Day 5 of the Delegation: USPCN Reconnecting with Old Friends and Making New Ones

Day 5 of the Delegation: USPCN Reconnecting with Old Friends and Making New Ones

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Today, we visited our dear friend Sahar Francis, Director of Addameer (Arabic for conscience) Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association. She wasted no time getting to the heart of the current challenges that Palestinian political prisoners are facing in both Israeli and Palestinian Authority (PA) detention facilities.

There are currently 6,000 political prisoners held in jails inside Israel. Three hundred and four are under the age of 18; sixty-three are women; and 431 are held under administrative detention. Illegal under international law, Israel uses administrative detention to jail Palestinians without charge for up to six months at a time, and the order can be indefinitely renewed. Sahar described it as a specific tool used by the Israelis to break up the national liberation movement, and to punish people who they have no evidence against.

Since February 15^th, these administrative detainees have launched a collective boycott of the Israeli military court proceedings; however, due to the Israeli attacks on the #GreatReturnMarch, this is a lack of international focus on Palestinian prisoners and the boycott has not yet become popular. One of the most prominent administrative detainees is Palestinian Legislative Council member Khalida Jarrar, who is scheduled to be released on June 30^th of this year.

In PA jails, Palestinian prisoners are facing a number of unique challenges as well. The PA has refused to admit that it holds any prisoners for political reasons, and Sahar shed light on its ridiculous diversionary practice of charging journalists, activists, and members of the resistance with money laundering.

The prisoners also report to Addameer that they are subjected to widespread torture and not granted the right to meet with legal counsel in private. All meetings between political prisoners and lawyers take place in the intimidating presence of the PA’s security forces.

After leaving Addameer, we moved on to another group of dear friends—the artists, dancers, and musicians of the Wishah Popular Dance Troupe, which USPCN had hosted for tours in the U.S. twice in the past few years. Members of the troupe presented on the history of the organization, as well as the role of traditional dance in popularizing the demands and stories of Palestinians. They spoke of the importance of preserving Palestinian folklore, as well as the fact that dancing, singing, and celebrating proves to the occupation forces that they will never succeed in breaking the spirit of the Palestinian people.

From there we visited Al-Haq, the most prominent human rights organization in Palestine. We learned of its extensive documentation of human rights violations committed against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. First hand data, gathered by their nine field workers, is collected and published in regular reports that are widely read by government representatives across the world. The work of Al-Haq is so impactful that it has been labeled by the Israeli government as a “supporter of terrorism” and a “semi-terrorist organization,” and its field workers have received numerous death threats.

Al-Haq representatives focused their presentation on the theft by Israel and private companies of Palestinian resources like land and water. Conservative estimates state that $8 billion worth of these resources are stolen per year. In addition, it was reported that Al-Haq has helped produce documents sent to the prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court, and that the PA has officially filed a request to the ICC for an investigation into Israeli war crimes committed since June of 2014.

En route to our last meeting, we stopped at the beautiful Mahmoud Darwish Museum, dedicated to the brilliant and iconic Palestinian national poet who died in 2008.

Our final gathering of the day was with the Tamimi family in Nabi Saleh. Their warmth and hospitality cannot be overstated, as they welcomed us with open arms. Bassem Tamimi—former political prisoner and father of the brave Ahed Tamimi, currently serving an eight-month sentence for defending her home from Israel soldiers—shared with us the history of Nabi Saleh, which has been a village of resistance since the Ottoman era.

He also debated politics with us and shared his optimism for the future, telling us he believes liberation is close.

“When Palestine is liberated, I will take my kids to Haifa,” he said. “We live only 35km away, and they have never seen the beach.” Amongst embraces, we promised to all return to join him and his family on that beach when Palestine is liberated.

Update: Only hours after we left the family, Israeli forces raided Nabi Saleh and killed Bassem’s nephew, Ezzaddin Tamimi (left, from Twitter), at close range, very likely a targeted assassination.

Until Liberation & Return,

USPCN
June 6, 2018