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.

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.

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.

When I first decided to write about Palestinian political women prisoners, my perception was simply of gray lifeless cells, and fierce looking guards.

As I read through the women prisoners reports, I saw these amazing women with an incredible strength to fight and survive. I saw women who faced an inhumane enemy, full of hate and anger, women who faced the darkest nights, and the gloomiest mornings, but still had a smile on their faces.

If I was ever imprisoned, would I be able to survive through it like they did? Could I be able to hope for a better tomorrow? Will I be able to picture the sun and the green fields in my mind and steal myself from the grayness of the cell bars, and the four cold walls?

Despite vague information regarding the exact number of Palestinian political women prisoners, the statistics indicate that approximately 5,000 Palestinian women were arrested since the Israeli occupation in 1967, including young girls, seniors, pregnant women and mothers, sentenced for long periods and separated from their children.

The largest series of arrests took place between 1968-1976 and during the first Palestinian Intifada.

Lots of the testimonies given by women prisoners show the amount of torture endured, both physically and psychologically, from verbal assaults to sexual abuse and rape. These women prisoners never stopped fighting for their rights, from assigning a proper attorney to improving their living conditions and stopping the continuous abuse.

In 1984, the women prisoners participated in a hunger strike that lasted 18 days, thereafter, regular strikes were held helping improve the living conditions in prison, though methods of torture kept getting more and more brutal.

"I am treated as evil by people who claim that they are being oppressed because they are not allowed to force me to practice what they do."

I found the best method to understand the weight of this issue is through interviews with previous prisoners. I interviewed Sonia Nimer, who was imprisoned from 1975-1978, in Ramleh prison “Neve tertza” and again in the first Palestinian Intifada 1988, for a week.

Nimer moved to London in 1981, shortly after her release, and worked as an education officer in the British Museum.

Moving back to Ramallah in 1995, today, Sonia is a lecturer in Birzeit University and in the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Nimer just published a book with the British writer Elizabeth Lerd, entitled “A Little Peace of Ground.” She also wrote a series of children’s books that were published by Tamer’s Educational Institute in Ramallah and translated 10 children’s’ books from English to Arabic including “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and “Nobody Owns the Sky.” Nimer Is awaiting the publishing of her new novel, entitled “ Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands” (Al Rihlat Alghareebeh Fil Belad Alajeebieh), aimed for youth readers.
Nimer is married and has an 8-year-old son.

When I first entered her house, I noticed the beautiful calm colors in her living room that vary from red to yellow, but what specifically drew my attention was the Palestinian traditional dress hung on her wall, in red and black. I felt as if it was a piece of her.

Her playful son Qays was running around the colored house. I wondered whether or not he should be hearing her prison stories; I even wondered if I could handle witnessing her flow of emotions, and the stream of memories that was about to flood.

I started by asking her about how she was arrested and why. She told me that one morning she woke to find a letter requesting her for an interview with the Israeli Army Intelligence on October 20, 1975. Nimer went to the interview, but never came back!

During her court hearing, all the ambiguous reasons led to one conclusion, “belonging to prohibited movements, namely the PLO” (at that time, the PLO was considered an unlawful organization).

Nimer was a 20-year-old Birzeit student when she was arrested, so the main method of torture used against involved sessions of “discussion,” brain washing, on Israel’s right over Palestine.

The other method was seating her in a chair in an empty room, threatening that if she dares turn her head, horrible things will happen to her. “I never knew what to assume and whether I could handle the torture,” Sonia said.

During her second imprisonment, Nimer was placed in the Palestinian male political prisoners cell all day, then moved to a nearby room at night, where she could hear the sounds of Palestinian men being tortured, “I felt helpless and exhausted from the sounds and there was nothing I could do to lessen their pain,” Nimer painfully remembered.

Psychological torture is worse than physical torture, because you start making your own assumptions regarding what might be practiced against you, especially since human rights and conventions do not carry any influence with the Israeli authorities.

After a long distant look, Sonia started telling me about the prison conditions. There were two blocks, one for Palestinian political women prisoners and the other for Israeli women prisoners convicted of prostitution and various drug related offences.

“Israeli guards used to provoke Israeli women prisoners against us, at times when political tension was high. On some occasions, the guards used to leave the kitchen door open, making it easy for Israeli prisoners to reach knives and sharp instruments in order to hurt us.”

As a gesture of humanity, Palestinian political prisoners had an “entertainment hour." Every Tuesday, they were made to watch a movie about Nazism and the Jewish holocaust, and on brighter days about Israeli pioneers in Palestine.

The food was “horrible.” Palestinian prisoners were served three meals a day: for breakfast, they had a small amount of cheese or yogurt with a tomato “usually rotten”; for lunch, they had either boiled cabbage with turkey on the side or rice and chicken. Dinner was lunch’s leftovers.

“They never served us milk, which led to teeth and bone problems due to lack of calcium.”

Cell conditions were just as awful. Every six Palestinians shared a cell and flash lights were fixated on them all the time. “We used to feel watched every minute of everyday, we never felt comfortable, not for a moment, it was straining.”

To lessen the agony and daily pain, Sonia and her mates convinced the prison guards to plant a little garden. “I planted tomatoes and cucumbers.” However, after the plants grew, the prisoners had to sneak out, “steal” and smuggle them in, because they were not allowed to eat from their own garden.

“Regardless of the conditions, even if prison was heaven, stealing your freedom for one day is unbearable,” Sonia confirmed with a sigh.

There were no humanitarian exceptions. One woman was imprisoned pregnant, she gave birth in prison and when her child was two, they took him back to her family. ”Imagine the agony she felt being parted from her own child, they stole the only thing that kept her from breaking down.”

On another occasion they imprisoned a 70-year-old Palestinian woman, called “Om Khader.”

“Regardless of the daily humiliation, we tried to seize time. We used to teach and take classes. I taught English, another taught us math, we used to learn Arabic and Hebrew. I even started learning French, but was released before continuing lessons.”

Nimer still recalls how Palestinian women used to struggle to get books. They asked the Red Cross to provide them with books several times, but the prison administration insisted on checking them every single time. “We used to pose strikes in order to get books.”

Even letters from family and friends took a very long time to reach the Palestinian prisoners making their struggle with the endless Israeli injustice even more difficult. “The hardest day was the letters distribution date. It was exciting, because we were waiting for letters, yet hard because sometimes we never got any.”

“They used to steal the little pretty details of life. For example, there was a beautiful Jasmine tree that I used to love, looking at it took me away from this harsh world for a while. One morning, and for absolutely no reason, they cut it down.”

I was especially shocked when I asked her about her feelings on the day of her release. I expected her to tell me how happy she was, how beautiful the outside was, how eager it was to be able to live a normal life, but Israeli imprisonment made Sonia even more human than she was before.

“The weird part was my parents were waiting for me on the door, thinking that I would come out running and hug them, but I cried so hard before I left the prison they had to give me valium! I could not bare the idea of leaving all the prisoners behind, especially because I never knew if I would ever see them again. I could not handle thinking they were in more pain everyday, while I was sliding back into a normal life.”

I felt guilty that I had to remind her of all those dark memories, but her wide smile and lively spirit assured me of how strong we, Palestinians, are. Everyday we create endless horizons of hope and cling to the smallest joys.

“Prison was a very traumatic experience. When I lived it, I was strong, but as I remember it today it shakes me to the core, realizing how inhumane and hard it was on me as a human and a Palestinian.”

Samar, A Young Heroine

With the passage of time and the widening of the conflict, Israeli arrests and detaining methods seem to have evolved in a manner reflecting more brutality and inhumanity.

Since the resurgence of violence on September 2000, different human rights organizations and prisoners affairs institutes have documented endless arrests and torture stories, in which intolerable viciousness was practiced. Samar, however, drew my attention most. Maybe this was because she was my age or maybe because I cannot imagine myself tolerating such cruelty.

I could see her clear face, reflecting strength yet pain, where would her youth and life go after her baseless arrest?

Born on August 22,1984, Samar Ata Saleh Bader, a student in high school, is one of many Palestinian prisoners that are being held by Israel.

Bader’s mother stated that the Israeli forces invaded their house four times before arresting her daughter. They destroyed a lot of their personal property, but once, they entered the house and dragged Bader to Howara military camp, assaulted her physically and hit her continuously while interrogating her for four hours. At one point, an interrogator hit her so severely causing her to internally bleed.

During last May, Israeli soldiers used new intimation methods to harass Bader. A person dressed up in a black suit with a UN badge showed up at their house and asked Bader’s mother to go check the new food supplies in town. When the mother left and they ensured that Samar was home alone, Israeli forces broke into the house and tried to burn it, but Samar with the help of neighbors managed to hinder their efforts and put the fire down.

On June 16, 2003, which is the day of her arrest, Samar was at the dentist when Israeli soldiers broke in and arrested and dragged her to “Btah Tekfa” military camp, where she was under investigation.

She was brought to Salem court for the first time on June 26, 2003, but the hearing was postponed until September 2, 2003. Eventually Samar was sentenced to 17 months.

Of course, Samar’s body bruises, her only proof of the torture she endured were gone on her court day since the Israeli army utilizes torture methods designed either to leave no visible physical evidence or only wounds which heal before a detainee is taken before a military judge or seen by a lawyer.

Torture is usually exercised in an isolated atmosphere to make it impossible for lawyers or human rights organizations to gather enough information about it, and the witnesses’ testimonies are never enough evidence for the Israeli court

It does not stop here; the Israeli military issued Order 1220 in 1988 which gave the prison commander permission to prevent a lawyer from meeting a detainee for a period of 15 days, "if he sees that this is necessary for the security of the area, or if it is in the interest of the interrogation."

Tens of Palestinian and Israeli campaigns to end the Israeli violations listed lots of torture methods. According to the Public Committee against Torture in Israel, there are ten most popular Israeli torture methods;

1. Tying up detainees in painful positions for hours and days on end,
2. Solitary Confinement,
3. Confinement in tiny cubicles,
4. Beatings,
5. Violent "shaking,"
6. Deprivation of sleep and food,
7. Exposure to extreme cold or heat,
8. Verbal, sexual and psychological abuse,
9. Threats against the individual or the individual's family,
10. Lack of adequate clothing or hygiene.

These methods have caused severe physical and psychological damage and in some cases death, PCATI confirmed that almost all detainees that were held during the first Palestinian uprising (1988-1993) suffered from torture during interrogation.

In 1999, the Israeli High Court was forced to outlaw four methods of torture after being pursued with complaints and opposition.

The methods were the authority to “shake” a detainee, or hold him/her in a “shabeh” position, which is when the prisoner's legs are tied to a small stool and his/her hands are tied behind his back with a bag covering his/her head sometimes for more then 48 hours continuously in which s/he is given only 5 minute breaks between each sitting. Also, forcing a prisoner in a “frog crouch” position for hours or depriving one from sleep for days.

Legal Aspects

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

All Israeli military arrests are illegal. Moreover, we can find an article against every single action they carry out.

Article (5) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of punishment.”

Article (6) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
"Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law."

Article (9) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
"No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile."

Article (10) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
"Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him."

Article (11) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
"Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.
No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed."

Article (12) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
"No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks."

The Sharm El–Sheikh Memorandum

Release of Prisoners

The two Sides shall establish a joint committee that shall follow-up on matters related to release of Palestinian prisoners.

The Government of Israel shall release Palestinian and other prisoners who committed their offences prior to September 13, 1993, and were arrested prior to May 4, 1994. The Joint Committee shall agree on the names of those who will be released in the first two stages. Those lists shall be recommended to the relevant Authorities through the Monitoring and Steering Committee;

The first stage of release of prisoners shall be carried out on September 5, 1999 and shall consist of 200 prisoners. The second stage of release of prisoners shall be carried out on October 8, 1999 and shall consist of 150 prisoners;

The joint committee shall recommend further lists of names to be released to the relevant Authorities through the Monitoring and Steering Committee;

The Israeli side will aim to release Palestinian prisoners before next Ramadan.

Prohibition of Torture

1. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948 states:
"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." (Article 5)

2. "The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, ratified by Israel on 3 October,1991, states:
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In particular, no one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimentation." (Article 7)

3. The United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 1984:
1. "Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of Torture in any territory under its jurisdiction."
2. "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture."
3. "An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture." (Article 2)

4. The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.
"The following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever…violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture." (Article 3)
"No physical or moral coercion shall be exercised against protected persons, in particular to obtain information from them or from third parties." (Article 31)
"The High Contracting Parties specifically agree that each of them is prohibited from taking any measure of such a character as to cause the physical suffering or extermination of protected persons in their hands. This prohibition applies not only to murder, torture, corporal punishments, mutilations..., but also to any other measures of brutality whether applied by civilian or military agents." (Article 32)
"Grave breaches [of the Convention]… shall be those involving…torture or inhuman treatment...willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health." (Article 147)

Torture is a grave breach of the IV Geneva Convention and also a war crime under the definition of Article 6 (b) of the Charter of the Nuremberg Military Tribunal of 1947. States have jurisdiction to try persons, of whatever nationality, for such acts. Under Article 146 of the IV Geneva Convention the State Parties to the Convention are "under the obligation to search for persons alleged to have committed or to have ordered to be committed, such Grave Breaches, and shall bring such persons, regardless of their nationality, before its own courts."

“Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds”

As I sat on my desk trying to write an ending, my heart shook and I could feel my fingertips fumble at the amount of might every Palestinian woman holds. Their warm hearts, glowing faces hot blood, endless capacities and will to survive, while clinging to every little piece of ground, shows an unquestionable sense of nationalism.

I feel small watching their spirits cross the sky, and make those dreams of freedom and light come true, I cannot help but wonder where all this love for Palestine comes from, this country is not just a geographical space, it’s a startling horizon that leaves us breathless.

I picture those prisoners today, sitting restlessly in their cells, nevertheless, creating their own sphere and filling it with abilities and hopes, their eyes shinning and beating the darkness.

My words seem to fail me, as I observe their writings and stories; these women have created wings for their struggle, and flew over the blindness and heartlessness of this enemy which spreads hate by day.

I feel blessed for being a woman, and most importantly a Palestinian, for I know I have a spiritual connection with all these tender fighters.

Sources:

www.mandela-palestine.org
www.ppsmo.org/index.htm
www.stoptorture.org.il
www.addameer.org