Democratic Palestine : 21 (ص 23)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 21 (ص 23)
- المحتوى
-
THE NIGHTMARE OF
ARREST AND THE BATTLE
OF DETERMINATION
Abdel Hamid continued, «At first, I
was in shock. I felt my brain stop. After
a few moments I began to realize the
severity of what had happened. They
continued to ask me about my com-
rades, and I knew I was entering a new
battle - the battle of determination
against the enemy. They handcuffed me
and took me to AI Nuseirat camp.
There a Zionist soldier tried to shoot
me but missed. His superior screamed
at him and took away his pistol...»
Mohammad AI Rukoi was arrested a
few years later: «At midnight on March
16, 1973, I was arrested in my house. I
was sound asleep, and suddenly my
bedroom door was broken open and
several soldiers entered. I though it was
a nightmare. Atter a moment, I realized
what was happening. Several soldiers
held me in the dark, shining a flashlight
in my eyes. They asked me to lift things
and help them search the room, but
they forbid me to touch anything except
on their orders. They were afraid I
would reach for a hidden weapon. They
took me into the courtyard in my
pyjamas; they didn’t allow me to wear
my shoes. They made me take off my
pyjama pants and blindfolded me with
them. They tied my hands with nylon
ropes-and took me outside.»
«They attacked my mother and beat
her, then returned her to her room.
They encircled me and beat me up,
asking about where I had hidden my
weapon. When | didn’t answer, they
took me away in a car which was part
of a convoy. On the way to the jail, a
soldier hit me in the eye with his pistol,
and | suffered a black eye.»
Zakaria prefaced the description of
his arrest by thanking Democratic
Palestine for opening its pages to the
prisoners’ story. He stressed that the
way the Zionists torture Palestinian
freedom fighters is comparable to the
Nazis’ brutality... He told about the
work that he was involved in prior to
his arrest: «I was part of a fighting cell
of the PFLP. We concentrated our
work on planting explosives in different
parts of occupied Palestine. On
November 29, 1971, the anniversary of
the day the UN adopted the plan divi-
ding Palestine (since turned into the
International Day of Solidarity with the
Palestinian People), we planted explo-
sives in three different places in the
1948 occupied territories. The enemy
admitted 30 casualties that day. Then
on February 2, 1972, we had prepared
27 explosives in the occupied West
Bank, but one of them exploded by
accident. A comrade was martyred and
another one injured. The injured com-
rade was taken to hospital and arrested
there. I was told to go to Gaza to tell
the leadership what had happened.»
«J told them the same day, and they
suggested that I leave for Jordan, but I
refused, and it was decided that I
should go to the West Bank. I went to
my home to say good-bye and prepare
for my departure the next day. That
night, February 6, 1972, 72 Zionist
soldiers came to my house at 3 a.m. We
heard heavy knocking. When my father
opened the door, the house was sur-
rounded. Several soldiers entered. They
ordered us out and searched the house.
They dumped all our grain, rice, sugar
and oil on the ground, while we were
forced to wait outside with our hands in
the air. They asked for ID cards, and
when they saw mine, they said: ‘That’s
the one. That’s the terrorist.’ My
mother began to cry, but I told her not
to, that I would come back to her... My
morale was high. I knew that I had
entered a new form of war with the
enemy. I was determined not to give
in.»
FASCIST TORTURE
Our questions about the first hours
of detention elicited vivid accounts of
torture from the comrades. Needless to
say, political prisoners have no access
to lawyers during the interrogation
period which may be very prolonged in
accordance with the Zionists’ efforts to
break the militant’s will. Lawyers are
first provided at the stage of trial which
is a sham where anyway the accusations
of the intelligence are accepted at face
value.
Mohammad recounts: «] arrived at
the detention center at about | a.m.
and they handed me over to the war-
dens. They stripped me and searched me
thoroughly; they took my watch. Then
a policeman came with a soldier and a
member of the Shin Beth, and took me
to the interrogation room. There were
about 24 cells in that section, and I was
led into a small room with paintings
that looked like crosswords and mazes
on the walls. There was a table and
several chairs. The interrogators were
Iraqi Jews in civilian clothes. They
asked me to take off my clothes. When
I refused, they attacked me and tore
them off. I was totally naked.»
«They made me sit on the floor and
put my legs through the chair; they
started beating me on the feet with a
stick. After my feet swelled, they made
me sit on a chair. One of the butchers,
with big hands, started beating me on
the ears until they bled. They dragged
me by the hair to another room where
there was a shower, and poured ice-cold
water on me for fifteen minutes. Then
I was sent to another room where they
‘ghosted’ me.» This torture is notorious
in Zionist jails. The detainee is hand-
cuffed by one hand and hung by this
hand from the ceiling, in a position
resembling a ghost. It is a _ very
dangerous form of torture, as it can
result in paralysis of the hand and arm.
Under the pressure of such torture,
Mohammad was asked the following
questions over and over: Which organi-
zation do you belong to? Did you hide
arms? Did you carry out any operation
against ‘Israel’?? Who are your com-
rades and where are they? Who helps
you? Where are the hiding places of
fugitives?
Next Abu Waffa told about his
questioning: «When they started, |
realized that the information they had
was not accurate. I was charged with
several operations I did not do. Usually
when one is arrested, he would say that
Others did all the things he did, so I
found myself responsible for many
operations. They asked the where-
abouts of our comrades, the names of
people in charge and who carried out
specific operations. During that period,
time stopped for me.»
This questioning was accompanied
by severe torture: «They used several
methods. The worst is the ‘ghosting’,
but they would also put the tube of a
ballpoint pen into the penis. There were
electric shocks and injecting a water
hose into the rectum, with a jet of
water, that made you feel your insides
would come out of your mouth. They
make you eat chocolate with pickled
fish and bread, which causes extreme
thirst. They use chemicals on your skin.
They use specially trained dogs to
attack you, and show you beheaded
bodies.»»
Zakaria explained that the Zionists
use both psychological and physical
torture: «They ask you what you think
of the Israeli army, then they put you
up against a wall blindfolded and make
you think that they will shoot you.
They told me that they knew everything
about me, for others had confessed;
they promised good treatment if I co-
operated. Then they said that they would
force me to speak, that I would speak
from my ass. Then they showed me a
map and asked me to point out the
locations of the revolutionaries’
hideouts. When I didn’t cooperate, they
hung me from the ceiling by my legs, so
I felt my head would explode. They also
put a plastic bag on my head, so I felt I
would suffocate.»
«WHERE IS GUEVARA
GAZA?»
Abdul Hamid was an assistant to
Mohammad Al Aswad, called Guevara
of Gaza, the PFLP Politbureau
member in charge of the Gaza Strip in
that period. This fact was predominant
in his interrogation. He relates the
proceedings after he was _ arrested:
«They moved me from AI Nuseirat
camp to the offices of the Zionist
military governor of Gaza. On the way,
I was severely beaten, and I was bleed-
ing. Then the military governor’s
deputy ordered me transferred to the
Gaza Central Prison. On the way, they
treated my injuries in a superficial
manner.»
«In the Gaza prison, several officers
received me and started asking ques-
tions, especially about the whereabouts
of Comrade Guevara of Gaza. They
sent me to the intelligence section of the
prison. There I learned that they knew
that I was an assistant to Comrade
Guevara. I was taken to a room where a
Shin Beth officer gave me a paper with
the following questions: Where are
23
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