“As far as I’m concerned they can strike for a day, a month, until death,” said Israeli Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi, in a statement that would perhaps be comparable to Marie Antoinette’s infamously callous “let them eat cake” remark, if present day ideas on the universality of human rights were not quite so far ahead of those prevalent in pre-revolution France. Given, however, that we are living in the 21st century, and given that there are a whole host of conventions and principles that now govern how humans should be treated by fellow humans, Hanegbi’s statement, and the cruelty with which the Israeli Prisons Authority is dealing with the ongoing hunger strike called by thousands of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails, makes Marie Antoinette seem positively angelic in comparison.
It is hard to know which is most lamentable: the deplorable conditions in the prisons, the lack of due process afforded to the Palestinian prisoners, or the dehumanizing “psychological warfare” with which the strikers are being punished.
The Israeli Prisons Authority has already instated an astonishingly cruel - if creative - array of measures to counter the strike, the most headline-grabbing among which was the setting up of barbecues outside the prisoners’ cells to grill meat in front of the starving prisoners. The IPA has also halted family visits for strikers and removed what it deems all “basic amenities” from their cells; additionally, it has prohibited the strikers from access to radio, newspapers, television, and every means of communication among themselves. Today, on the second day of the strike, while security measures were stepped up throughout the extensive detention and prison system in Israel, prison guards made their way through thousands of festering cells confiscating cigarettes, candy, salt, medicines, notes passed on from fellow prisoners, and - most typical of the paranoia so characteristic of the Israeli security forces – all pens, pencils and paper.
As Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi has made clear, the last thing on the mind of the Israeli Prison Authority as it copes with what it calls this “disturbance” is the well-being of the strikers, or the demands made by them; the decision, therefore, to “force feed” the prisoners if needed has not been taken to ensure their well-being, but rather, to destroy the objectives of the strike. Needless to add, not a moment’s consideration is being paid to these objectives, which are ludicrously modest when compared to the response they have merited: the strikers are merely asking for minor improvements in their lives through basic measures such as the end to arbitrary strip searches, the improvement of sanitation facilities, the installation of public telephones, and more frequent family visits. These simple requests, however, have been interpreted by the likes of Israeli Prison Service Commissioner Lieutenant General Yakov as “acts of terror” that constitute a “prison takeover” and that must be squashed, no matter what. Hence the barbecues outside the cells; the confiscated pens and pencils; the removal of newspapers; the readied saline drips.
However, none of these tactics of “psychological warfare” has deterred the strikers yet; if anything, their determination and numbers have swollen today, on the second day of the strike. As one striking prisoner remarked to the press, “a person who gives up food to achieve his goals will not fall because he doesn’t get a newspaper or see television.”
Over 7,500 Palestinians are currently incarcerated as “political prisoners” within Israel’s draconian prison system. The vast majority of these has never been tried in any court of law, has never been allowed recourse to legal help or due process, and has never been formally charged with a specific crime. If the illegality of their arrest were not bad enough, the conditions in which these suffering thousands are forced to live – often for years on end - are by any definition degrading and inhuman. The Committee for the Families of Political Prisoners and Detainees in the West Bank released yesterday a document that contained a woeful sampling of common prisoner abuses, which included the following:
- Arbitrary and indiscriminate beating of prisoners in their cells, in prison courtyards and during transportation to and from prisons.
- Arbitrary and indiscriminate firing of tear gas into prisoner's cells and prison courtyards and intimidation of prisoners by guards entering their cells with guns.
- Humiliating strip searches of prisoners in full view of other prisoners and guards each time they enter or exit their cells.
- Subjecting prisoners to solitary confinement for excessive periods of time, for months and even years.
- Arbitrary imposition of financial penalties on prisoners for minor infractions, arbitrary revocation of visitation rights and extended confinement to cells as punishment for minor infractions such as singing or speaking too loudly
- Confining children with adult prisoners and political prisoners with criminals
- Withholding or delaying medical treatment and the provision of medication to sick detainees
- Severely restricting the category of family members entitled to visit prisoners thus denying visitation rights to other close family members
- Arbitrary denial of travel permits to family members of prisoners living in the West Bank or Gaza so that they cannot travel to prisons to see their relatives
- Imposing conditions on travel for family members and obstacles that result in travel of a few hours being prolonged to 16 or 17 hours for a 45-minute visit
- Conducting humiliating strip searches of visiting family members even though they are usually separated from the prisoners by a full glass barrier as well as a wire mesh barrier.
- Providing such poor visitation facilities that prisoners find it difficult to see or hear their loved ones
- Maintaining prisoners on near starvation diets that are insufficient to sustain health.
- Applying rules concerning items that prisoners may receive from their families arbitrarily and inconsistently, on the whim of the guards, with each visit.
- Withdrawing studying privileges that in the past allowed prisoners to continue their high school or university studies through correspondence courses.
Despite these egregious infringements upon their dignity and person, the demands of the strikers remain, as noted above, stunningly simple. They are not asking for freedom; they are not asking for compensation; they are not asking for justice; they are asking, merely, for access to public telephones, for visits from their families, and for clean toilets; for the innocuous comforts that make us feel human, that afford us, even when we are desperate, a semblance of dignity.
As far as the state of Israel is concerned, the strikers can strike “for a day, for a month, until death” for this dignity, but they will not get it.
Believing in Jerusalem
Date posted: May 27, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
Last week, Israel barred a UNESCO fact-finding mission from entering the country, charging that the Palestinians had ‘politicized’ the mission before it had even arrived. The mission was tasked with looking into conditions of historical sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, something Israel apparently found to be very threatening.
Looking at the state of Jerusalem’s eastern sector today, it is understandable why Israel would not want UNESCO or anyone else walking around the Old City, especially the Palestinian-populated parts of it. Because anyone who does, will see the devastation that Israel and its settlers have wreaked on one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in the world.
Excavation works are being conducted in and around the Aqsa Mosque to make way for more Jewish construction at the place where Waqf authorities say Ottoman and Abbasid artifacts have long been tucked away. A Muslim graveyard is being dug up just outside the Old City’s Jaffa Gate, to build – ironically – a museum of tolerance. Today, two stores were forcefully taken over by Jewish settlers in Al Hakari, one of the neighborhoods in the Muslim quarter and every day, it seems that more and more homes are either being demolished by Israeli municipality authorities or being taken over by Jewish settlers.
The “Judiazation” of Jerusalem is a term many Palestinians and Arabs use for what Israel is doing in the city. In a nutshell, it is the long-term plan Israel is gradually carrying out to change the Arab Palestinian character of Jerusalem. This means demolishing old and historical structures, displacing Palestinians, handing over their homes to settlers and trying to erase the Palestinian or Arab history of the city.
The sad truth is that, on the surface, Israel has succeeded in this to a large extent. Pockets of Jewish settlers now live in the heart of Muslim quarters and aim to take over more and more. Sheikh Jarrah, one of the more affluent Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem, is now pierced with Jewish flags waving from homes that have been wrestled from their Palestinian owners, and Israel’s light rail train cuts right down through Palestinian neighborhoods outside of the city center. The train, of course, is not meant to service the Palestinian population but rather to connect Jewish neighborhoods and settlements in the city, but the area confiscated from Shufat and Beit Hanina for its construction simply fell into the plan.
What the UNESCO mission would not have seen even if they made it into the Old City is the overall humiliation that the Palestinian population of Jerusalem must endure on a daily basis because of Israel’s military occupation. Trips to the Israeli ministry of interior must be made just to prove that one lives in the city for fear that their residency rights may be revoked; young Palestinian men are stopped randomly by Israeli soldiers to check their ID cards or just to harass them, and settlers are always given the luxury of maximum security whenever they walk the streets. If settlers want to march through the city, the Palestinians are told to close their shops, are barred for hours from reaching their homes if they run along the path of the march and are always the ones blamed if any kind of confrontation between the two sides breaks out.
Jerusalem is being squeezed by these measures more and more each day. But there is always that glimmer of hope, that strength that shines through proving that all is not lost. On Shavuot, Israeli settlers and extremists poured into the Old City, singing loudly, banging on the shop doors and waving huge Israeli flags. The sight was disconcerting to say the least. However, the afternoon of that same day, at Damascus Gate, passersby were met with a completely different scene. Palestinian flags waved in determined Palestinian hands under the threatening eye of heavily armed Israeli police and soldiers. The youths were fearless, demanding freedom, with strong, unrelenting voices.
The sight of the Palestinian flag waving at the entrance to Damascus Gate was a breath of fresh air. All is not lost and never will be because hope is eternal and determination and strength come from a never-ending spring.
That day at Damascus Gate is what all Palestinians must keep in their minds’ eye in spite of the daily oppression of the occupation. No matter how many missions Israel bars from entering or how many houses it takes over, there will always be those brave souls who, despite the risks, will always raise Palestine’s flag.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
Let Mohammed rest in peace
Date posted: May 20, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
There is no point falling into the pit of countering the claims being made about the death of Mohammed Al Durra, the 12-year old boy from Gaza whose videotaped killing was seen around the world. The boy, crouching in fear behind is equally afraid father as bullets whizzed around them, was killed admittedly by the Israeli army. Later, the army recanted after investigating the tape, saying Durra was killed by Palestinian fire instead. Well now, Israel is changing its story altogether, saying he was not killed at all. In fact, he was probably not even wounded and the French channel that broadcast the footage and brought some pretty bad rap to Israel, had most likely filmed a charade.
The reason why I will not waste my time countering this claim is that even with the great lengths the Israeli government went to to prove that the boy was never killed, it could not provide any irrefutable proof that Mohammed Al Durra – who would be 25 now – is still alive. No pictures, no testimonies, no hospital or morgue officials giving statements to refute his death, have been provided. Only sketchy information about ‘poor quality footage’ and the fact that it seems as though the boy moved his arm after he had slumped over his father following the explosion.
My point is this: indeed, Mohammed Durra’s death was at least one of the catalysts that fueled the second Intifada, and thus, was an important event in the history of the Palestinians. However, more importantly – most importantly to me –is the fact that this is about a boy who died in sheer terror, with his distraught father futilely trying to shelter him from the barrage of bullets coming their way.
Mohammed Al Durra was a boy, with a life, a family and friends. He died a horrible death and now he is being made to die a second one. I did not know Mohammed or his family, but I can only imagine how awful it must be for them to read these claims now and feel the pain of losing their child all over again. If nothing else, this is disrespect for human life of the worst kind.
Some may postulate that the rehashing of the Durra case is a personal jab at the French cameraman who shot the footage, Charles Enderlin. Perhaps. But as a Palestinian who has seen the pain endured by numerous families who receive the horrible news that their sons or daughters have been killed by the Israeli army, my concern is for his family and for his memory. He should be left to rest in peace. If Israel has axes to grind with French journalists or with the international community for holding it accountable for its actions, then so be it. Israel is not lacking in the public relations department.
That being said, there is just one decent thing left to do. Leave Mohammed Al Durra and his memory alone.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
Recognition and justice is our demand
Date posted: May 13, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
This week Palestinians will commemorate Al Nakba, the catastrophe that befell the Palestinian people when Israel was founded. Every year, Palestinians hang placards pointing to the right of return, they carry keys symbolizing the homes they were forced to leave and could not return to and remember the Palestine that was lost to them 65 years ago.
This year will be no different. Every May 15, Palestinian recall their catastrophe and demand justice. They demand that they are granted the right of return for those who were made refugees virtually overnight and were then relegate to a life they did not choose. But more than anything, they demand recognition of the tragedy that befell them rather than a denial that it ever happened, or worse, that it was of their own making.
It has been 65 years since Israel was established in 1948, which means those who were cast into exile are either very old or have long passed. Those who experienced the Nakba are now few and far between, clinging to those few precious memories of a small garden in front of their house in Jaffa or of the salty smell of the sea in their neighborhood in Haifa. The rest of us are either descendants of these refugees or ordinary Palestinians who feel their cause is our cause because we are one people.
But the Palestinians have made one thing clear. The refugee issue will not die with the last refugee. It is felt nationwide, the loss, the injustice and the fact that those who were forced from their homes have mostly passed, longing for their beloved homes.
We cannot turn back time. What was lost has been altered, destroyed, changed or taken over by Israel’s newcomers. What we can do is hold on to the right to be recognized, for the injustice to be rectified in word and deed and for Palestine to never be lost in our minds or hearts.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
