Remember The Prisoners

1. National Day for Prisoners

17 April 2005,
For Immediate Release

On April 17th every year, Palestinians stand unified in solidarity
with Arab and Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli
custody. Thousands of Palestinians have been imprisoned as a result
of their struggle for their inalienable and legitimate right to self
determination and the right to an independent state with Jerusalem
as its capital.

Israeli occupation authorities hold approximately 8043 Palestinians,
including 115 females with 7 of them under administrative detention
orders and 11 juvenile females in Tal Mund Prison. About 772
Palestinians are held under automatically-renewable administrative
detention orders in various detention compounds. After thorough
follow up of their incarceration conditions, the Mandela Institute
for Human Rights can easily conclude they are held under cruel and
inhuman conditions such as:

- Prisoners are subjected to prolonged solitary confinement in
prisons like Ayalon-Ramla, Beer Shiva' and Kfar Youna prisons.
Israeli military authorities use solitary confinement as a weapon to
break prisoners' resolve and not as a disciplinary measure for the
slightest offence in addition to imposing heavy fines;

- Ill treatment and torture of inmates are wide spread especially
during interrogation in centers like Ashqelon and Jalama prisons,
Petah Tikva and the
Russian Compound in occupied Jerusalem and in "Collaborators'
quarters in Beer
Shiva' and Jalama prisons and in Megiddo detention compound;

- Israeli military authorities use the provocative and degrading
strip search on a daily basis;

- Prisoners are deprived of family visits. Israeli Prison Authority
restricts 2500 Palestinian families from visiting their loved ones
under feeble security pretences;

- Families that are allowed to visit jailed members can only see
them from behind thick glass partitions;

- Israeli occupation authorities continue to use administrative
detention i.e. imprisonment of individuals without charge or trial,
against thousands of Palestinians. Occupation authorities often
renew these orders automatically for years. Some individuals have
been incarcerated for the past three years under such orders.
Detainees at the Negev military detention compound have decided to
boycott Israeli military tribunals believing they are concocted to
keep them in custody with fabricated evidence. Three days ago, they
ended their boycott in an attempt to test the intentions of the
compound's administration;

- Prison clinics intentionally delay provision of medical treatment.
About 22 inmates are held at the Ramla Prison Hospital with severe
illnesses such as cardiac disorders, cancer, diabetes and kidney
disorders. The database at Mandela Institute shows there are
approximately 482 infirm inmates including 150 suffering from
chronic illnesses. Delay of medical treatment augments their already
poor health conditions;

- Israeli occupation authorities hold 115 Palestinian females at Tal
Mund Prison including 20 married and 8 infirm inmates. Manal Abdul-
Razeq Ghanem, a
Palestinian female from Tulqarem and was arrested on 17 April 2003
is serving a 4-year sentence. She suffers Thalathemia and her son,
Nour, are deprived of necessary medical treatment. Amena Mona has a
disk hernia; Faten Daraghmeh suffers a kidney stone and internal
bleeding; Suna Ra'ie suffers psychological disorders; Su'ad Abu-
Hamad complains of back pro blems; Hala Husny Jaber has torn muscles
in her right leg; Latifa Abu-Dra'a has diabetes, brain infection and
uterus dysfunctions while 'Abir 'Odeh suffers psychological
disorders also.

- Palestinian male juveniles are subjected to ill treatment and
torture including sexual harassment by Israeli common criminals,
threat of rape and are often threatened by dogs to force out
confessions.
The Israeli government continues undeterred to violate the 1949
Fourth Geneva
Convention related to the protection of civilians at time of war. It
also violates the United Nations Minimum Standards for the Treatment
of Prisoners as well as other international instruments and norms
provided in the international law and the humanitarian international
law.

*******************

2. No way to raise terrorists by Henry
Qawawis, Occupied West Bank
Sunday, April 17, 2005

Qawawia is the tiny village in the southern most part of the
Occupied West Bank, and is surrounded by the illegal colony of
Susiya (sp?), and two illegal (even by Israeli standards) outposts;
Amara Eis and Am Shukan.

JH and I from the Michigan Peace Team joined Kaspar from Denmark, to
relieve the
ISM'ers stationed in the village last Thursday, and today is our
first experience with electricity and warm water since. But what we
left behind in this lovely village is not worth modern day
conveniences: we left behind wonderful, loving people, and a
lifestyle that is difficult to match.

There is one house in the village, two large tents, and many
inhabitable caves, in which we received most of our meals: three
squares a day, and we constantly disappointed our hosts with our
scant appetites. "Eat, eat!" was their response to our broken
Arabic: "Lah, shukron! – Halas!".

We slept in the house of Hadj Khalil and his wife Amni, and their
children and grandkids. Yasir is their son, Atof, their daughter;
Delal is Yasir's wife and the mother of their 4 children, age
descending: Deanna, Jumanna, Sefanna, and 2-month old Shehad. JH and
I came close to kidnapping Jumanna on the way out, and you would
have been tempted as well.

The love these parents, grandparents and relative showed the
children was wonderful to behold, and puts an easy lie to the claim
that Palestinians hate Jews more than they love their children. Our
pictures – if we can get them out – will support the claims
that
these kids are loved every minute of the day. After dinner, the
three children wrapped themselves in their daddy's arms as he
held
forth in an Arabic-only discussion. The three gringos nodded at what
we felt were the appropriate times. As each child succumbed to
sleep, Mom came in and peeled them away from Dad to take them to the
sleeping room. Last was 6-yr-old Deanna, who was wrapped with her
father in a large blanket until her time came to be moved. Someone
should tell the families of Qawawis this is no way to raise
terrorists.

Four or Five herds of sheep and goats went out twice a day to graze
–
about 3 hours each time, and the duty of us three internationals
was to either keep the herds in sight, or stay close to the home and
village. The village has been subjected to wanton violence from
local settlers, and internationals have been beaten recently, and
suffered insult to injury when the "police" showed up
–only to
arrest the internationals! In spite of having charges dropped by an
understanding judge, Kasper thinks he will never again be allowed to
pass Israeli security, due to his "arrest" last week.

Most of our time in Qawawis was spent in beautiful boredom. Rolling
hills of grass and rocks were set off by neatly groomed orchards and
wheat fields. A few times our services were needed, however, and
under the amazing tutelage from 22-yr-old Kaspar, we performed them
well, imo. The army dropped by on Thursday to inform the shepherds
they were grazing too close to the road, which is not an accurate
determination of the court's verdict, but like Tony Soprano, they
have the guns.

Settlers also have the guns, and two young women in summer dresses
accompanied their Uzi-toting male friend to waltz around
"their"
land despite the recent rulings. Kaspar initially confronted his
Zionist peers (in age only) and explained that the villagers are
very nervous about their gun, and would they please leave the
property directly. The women explained that they were out for a
Shabbat afternoon walk, and followed a path of their own choosing,
as Kasper phone the local DCO – Israeli district police. He
waited
by the roadway, leaving JH and I to track the trespassers. Keeping a
safe (??) distance of about 150 yards – anybody know the range of
an
Uzi? – we followed them for what seemed forever as they walk the
vast expanse of the village, up rocky hillside, then down into the
wheat valley. JH and I tried to stay in sight contact, since my
phone's batteries had long given up the ghost, as he stayed in
phone
contact with K. After losing contact with the three violators, we
looped around back and met yet another shepherd, whose wife was
eager to bring out more tea, while we waited even longer for the
police. It had already been over a half hour, and they never did
arrive. "They don't care" explained peace activist Simon,
who showed
up in a small pickup driven by local peace hero Ezra.

Well into my second glass of tea, the three walkers showed up again,
and headed back towards the section they arrived, clearly showing
their arms to the locals. Hadj Mohammed (shepherd) wanted us to call
the police again, and we obliged. JH and I again trailed the armed
youngsters, and they apparently made their way back to Susiya.

Taunting villagers must be common sport. A lurking army jeep planted
itself on the property Friday evening, and when K and I went to
investigate, the soldiers claimed they were "having coffee".
Six of
them. And their leader wanted a political joust with K, who
intelligently demurred, leaving the role of bantam barrister up to
yours truly. Claiming that despite their rifles, they come in peace
(would he have given me the rifle to hold, since it was "not an
issue"?), he proceeded to lose every single argument he held
forth,
then decided to save face by saying that if we (after I had claimed
Jewish identity) got into "trouble" with the villagers, he
would not
longer come to "rescue" us. We felt his pain.

We also felt the pain of a beautiful young Palestinian woman who was
traveling with us on our last leg – from Hebron to Al Quds –
and was
denied permission to enter "Israel" at the checkpoint south
of
Jerusalem. The reason? Her identity papers had her located in
Hebron, and despite her marriage license to her Jerusalemite
husband, these "only following orders" soldiers denied the
union of
family and father. JH recognized the red herring of
"security", and
labeled the incident "pure racism". Our anger still burns.

Time is running out at this Old City Internet café, so will bid
adieu until next time.

Work for peace
Abolish Zionist Aparthied

Henry

**************
3. Living and working with people under occupation By Hanna from IWPS

I'm still here, still in Palestine, still living and working with
people under occupation. I think I've done more of the living
this
week than the working, though, and it's been nice. I don't
know if
it's a result of last week's tragedies, but this week I have
found
myself sitting and drinking tea with friends more than usual. I
decided at some point that when I don't have work outside the
house,
it's better to hang out with people than to sit behind a computer
(like I am now) looking for another task to do in the list of
endless tasks.

And so I've been spending time with people. Issa, a friend who
was
shot by an Israeli soldier almost four years ago, was in the
hospital for a few days this week, and came home today. It was
wonderful to see him, although he says his infection is not
completely gone and he's not sure he'll ever fully recover
from this
last sickness. He and his wife Faisa asked about our friend
Karin's
wedding, which happened a couple weeks ago in Bethlehem. I told
them it was beautiful, and that Karin and her husband made a nice
speech afterwards thanking everyone for coming and saying, "The
people who came from furthest are not necessarily the people from
Austria and Germany, but those from Salfit and Gaza and even
Jerusalem." "That's right," said Faisa sadly,
"because of the
checkpoints and the soldiers. It's all because of Israel. If it
weren't for Israel there would be no problem." She paused,
and then
added, "But if it weren't for Israel, we wouldn't know
you." I
cringe to hear this, knowing it's true. What a strange
relationship
we have with people. What a strange situation, where people get to
know us and want to see us, but know they're likeliest to see us
if
there is a problem in their village.
Like the village of Yasouf. I haven't visited Yasouf yet since
I've
been back, and when my friend Abu Srur found out I had been here for
a month without calling and visiting, he was hurt. Tomorrow I'll
go, and I'll see him, but I'm only going because doctors from
Bir
Zeit University will be there to talk with the villagers about
safety precautions on their land. I wrote in my last report about
poison that ideological Jewish settlers had placed on Palestinian
land in the south Hebron hills, killing many of their sheep. Well,
this same poison has shown up in Yasouf now. Small orange pellets
of death. Announcements have been made on mosques throughout the
region, but that cannot remove the poison or the system that refuses
to prosecute those responsible for planting the poison.

Tomorrow's visit may not help me change our image from people who
show up in problem situations to people who show up because it's
nice to see people, but I've been working on it at least in this
small part of Hares. Last night my friend Amal dyed my hair with
henna. I slept with the dried mud on my head, covered in a head
scarf and looking like any other woman in the village. Today I went
to return the head scarf and she told me to keep it, that it looked
nice on me. I told her she'd get more use out of it than I
would,
but that next time we dye my hair I'll wear it again.

Yesterday I took my friend Fatima's two oldest daughters to the
Ibdaa Cultural Center in Bethlehem to record them singing for a
project I'm working on. They were amazing, and had a blast. At
the
ages of 17 and 15, it was their first time traveling without their
mother (except for school trips). I picked them up at the roadblock
outside the village, where they were waiting hidden away in a car so
nobody else in the village would see them leave without their
mother. We snuck into another service taxi on the other side of the
roadblock, only to find that the two men sitting in front of us were
from the same village. We arrived at Zatara checkpoint and Shams
noticed the posters plastered all over the bus stops by the settlers
in the area. "Sharon," she said, pointing at his picture.
"Yes,
it's against Sharon," I replied. She was surprised. I told
her
that many settlers now agree with many Palestinians, but for much
different reasons, when they say Sharon is like Hitler. This sign
was against the settler evacuation from Gaza. "They will put all
the settlers here in the West Bank," I said. Shams asked,
"And the
settlers don't want to be in the West Bank?" "They want
to be in
the West Bank," I replied, "but they also want to be in
Gaza."
Shams sighed, "They want everything."

The girls started to relax as we got further south, and we arrived
at Dheisheh refugee camp three cars later with no problems. The
people at Ibdaa's radio station / studio thought they were simply
doing me a favor by letting me record the girls there, but after the
first song, one of them came into the room and asked the
girls, "Where are you from?" He was clearly impressed. They
opened
up completely in the studio – they were in their element, for
sure.
We recorded five songs, and then one of the men asked if they wanted
to read a couple excerpts in English from personal testimonies for
the radio program. Shams played a young girl, and Mayisa an old
woman. As they were reading, the producer said, "Damn, I wish
they
lived closer to here." Apparently it takes some kids an hour to
get
a good version of just a few lines in English. Shams and Mayisa did
everything almost perfectly on their first try.

After finishing and copying CDs, we went to visit the host family
that I lived with for a month last summer. The girls had a great
conversation with my host mother, Najah. They asked her about life
in Dheisheh, how often the army invades, whether all the girls and
women in the camp have to wear head scarves or not, and more. She
asked them about their parents' work, life in the village, what
kinds of songs they sing, and more. They talked about resistance
against the Wall (the girls argued it was necessary, Najah argued it
was futile, they didn't necessarily disagree with each other).

We returned the same roundabout way we came – through Wadi Nar.
It
would be much quicker, more direct, and less expensive to go through
Jerusalem, but Jerusalem is forbidden for West Bank Palestinians,
save for a lucky few with special permits. So we went through Wadi
Nar, and I remembered the one spot in the turn where it is possible
to see the Dome of the Rock – a tiny gold dot in the distance. I
pointed it out to the girls, who looked at it in awe and with
sadness. "We can't go there," said Shams. The whole way
there and
back we saw pieces of the Wall snaking through the land. In Abu Dis
we watched the Dome of the Rock, slightly closer now, disappear like
a sunset behind the Wall as we descended a hill.

We went through Ramallah, though it wasn't the most direct way
home,
because the girls were in no rush to get back to their village and I
thought it would be nice to extend our trip and return home as
close to dark as possible. We arrived in Ramallah and Shams wanted
to try to find the dabke (Palestinian folk dance) instructor she had
taken a couple lessons from last summer. We stopped to ask someone
for directions and Shams said, "I love asking people where things
are." "Why?" I asked. "Because it makes me think
people are good,"
she replied. "My mother always says people in this century are
not
good, not honest, and don't help each other. But when I ask
someone
where something is, and he gets out of his car and walks me to the
next street corner to show me, it makes me feel good about
people."

The cultural center that we were looking for was closed, so we
headed back to the center of Ramallah to catch a bus north. Shams
and Mayisa stopped at a flower and plant shop to find a gift for
their mother. "We cleaned the house on Mother's Day and
cooked,"
they said, "but we didn't really get her a gift."
(Mother's Day in
Palestine was a few weeks ago.) So they went into the shop, and
asked about a few things. Fifty shekels,thirty shekels, all too
much. "I have 10 shekels," Shams finally said, "and I
want a
bouquet." So the man made her a nice bouquet, and off we went to
catch a service taxi home. I crossed the Qarawa roadblock with the
girls and we took a taxi towards their house, picking up Fatima on
the way. She was so happy to see the girls (I forgot to mention
that she called 3 times during the day to see where we were and how
we were). So the day ended beautifully.

*****************

4. Settlers from Eli attack farmers from AsSawiya by IWPS

On Sunday morning, April 17, 2005, four Israelis from Rabbis for
Human Rights and Hannah from IWPS went to AsSawiya to accompany the
farmers to their land. More than 30 villagers had come to plow for
the first time in 4 years. The Israeli army had designated Sunday,
Monday, and Tuesday as days that the villagers would receive army
protection while working on their land near an outpost of Eli
settlement.

The army was not there when we arrived on the land and walked up the
hill. We reached the land, and the farmers began plowing. They
worked for no more than a half hour before two armed settlers
(apparently a settlement security force) arrived on the land and
started yelling at the farmers to go down. The farmers began to
pack their things and get their donkeys ready, and two more settlers
arrived, followed later by others. These settlers were carrying
only binoculars but were more violent and impatient than the first
two, and they began to push people. One of them kicked a donkey,
and another reportedly hit a man on the shoulder, ripping his
shirt.

As the farmers were moving down, followed by the settlers, an army
jeep arrived. The armed settlers began speaking with the soldiers,
as did the other Israelis, and after a few minutes the soldiers
informed the Palestinians that they must go down the hill and wait
for the army to arrive. "Aren't you the army?" asked
someone. "We
must wait for other people," they responded.

Settlers continued to yell and chase people, and soldiers responded
by telling Palestinians to leave their land. Everyone gathered in
one spot as more jeeps and police arrived. After much negotiation,
the army decided to let Palestinians plow in a different area (not
where they had been earlier) after checking their IDs. A soldier
began checking IDs of all the young men, but a settler quickly took
over the job, writing down everyone's ID number on a small
notepad.
Settlers also photographed the Palestinian farmers and those with
them

*****************

5. Bil'in 17 April 2005: Israeli Army Attacks 14 Year old child

At approximately 5 pm two soldiers approached three children from
the village of Bil'in close the construction site of the
Annexation
Wall. The children were observing the uprooting of olive trees.

Without provocation, the soldiers suddenly and forcefully took 14
year old Majed, one of the children, to their jeep and forced him to
the ground. Accusing him of throwing stones they then commenced to
hit, slap and kick the boy in the head, back and legs. After 15
minutes the soldiers said that they were not after him, but someone
else, and released him.

3 internationals arrived at the scene just as the Army jeep was
driving away. They proceeded to take eye witness accounts and photos
of Majed's bruises on his back.