Democratic Palestine : 9 (ص 15)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 9 (ص 15)
- المحتوى
-
Experience of [mprisonment
and Struggle
Yacoub Dawani was born in Nablus, Palestine. While still
a student, he joined the Arab Nationalist Movement, the pre-
cursor of the PFLP. He was among those cadres assigned to
its military wing, to prepare for the struggle to liberate Pales-
tine. When the Zionists occupied the West Bank in 1967,
Yacoub left his economics study in Cairo, to return to Palestine
and engage in the anti-occupation resistance. He was part of a
larger group working to create local cells, to further political
mass activities, underground propaganda and armed resis-
tance. Yacoub remembers, «Our experience was little, but our
morale was high. Perhaps in our enthusiasm, we were not
Strict enough about security. Most of us were young, men and
women, mostly students, but also some workers and peas-
ants.»
Members of the group were arrested and the others
wanted. Yacoub tried to go underground, but was arrested in
October 1968. For fifty days he was interrogated and tortured
heavily in the Nablus prison. He was then transferred to Ramle
and kept in isolation for six months, then returned to Nablus
and tried in February 1970. by a military court. He was
defended by the progressive Israeli lawyer, Felicia Langer;
together they aimed to prolong the trial as much as possible, to
give a chance to speak out on the Palestinian cause. Yacoub
asked us to include a special tribute to Felicia Langer, and to
Lea Tsemel who was later also his lawyer, for the great efforts
they have expended on behalf of thousands of Palestinian
detainees.
Yacoub was sentenced to life imprisonment, plus 18
years, to be served concurrently, for membership in an illegal
organization, possession of arms, receiving military training,
and having relations with a Palestinian in ‘Israel’ for the pur-
pose of endangering state security. He began serving his term
in Ramle, was transferred to Askelon in 1970, to Bir Sheeba
(the Naqab) in 1973. to Tulkarm in 1978, to Nafha in 1980, to
Tulkarm in 1983, and finally released in the November 1983
prisoner exchange.
In this interview we decided not to deal with the question’
of torture in depth, for it has been documented in many places,
but rather to focus on the conditions and experience of struggle
in Zionist prisons.
How were conditions in the Zionist prisons at the
time you entered, as compared to today?
| will begin with some basic facts: Overcrowding has
always been a problem. Imagine a corridor-like cell of 30
sq.meters, including a water tap and toilet, where 20 prisoners
sleep, eat, wash, etc. Their matresses alone cover the space.
This is today after much struggle. Until 1977, there were no
matresses, only four blankets per prisoner. Only in 1981 were
bunk beds instated in some jails in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. Now prisoners have only a two hour walk in the prison
yard as relief. When | entered the prisons, this was only one
hour, sometimes less.
Originally there were two different menus in the Zionist
prisons, one for Israelicommon prisoners, another for Palesti-
nians. The stated pretext was that their taste was occidental,
while ours was oriental. In reality, Palestinians received much
less protein and vegetables. Fruit was first introduced, in
theory, in 1972. Our diet was mainly starches. Starting in 1981,
a single menu was instated, again in theory, for the food given
to political prisoners is still less and worse. This aims to
weaken them, providing less nourishment and making them
lose apetite. Food is served in a degrading way, on the floor
where we also slept, walked, etc. Meeting basic needs in a
primitive way is part of the Zionist dehumanization process, to
have the prisoners lose their self-respect. Even meals become
a daily provocation, a form of torture.
When | entered the prison, there were virtually no reading
materials. There was only Al Anba* and a few books, mainly on
religion or cheap novels which the Red Cross had convinced
the Israelis to allow. Later we were ‘allowed’ The Jerusalem
Post. Only after hunger strikes were we allowed to receive
books from our families. Only after a hunger strike in Nafha
prison in 1981, were we permitted the daily Israeli papers
(Hebrew). Of course, books are subject to censorship. In addi-
tion to the thousands banned in the 1967 occupied territories,
many legal books are held back by the prison authorities. Until
now, an important demand of any prison struggle is the right to
receive any book that Is legally distributed in occupied Pales-
tine. Radios are still forbidden, but they are often smuggled in.
Prisoners are ‘allowed’, i.e. forced, to hear three hours of
Israeli Radio (Arabic program) daily.
War of Attrition
All these details of prison life add up to a hellish war of attri-
tion waged by the prison authorities. The prisoner is forced to
struggle for every little thing; it is hoped that he will wear himself
down in this way. Added to the practice of systematic torture,
the living conditions in the prison are geared to reduce the pris-
oner to a nothing. In 1969, Moshe Dayan ‘explained’ to the
Knesset why the death penalty was not necessary: His logic
was to deprive the Palestinians of the chance to have martyrs
in the prisons, while making sure that the political prisoners
would be turned into «Swiss cheese» -more holes than cheese.
In this context, one sees the perspective of the prisoners’
struggle for just the minimal conditions. Fighting to preserve
their humanity is a form of resistance, to thwart the destructive
aim of the prison service. In 1980, at the end of the prolonged
Nafha hunger strike, we were visited in our cell by an Israeli
doctor, who noted that Palestinians were kept in conditions
unsuitable for animals. He asked why we were not in worse
“Al Anba was an Arabic daily published by the Israeli government. Its closure
earlier this year proved that it never became popular among Palestinians despite
the facilities it enjoyed, especially as compared to the Palestinian press under
occupation.
15 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 9
- تاريخ
- يونيو ١٩٨٥
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed