[Ppnews] Graves for the Living: Palestinian Political Prisoners in Solitary Confinement
Political Prisoner News
ppnews at freedomarchives.org
Wed Jul 6 15:14:37 EDT 2011
Graves for the Living: Palestinian Political Prisoners in Solitary Confinement
Posted on
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/>04/07/2011
by
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/author/avoicefrompalestine/>reham
alhelsi
http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/
Yesterday, 03.07.2011, around 7000 Palestinian
prisoners held captives in Israeli dungeons went
on a one-day hunger strike to protest the
repressive measures of the Israeli prison
administration. According to the Palestinian
ministry of prisoners’ spokesperson: “Palestinian
prisoners in all Israeli jails were the target of
an unprecedented terrorizing campaign of
repression, isolation, and transfer from one
prison to another over the past few weeks. He
said that the campaign peaked with the beating of
the oldest serving prisoner Nael al-Barghouthi,
which prisoners condemned as a violation of all
red lines, along with the isolation of many
prisoners serving high
sentences.”<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftn1>[1]
The spokesman added that the strike was a warning
action that might lead to further forms of
protest. Some weeks ago, I came across a letter
written by Palestinian political prisoner Hasan
Salameh and published on various Palestinian
sites. Salameh is locked up in Israeli dungeons
since 1996 and is in solitary confinement since 7
years. In this letter, Salameh says: If I could
buy your support for me and for the other
prisoners with all that I possess, I swear I
would not fall short. With these harsh words,
Slameh addressed us. He addresses us from the
isolation cell that separates him from his loved
ones, that separates him from his friends and
comrades, from the rest of the world. He
addresses us from the grave in which he is buried
alive. With these harsh words, he addresses us;
we who go to work every day, who go to school and
universities, who go to the market, who visit
friends and family. He addresses us while he and
thousands others are locked up inside Zionist
dungeons. He addresses us while his life and that
of thousands others are withering in the
darkness, while they suffer in silence. Hasan
Salameh, addresses us from his isolation cell and
asks of us only one thing: that we remember him
and the thousands of Palestinians held captives
in Israeli prisons. He asks of us only one thing:
not to forget those buried alive in Israeli
dungeons. Hassan Salameh, from Khan Younis, is
one among 50 Palestinian political prisoners
locked up in isolation cells by the Zionist
entity. Latest prisoner to be isolated is 54
years old Na’il Al-Barghouthi, who has been
locked up in Israeli dungeons since 34 years,
making him the oldest serving prisoner in the
world. On 27.06.2011, Israeli prison jailors
raided Section 5 of the Remon prison, caused
havoc and destroyed the prisoners’ possessions.
When Na’il refused to be strip searched, he was
sent to an isolation cell. He had initially
agreed to be strip-searched, but only in the WC.
He was handcuffed and asked to take off his
shirt, which he was unable to do because of being
handcuffed, so the jailors beat brutally him.
Upon hearing his screams, fellow detainee Hilal
Jradat started shouting from his nearby cell. The
jailors then locked up Na’il and Hilal in one
cell and beat them brutally. In addition to being
isolated as a punishment, Na’il was fined 500 NIS.
The Zionist entity, in yet another blatant
violation of international law, uses isolation or
solitary confinement as a method to undermine and
break the will of Palestinian political
prisoners. Currently, at least 50 Palestinian
political prisoners are locked up in isolation
cells, some of whom are in permanent isolation
since their detention like Abbas As-Sayyed who
has been in isolation since his detention in
2002. Isolation is used as a punishment for both
the prisoners and their families who have to live
daily with the fact that their child, parent,
sibling or partner is held like an animal in a
cage, in a matchbox. Being locked up in isolation
cells constitutes not only physical and
physiological torture but also a death sentence,
an extra-judicial execution, where Palestinian
political prisoners are left to die a slow, a
painful and a silent death. Knowing that
isolation kills the spirit, some political
prisoners are transferred to isolation cells
immediately after the end of their interrogation,
others are punished with isolation for protesting
Israeli inhumane treatment, for demanding their
rights, for being political leaders or for no
reason other than persecuting and harassing these
prisoners. Justifications provided range from
“causing a threat”, “being dangerous” to having
“influence” on other prisoners. Female prisoner
Latifa Abu Thra’ saw the Israeli special forces
for “Suppression of prisoners” beat prisoner
Sanabil Breek. When Abu Thra’ told them to stop
beating Breek, the special forces started beating
her. She defended herself and hit one of them
back and was punished with isolation for 4 months
in Ramleh prison and a further 2 months of
isolation in Hasharon in a tiny cell with cameras
observing her 24 hours. Palestinian female
detainee Nili As-Safadi was locked up in an
isolation cell for more than 45 days in Israeli
detention center Bet Hatikva. The cell was dark,
she didn’t get any proper food and wasn’t allowed
to change her clothes for the length of her
isolation. During the interrogation she was
subjected to all forms of physical and
psychological torture to force her into
confessing. When she didn’t confess, her entire
family and the family of her husband were
detained. Later she was transferred to Hasharon
prison in a journey that lasted 12 hours with her
hands and legs bound and she wasn’t given any food or water.
There are two types of isolation: Individual
isolation where one prisoner is locked up alone
in a cell, and dual isolation where two prisoners
share a small cell. Every 6 months or every year,
depending on the type of their isolation,
isolated prisoner go through mock trials,
theatrical games for the sake of the media, which
always end with the extension of the prisoner’s
isolation without reason, and thus Palestinian
prisoners who are placed in isolation remain so
for many years. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club
confirms the existence of “a phony court where
the prisoner is taken every six months and in the
event of their being two prisoners they are taken
to it once a year. This court obeys the Israeli
intelligence court orders “Al-Shabak” and the
prisons administration “Al-Shabas”, and often
requires the extension of the period that the
prisoner is in isolation without giving reasons
for it, and it also lacks the bare images and
elements of a fair
trial.”<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftn2>[2]
Several Palestinian prisoners were subjected to
solitary confinement more than once. This applies
also to Palestinian female prisoners such as
Latifa Abu Thra’, Abeer Amro, Abeer Odeh, Amnah
Muna, Wafa’ Albis and Mariam Tarabeen. According
to the latest reports, there are at least 50
Palestinian prisoners in isolation, including
female prisoners Mariam At-Tarabin and Ahlam
At-Tamimi. Ahlam At-Tamimi was isolated because
as a punishment for writing the names of all
Palestinian female prisoners on a piece of paper
for her lawyer during a visit. Among Palestinian
political prisoners, there are at least 12
prisoners who have spent over five years in isolation such as:
- Owaida Kallab: 16 years in isolation.
- Abdel Nasser Al-Halisy and Tayseer Samody: 15 years in isolation.
- Mu’taz Hijazy, Mahmoud Issa and Sameh Al-Shobaki: 10 years in isolation.
- Abbas As-Sayyed: 9 years in isolation.
- Jamal Abu Al-Haija, Ahmed Al-Mughraby, Hasan
Salameh and Abdallah Al-Barghouthi: 7 years in isolation.
- Ahmad Shukri: 6 years in isolation.
In isolation, many Palestinian prisoners are
subjected to all forms of physical and
psychological suffering. Isolation cells have an
area of only 1.8m x 2.7m, including the WC. These
cells, unfit for animals, are damp and badly
ventilated. They have an iron door that is fitted
with an opening for passing food to the prisoner
and one small window close to the ceiling causing
high humidity. Neither fresh air nor natural
light enter the isolation cells. Prisoners are
expected to live, cook, sleep, shower and excrete
in these cells. There is almost no room for
movement and little space for personal items.
Inside isolation cells, Palestinian prisoners are
subjected to continuous harassment, provocation
and violence, repeated inspections, naked
searches and night raids during which they are
beaten and their personal possessions confiscated
or destroyed. They are only allowed one hour per
day out of the isolation cell into the prison
yard, known as fora, and are sometimes even
denied this. This one hour exercise depends on
the mood of the Israeli jailors, and Palestinian
prisoners aren’t allowed to change the time of
the fora or complain about it; for example a
prisoner might be taken to a fora when it is
raining heavily in the yard or when it is too
hot, sometimes prisoners are awakened at dawn to
go on the fora and if they decline because it’s
too early, the fora is cancelled for that day.
Some Palestinian prisoners are isolated in cells
close to Israeli criminals who keep shouting and
banging at the walls and doors, preventing the
prisoner from sleeping. In one interview,
Palestinian political prisoner Abbas As-Sayid
said that if Israeli jails are the graves for the
living, then isolation is like abusing the bodies
of the martyrs, adding that isolation is
considered one of the harshest policies of
punishment against political prisoners, leaving
them to live in complete isolation in a cell to
which no sun enters and that lacks ventilation
and the minimum requirements. He added that “Far
away from the world, the forms of torture
increase and the types of suffering are many, for
the isolated lives 23 hours alone in his cell,
and in case he was lucky and received the
opportunity to get a fora, he spends it while his
hands are bound and his feet shackled, and the
isolated prisoner is deprived of family visits
and meeting his fellow prisoners and is treated
more
harshly.”<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftn3>[3]
Isolated prisoners are further punished through
depriving them of family visitation and contact
with other Palestinian prisoners. They have no
contact with the outside world, except with their
jailors and torturers. Family members, who make
the long and hard trip to the Israeli prisons,
are often turned back without being allowed to
see their loved ones. Also, those who have family
members locked up as well inside Israeli jails
are not allowed to see them. Ibrahim Hamid, 45
yrs old, from Silwad, was sent to isolation
immediately after interrogation in 2006, and
since then his family hasn’t been allowed to
visit him. His wife was imprisoned as well and
later deported to Jordan and when his brother in
law died he wasn’t even allowed to call his wife
to convey his condolences. His trial is still
underway. Although Jamal Abu Al-Haija’s wife is
withering with cancer, he isn’t allowed to see
her and isn’t allowed to see any of his children,
3 of whom are detained by Israel as well. Also,
lawyers of isolated prisoners are often prevented
from visiting their clients under various
pretexts such as that the prisoner has been moved
elsewhere. Another very harsh form of punishing
isolated prisoners is sending them to the snouk.
The snouk is a small room of 180cm x150 cm with
one narrow harsh mattress, making the cell not
fit for sleeping, let alone walking as a form of
exercise. The only facilities in the snouk are 2
buckets: one for drinking and one for urinating,
and prisoners are allowed excretion only once a
day, so they don’t eat much all day. Prisoners
isolated in the snouk are not allowed to have a
pillow or keep a watch, a radio or newspapers so
they doesn’t know the time or the date, and
aren’t allowed to buy any of the necessities they
need, including food, from the prison shop known
as the canteen. Mohammed Barash, who is blind and
“suffers from the amputation of his left leg and
other diseases in his body
was taken to the
snooker and tied by his hands and foot to the
bed, and during the night he suffered from
suffocation and could not get up because of the
restrictions, he had no choice but to scream to
get the attention of the
nurse.”<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftn4>[4]
Isolated prisoners are extra-judicially executed;
they are destroyed both spiritually and bodily
through isolation, torture, harassment, medical
negligence and malnutrition. Since 1967, at least
198 Palestinian prisoners were killed while in
detention, 70 as a result of torture, 71 killed
in cold blood after being arrested, 50 as a
result of medical negligence and 7 being shot
dead inside prisons by Israeli jailors. Latest
Palestinian prisoner to be murdered by Israeli
interrogators is 30 years old Raid Abu Hammad who
was in isolation. Ra’id Abu Hammad from
Il-Izarriyeh (Bethany) was murdered on 16.4.2010
in the Israeli Beersheva prison. He had been in
Israeli detention for five years and was in
isolation for 18 months at the time of his
murder. Abu Hammad was placed in solitary
confinement in Eshel for causing damage to a TV
set in the cell. The damage was not deliberate
and Abu Hammad’s family applied to the prison
authority to replace the ruined TV set so he be
released from isolation, but the Israeli prison
authority refused. According to the Palestinian
Prisoner Society, “Abu Hammad was hit by Israeli
interrogators on the center spine and the back of
his neck, and died of his wounds in the cell.
Forensic examination revealed that Abu Hammad was
healthy and did not suffer from any health
condition. He was also an athlete and in a strong
body shape. The examination also revealed that
Abu Hammad was tortured during interrogation and
was struck on the center of his spine causing
damage to the spinal canal in addition to being
violently hit on the back of the
head.”<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftn5>[5].
Often Palestinian prisoners take action to
protest their baseless punishments, the ill
treatment and isolation through measures such as
hunger strikes. They are promised release from
isolation to be isolated again after they end
their hunger strike. Isolated prisoner Haitham
Salhiyyeh is currently on his 13th day of
hunger-strike. He went on strike to protest the
Israeli prison authority’s policy of medical
negligence. Despite his medical condition,
Haitham does not get the needed medical
treatment, in addition to being isolated. Mousa
Dudeen went on a hunger strike for 25 days, his
health deteriorated and he was promised an end to
isolation if he ends his strike. He did that but
was sent to isolation again after some time.
Abbas As-Sayyid went several times on hunger
strikes to protest his isolation and the inhumane
treatment of Palestinian prisoners on the hand of
Israeli jailors. On one such protest actions, in
May, 2011, he went on hunger strike for 23 days,
during which no lawyer was allowed to visit him.
He was transferred to hospital after his health
deteriorated, nonetheless he went on with the
hunger strike. On 11.3.02003 six Palestinian
female prisoners were punished by the Israeli
prison authority with solitary confinement
because they demanded the prison authority
provide them with hot water for bathing during
the cold season. Isolated prisoners are also
often attacked and brutally beaten and bear
traces of the beating on their bodies, such as
Mu’taz Hijazi who is being isolated for the 10th
years and was once beaten so brutally that he
lost consciousness and had to be admitted to the
intensive care unit at hospital.
Like all Palestinian political prisoners in
Israeli captivity, isolated prisoners suffer from
the wide-spread deliberate medical negligence.
Most of the time, those suffering from severe
pain, and even malicious diseases are treated
with mere pain killers. Torture, brutal beatings
combines with the high humidity and poor
ventilation, the unhealthy, insufficient food and
lack of exercise cause isolated prisoners all
sort of bodily ailments and medical problems
starting from problems of the respiratory to the
nervous systems. Because of being held hostage in
a small cell with a tiny window, many prisoners
develop poor vision after spending 23 hours daily
in the dark. Since 1967, at least 50 Palestinian
prisoners were killed while in detention as a
result of medical negligence, the latest victim
being 37 years old Mohammad Abdeen, a father of 5
from occupied Jerusalem who was killed on
10.06.2010 while in Israeli detention. Abdeen was
transferred from one Israeli prison to another,
where he was interrogated and tortured. He was
placed in solitary confinement in Eshel prison,
then moved to Ramon prison and then to Majiddo
prison, then to Mi’bar section of Ramleh prison,
which is a detention center where prisoners are
kept before their court sessions in Ofer military
court. Abdeen had a court session on 13.06.2010,
but he never made it to the court because he was
murdered 3 days earlier. In addition to being
tortured during interrogation, Abdeen suffered
from bad health conditions and was denied medical
treatment. His wife, who visited him in jail on
06.06.2010, only a few days before his death,
noticed his deteriorating health and said she saw
his hands shaking, his limbs could barely
function, he could hardly talk, his body was weak
and that he was in great pain. She is reported
saying: “Mohammad was another person
his face
was pale and it was obvious that he was very
tired, and a female soldier used to come in the
morning and the evening and give him a medicine
which he didn’t know what it was or what
for”<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftn6>[6].
Only some 2 weeks earlier, on 24.05.2010, his
wife found him in excellent health. This drastic
change in his health condition, the sudden pain
and suffering that rushed his death only
strengthens what a number of Palestinian experts
on Palestinian prisoner’s affairs say about
Israeli prison authorities using Palestinian
detainees for medical experiments and as test
objects for new Israeli medicines. When his body
was later released for burial, the family noticed
signs of beating on his neck and face. Another
example is that of 65 year old Jum’ah Ismail
Mousa from occupied Jerusalem who died on
23.12.2008 after collapsing at the Ramleh prison.
Mousa, a father of 8 who had been in Israeli
detention since 1993, suffered from a heart
disease, high blood pressure and diabetes and was
denied proper and much needed medical treatment.
Palestinian female prisoner Latifa Abu Thra’ was
isolated more than once after she was “announced”
in 2007by the Israeli prison authority as
“dangerous to the security of the state of
Israel”. She suffers from fibers in the uterus
and was supposed to conduct medical tests at Tel
Hashomer hospital, but because her hands and feet
were chained, the nurse was unable to conduct the
tests. After the accompanying policewomen refused
to unchain her arms, Abu Thra’ unchained herself,
upon which she was attacked by the prison guards
and “announced” as “dangerous”. She was further
punished with solitary confinement for two months
and ten days in Ramleh prison, after which she
was returned to Hasharon prison and isolated
there. She didn’t get any medical treatment.
Palestinian female detainees are also blackmailed
by the Israeli prison authority, for example they
demanded that Amnah Muna, who is need of an
operation, sign a document in which she refuses
medical treatment in return for not being
isolated. Israeli interrogators used the stomach
injury inflicted on Hasan Salameh upon his arrest
to torture and pressure him. Despite his medical
condition, he is being directly targeted by the
prison administration which keeps moving him from
one cell to another within the isolation sections.
On 20.06.2011, it was reported that Israeli
prison administration at Asqalan have held
Palestinian political prisoner Atef Wreidat, 45
from Ad-Dahriyyeh, in solitary confinement.
Wreidat is sick and suffers from heart problems,
high blood pressure and diabetes, and desperately
needs an operation. He went on a hunger strike
and refused to take his medication to protest the
continuous delay of the heart surgery he
desperately needs, the inhumane treatment and
arbitrary measures against him by Israeli prison
administration and “the prison’s policy of
medical neglect and his transfer to Ashkelon
prison, a move that would be adverse to his
health
condition.”<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftn7>[7]
According to Wreidat’s lawyer, “imprisoning
Wreidat in solitary confinement, while he is
going on a continuous hunger strike and refusing
to take medicine is a death sentence.” Adding
that the “the prison’s administration held
Wreidat in solitary confinement, which is a very
narrow unsanitary poorly ventilated cell, which
has a foul odor, putting his life in real danger;
he cannot stand up and suffers from dehydration,
cracks in the tongue and lips as well as from
vomiting.”<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftn8>[8]
He was transferred to Ramleh prison hospital
after his health deteriorated as a result of the
hunger-strike. On 27.06.2011, Atef ended his
hunger strike when the Israeli prison
administration promised to end his isolation and
transfer him to another prison, only to resume it
2 days later after being tricked by the Israeli
prison administration. “..instead of transferring
him to another prison, as promised, the Israeli
prison administration imposed sanctions on him
after he ended his hunger strike, which included
a 4-month ban on family visits, a 2-year ban from
pursuing education in prison, a 1-month ban from
using canteen services and more than $500 fine.
It also said it will keep him in Asqalan prison
for a month and place him in solitary confinement
for three
weeks.”<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftn9>[9]
As a result of the conditions prevailing in
isolation cells, a number of isolated prisoners
are in need of urgent medical treatment but do
not receive it. A report of the Palestinian
Prisoners’ Club
mentions:<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftn10>[10]
- Hasan Salameh: suffers from an injury in the
stomach inflicted on him upon his arrest, suffers from hemorrhoids.
- Mohammed Jaber Abdoh: suffers from urinary tract problems.
- Mu’taz Hijazy: suffers from the brutal assault
on him, because of which he was transferred to
the intensive care unit. – Yehya As-Sinwar: in need of medical treatment.
- Owaida Kallab: suffers from mental and physical
illnesses, and general weakness.
- Jihad Yaghmoor: suffers from severe pneumonia
and from cases of suffocation at night.
- Abdel Nasser Al-Halisy: suffers from a difficult mental disorder.
- Hisham Ash-Sharabati: suffers from pains in the muscles, neck and leg.
- Jamal Abu Al-Hayja: suffers from a medical condition and bad vision.
- Atef Wreidat: suffers from heart problems, high blood pressure and diabetes.
- Haitham Salhiyyeh: suffers from severe
headache, chest pain, ear pain, numbness in his left hand and leg.
- Mansour Ash-Shahateet: suffers from a heart disease, headaches, amnesia.
Being held captive under these inhumane
conditions, cut off the rest of the world, the
health of prisoners deteriorates slowly and many
suffer from depression. According to many
studies, solitary confinement causes severe
mental damage to prisoners that include paranoia,
hallucination, depression, sleep disorder,
anxiety and cognitive disorder. Prisoners with
psychological problems have no chance at all of
getting any medical assistance. One example is
prisoner Abdel Naser Al-Helsi from occupied
Jerusalem who is imprisoned for life. “Abdel
Nasser suffers from critical psychic problems as
a result of the 21 years imprisonment of which 8
years were in solitary confinement. The tough
situation experienced in this section besides the
continuous beating and torture collaborated to
undermine his psychic
condition.”<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftn11>[11]
Another example is Owaida Kallab from the
occupied and besieged Gaza Strip, also imprisoned
for life and has already spent 20 years in jail.
Kallab lost his memory after years of isolation:
“The many years of isolated confinement has
caused him such severe psychic disorders that he
refuses to see his family during visitation time
in addition to many other physical diseases. He
is also so physically weak that he does not have
the strength to make himself a cup of tea.
Previously, the Palestinian prisoners in the
other sections used to cook his meals but the
ruthless jail administration barred passing food
or any stuff between the prisoners in different
sections despite Owaida’s extremely bad condition
and the prisoners’ repeated demands to treat him
with
mercy.”<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftn12>[12]
Faiz Al-Khour is another prisoner who suffers
from severe mental disorder as a result of his
isolation and Mansour Ash-Shahateet suffers from
amnesia caused by his long isolation.
Similar to many Palestinian prisoners locked up
in Israeli dungeons, those in isolation suffer
from malnutrition and what little they get is
insufficient and often inedible. Israeli jailors
also time the supply of water and food in a
manner that no more food or water is provided
after 19:00. Prisoners who can afford it have to
buy what they need from the prison canteen for
very high prices, the rest have to do with the
inedible, out-dated, often poisonous food they
get causing many malnutrition and diseases of the
digestive system. Other prisoners aren’t allowed
to buy vegetables for isolated prisoners and
isolated prisoners who don’t have enough money
aren’t allowed to buy their needs using the
Palestinian prisoner’s general account. In
addition to that, if a prisoner is transferred
directly to isolation after interrogation, he
will have no time to buy what he needs or get his
possessions from the regular cell. Israeli prison
authority prohibits exchanging supplies between
isolated prisoners and “regular” prisoners and
prohibits the exchange of items or necessities
between isolated prisoners. They aren’t allowed
to borrow stuff from other isolated prisoners
such as blankets and cooking utensils. In one of
several examples, “the jailers’ inhumanity
exceeded all limits when they reacted to Malssa’s
attempt to pass a prayer rug to Hamed by accusing
him of defying the regulations. He was charged
with contraband and was sent to the punishment
areas (called Snouk) for nine days in addition to
a penalty of 200
shekel.”<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftn13>[13]
Some weeks ago, I came across a letter written by
Palestinian political prisoner Hasan Salameh.
Salameh is locked up in Israeli dungeons since
1996 and is in solitary confinement since 7
years. In this letter, Salameh addresses all of us (a rough translation):
You who live in that large world we hear about but don’t see
My place
a small world in which we live the
bitterness of detention and isolation
in this
confined space
which becomes more and more
narrow
how much we like to remember the time
that has passed, which might be the most
beautiful image that we still carry in our hearts and in our minds
How I wish the return of that beautiful time when
we were young and innocent and knew no hate
our
respect for the elders was something sacred, like
a verse from the Qur’an
I remember when we used
to come back home from school and the search
campaign for tidy books and copybooks would begin
and I was always the most orderly
How I wish to
return back to my home, my streets and my city
we miss everything
I’m not only isolated, but
also deprived of living with any friend from my
area with whom to talk about Gaza or Khan Younis
or about childhood memories
I look older, and
my beard has grown grey but I live like I was a
child .. I yearn for and I miss everything
O loved ones, they want to isolate my memory
to
remove me out of the human world and put me in
the world of the dead so after so many years they
bring some of us to a new memory that has nothing
to do with human beings
This letter of mine is
my only means to maintain myself
moments of
happiness in this isolation are when I wrote a
letter or receive one from outside
I sit like a
little child on my bed and crush myself in a
corner and read a letter that came from the world
of the living, the world of humans
how did it
arrive?? by what means
it does not matter ..
the important thing is that it arrived
and once
I receive it I feel I still belong to you, I feel
I’m still alive, I read every word and every
letter as if I am drinking the elixir of life
that brings me back to life and lifts me from
amongst the dead
so are your letters and
hearing your voice
I Look for ways to help keep
me alive and breathing and by God, and by God you
are the oxygen through which I breathe
if I
receive it I breath and thrive and if it was cut
off me I turn back into a corpse among corpses
walking like in movies bout dead people who move
by particular factors but without a spirit and
without soul, only a body walking and moving
Nine continuous years during which I moved
between one grave to another
I stay in the
grave 23 hours and leave for one hour to a larger
grave
But I’m still strong, thanks to God, and I
have a strong will and all that I am going
through [in isolation on hands of jailors] is to
destroy this will using the latest psychological
findings
in front of me and beside me are
friends who were so beautiful and have become mad
and have become in a pitiful state
and believe
the strength and resolution I am in is thanks to
the grace of God
never do I have credit for it
only He stands with me
even you whom I love are
busy with your concerns and problems to stay
connected with me even for moments that are to
you only few minutes each week, but are to me
life, the whole world, the challenge, the Oxygen
.. When one of you gets bored you go any place or
visit a childhood friend to talk to so what do
you say to someone who is forced to speak to
himself and to live with memories he so much
yearns for
I held my pen so to talk to you and I
found myself like someone who is hungry or is
thirsty to say what’s on his mind
and my problem
is that I do not cry and I hold back my tear so
it bleeds blood in my heart
I have started
enjoying the bleeding of the heart and I feel
that the tears of the heart sterilize my wounds
and at the same time I leave them to increase my
pain
because I don’t want to forget the pains
I
don’t want to forget my sufferings
. I want it to
hurt every minute
it’s a volcano which I want
to erupt every day so I never forget who I am and
who they are
so I feel I am still a human being and I am still alive
How much time will it cost one of you if you
speak for a few minutes every week or every two
weeks or wrote a letter and sent it with a lawyer
or through the post, knowing that it will
strengthen and help an isolated prisoner to whom this letter is a new life
If I could buy your support for me and for the
other prisoners with all that I possess, I swear I would not fall short
These are but words uttered by my pain over this time
To the people of the other world
the one we hear of but don’t live in
From the bottom of my heart I wish you luck and
I will love you even if you forgot me, for my
consolation is that there is a God who is
generous and will not forget me
. God is very
beautiful and I live according to this beauty in
everything in my life even in my isolation and
despite my suffering and the difficulties of life and its catastrophes.
According to latest reports, currently there are
around 6000 Palestinian political prisoners
locked up in Israeli dungeons, including 37
women, 245 children and 180 administrative
detainees. Among those there are at least 50
prisoners who are locked up in isolation cells,
some of whom are in permanent isolation since
their detention. Following is a preliminary list
of isolated Palestinian political prisoners
(incomplete, collected from several sources):
- Owaida Kallab: from Gaza, in isolation since 16 years.
- Abdel Nasser Al-Halisy: from Jerusalem, in isolation since 15 years.
- Tayseer Samody: in isolation since 15 years.
- Sameh Al-Shobaki: in isolation since 10 years.
- Mahmoud Issa: from Anata, in isolation since 10 years.
- Mu’taz Hijazi: from Jerusalem, in isolation since 10 years.
- Abbas As-Sayyed: from Tulkarim, in isolation since 9 years.
- Hasan Salameh: from Khan Younis, in isolation since 7 years.
- Ahmad Al-Mughrabi: from Dheisheh RC, in isolation since 7 years.
- Abdallah Al-Barghouthi: from Beit Rima, in isolation since 7 years.
- Jamal Abu Al-Haija: from Jenin RC, in isolation since 7 years.
- Ahmad Shukri: from Jerusalem, in isolation since 6 years.
- Ibrahim Hamid: from Silwad, in isolation since 5 years.
- Hisham Ash-Sharabati: in isolation since 5 years.
- Mohammad Jubran Khalil: in isolation since 5 years.
- Salih Dar Mousa: from Beit Liqia, in isolation since 5 years.
- Mohammad Jamal Al Natsha: from Hebron, in isolation since 5 years.
- Mohammad Jaber Abdo: from Kufr Ne’ma, in isolation since 3 years.
- Mhawish N’eimat: in isolation since 2008.
- Ahmad Saadat: from Ramallah, in isolation since 2009.
- Atwah Al-Amour: in isolation since 2009.
- Iyad Abu Hasna: in isolation since 2009.
- Mariam At-Tarabin: in isolation since 2010.
- Ahid Al-Ghalmeh: in isolation since 2010.
- Yahya As-Sinwar: from Khan Younis, isolated
several times (12 years in total) and is in isolation since 2010.
- Thabit Mirdawi: in isolation since 2010.
- Eid Misleh: in isolation since 2010.
- Salah Al-Awawdah: in isolation since 2010.
- Muhannad Shreim: in isolation since 2010.
- Raed Mohammad Darabyeh: in isolation since 2010.
- Ubadah Bilal: in isolation since 28.5.11.
- Mahmoud ‘Irman: in isolation since 28.5.11.
- Zaher Jabarin: from Salfit, has been held in
isolation several times and is currently isolated.
- Haitham Salhiyyeh: has been held in isolation
several times and is currently isolated.
- Mansour Ash-Shahateet: from Hebron.
- Osama Al Einaboosi: from Tobas.
- Walid Aqel: from Gaza, isolated several times
(15 years in total) and is currently in isolation.
- Ahlam At-Tamimi.
- Jihad Yaghmour: from Jerusalem.
- Raed Al Sheikh: from Jabalia RC.
- Atef Wreidat: from Ad-Dahriyyeh.
- Raid Abu Maghseeb: from Deir Al-Balah.
- Kifah Al-Hattab.
- Murad Abu Rukab: from Ramallah.
- Dirar Abu Sisi: from Gaza.
- Mahmoud Al-‘Ardah: from Arrabah.
- Bajis Nakhlah.
Source:
www.palestinebehindbars.org
www.alasra.ps
www.ahrar-pal.info
www.paltoday.ps/
www.mandela-palestine.org
www.sabiroon.org
www.ppsmo.org
www.imemc.org
www.english.wafa.ps
www.palestine-info.co.uk
Footnotes:
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftnref1>[1]
http://tinyurl.com/5so7dgk
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftnref2>[2]
http://www.ppsmo.org/
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftnref3>[3]
http://tinyurl.com/6copzza
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftnref4>[4]
www.ppsmo.org
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftnref5>[5]
www.imemc.org/article/58498
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftnref6>[6]
www.sabiroon.org/news/specialNewsDetails.php?code=3707&category=19
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftnref7>[7]
http://tinyurl.com/6k434cg
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftnref8>[8]
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=16495
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftnref9>[9]
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=16580
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftnref10>[10]
www.ppsmo.org
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftnref11>[11]
http://www.ahrar-pal.info/ar/index.php?act=Show&id=752
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftnref12>[12]
ibid
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/graves-for-the-living-palestinian-political-prisoners-in-solitary-confinement/#_ftnref13>[13]
ibid
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