza while most others traveled from it, the West Bank, Israel, or foreign exile to Mecca, Saudi Arabia for the Muslim Hajj.

“People were here of different ages, religions, and parties,” Al-Bandak said after the event. “This illustrates the unity and patriotism of the Palestinian people. My welcome in Gaza has been excellent.”