[Ppnews] Palestine - "We are still waiting to visit our sons and daughters"

[Political Prisoner News]

"We are still waiting to visit our sons and daughters"
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9583.shtml

Report, PCHR, 3 June 2008

[]

Palestinian women hold pictures of their loved ones incarcerated in 
Israel at their weekly vigil outside the ICRC in Gaza City, 2 June 
2008. (Wissam Nassar/<http://maanimages.com>MaanImages)

Every Monday morning a crowd of women gather in the courtyard of the 
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza City. Most of 
the women arrive carrying a framed photograph of one or two men. When 
journalists start to arrive at around 10am, the women ask them to 
take pictures, and to film the vigil. "Some of us have been waiting 
more than six years to visit our sons in Israeli prisons" says one 
woman, "and we have all been forbidden to visit the prisoners in 
Israel for a year now. So we want our jailed husbands, sons and 
daughters to see us in newspapers and on television. They will then 
know that we haven't given up."

The vigil first started 13 years ago in 1995, when two women, Um 
(mother of) Jaber and Um Ibrahim stood together outside the ICRC, 
holding photographs of their imprisoned sons. "My four sons have all 
been in prison in Israel" says Um Jaber. "I had this idea to hold a 
vigil with photographs of the prisoners, to make sure they were not 
forgotten. It was just the two of us standing outside the ICRC the 
first time, but we knew the next week there would be three or four of 
us, and then, slowly, more mothers would come." Around 250 women now 
attend the vigil every week, and a contingent of men stand alongside 
them. It has become a Gaza institution.

The ICRC building is symbolic for the mothers of the prisoners 
because since 1967 the ICRC has been assisting Palestinians to visit 
relatives held in Israeli jails. Despite serious obstructions by the 
Israeli authorities, the family visits program continued until June 
last year, when the Gaza Strip component of the program was suspended 
by the Israeli Government. According to Iyad Nasr, head of the ICRC 
Media Relations Department in Gaza city, Israel claimed it had no 
Palestinian coordination partner to facilitate the program in the 
wake of the Hamas takeover of Gaza. "Israel is entitled to take 
measures to ensure its security" he says, "but it is not entitled to 
prevent Palestinians from visiting their relatives in jail in Israel. 
At ICRC we are deeply concerned about this situation." This week 
marks a year since the Gaza family visits program was suspended, and 
the ICRC has publicly urged the Israeli Government to resume the 
program immediately, saying the suspension is "Depriving both 
detainees and their relatives of an essential life line."

Um Jaber's son was released in 1999, after serving more than fourteen 
years in jail in Israel. Um Ibrahim's son, Ibrahim Mustafa Baroud, 
who was 23 years old when he was arrested in 1986, remains in jail 
and is one of the longest serving Palestinian prisoners. "Israel has 
prevented me from seeing my son for six years" says Um Ibrahim. "I 
finally got permission to visit him in jail in Israel last year, and 
the ICRC escorted me to Erez Crossing. But the Israelis ordered me to 
strip down to my underwear, and I refused. So they sent me back to 
Gaza." Um Ibrahim, 70 years old, had already been manually searched, 
and x-rayed, before she was ordered to strip. "They [the Israelis] 
had seen everything, even my bones" she says. "They claimed it was 
for security -- but I am entitled to protect my dignity and my rights."

There are approximately 9,500 Palestinians in Israeli jails, 
including 950 men and four women from the Gaza Strip. The mothers of 
Palestinians imprisoned in Israel have all endured years of 
humiliating treatment in order to visit their jailed sons, husbands 
and daughters. For women from Gaza, Israel's "security procedures" 
have involved them being routinely searched at Erez Crossing, 
sometimes by specially trained dogs, being questioned for long 
periods, waiting for hours and sometimes arriving at the prisons only 
to be told their husband, son or daughter has been transferred without notice.

Every woman at the ICRC vigil in Gaza has a story. Um Imad, 65 years 
old, has been coming to the vigil for more than 12 years. "My son, 
Imad has been in prison for 19 years, and my brother, Hattim, for 14 
years" she says, holding up a photo of each one. "We used to visit 
the prisoners every two weeks, but now we cannot see them at all, and 
any communication is very difficult. We are all being denied our 
human rights. What is happening [to us] is a catastrophe." Um Imad's 
words underline the strong unity between the Gaza mothers: they are 
demanding their collective rights to visit their husbands, sons and 
daughters, as enshrined in international law.

Under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, individual or mass 
forcible transfers, or deportations of protected persons from 
occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power are 
prohibited. Since 1967, Israel has been forcibly transferring 
Palestinian prisoners to Israel, and has consistently obstructed 
families from visiting their jailed relatives. "If Israel is either 
unable or unwilling to fulfill its obligations regarding Palestinian 
prisoners, then we at ICRC are obliged to facilitate the process" 
says Iyad Nasr. "In this instance, Israel is able, but remains unwilling."

The Gazan prisoners are jailed in a foreign country and are already 
extremely isolated. Their families are now forced to rely on the ICRC 
relaying messages back and forth in order to maintain any contact. 
Before the family visits program was suspended on 6 June last year, 
the ICRC was relaying around ten messages a month from Gaza, now they 
are relaying more than 300 messages a month. The ICRC has just 
released a statement, reiterating that "Whilst we acknowledge 
Israel's security concerns, we strongly believe that they alone 
cannot justify the al-out suspension of family visits to detainees."

Fatima Abdullah, whose son, Abdul Halim Abdullah, has been in jail in 
Israel for 19 years, sums up why the mothers of the prisoners welcome 
journalists into their midst. "My son saw me once, on television" she 
says. "He managed to call me at home, and he said, 'Thank you for 
supporting all of us, but don't look so sad mother, I am still alive.'"

This report is part of the <http://pchrgaza.ps/>Palestinian Centre 
for Human Rights' Narratives Under Siege series.



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