I have been to Palestine. I have talked to Palestinians. Every Palestinian man I talked to had been in an Israeli prison at one time or another. Some several times. It is a rite of passage. I met a Palestinian boy 13 years old who was facing prison. An illegal Israeli settler had accused him of throwing stones. The boy was arrested, taken to the police station and beaten into a confession. Then the police released him in the custody of his father pending trial.
The prisoners' stories are all mostly the same. They are arbitrarily arrested, beaten into a confession, given a kangaroo trial, confined to indefinite detention, tortured, isolated, humiliated and shaken down. Prisoners are deprived of warm clothes, medical care, healthy food and family visits unless they pay up. Prison is a financial drain for the entire Palestinian family and a moneymaker for corrupt Israelis. The prisoners must pay their jailers, they must buy their clothing, purchase edible food, pay fines for alleged infractions, pay for telephone calls, and pay for family visits. When the Israelis are ready to release a prisoner the family must pay a ransom, often thousands of dollars, to get their loved ones back.
The Israelis never miss an opportunity to exploit the prisoners. Prisons are a very profitable business. The Israelis use prisoner rights to sadistically punish and extort the prisoners. Family visits are a big financial and emotional drain. Families must run the gauntlet for a visit. Just obtaining the needed permits is not an easy task. Once the permits are purchased, then traveling is an all-day challenge that often does not end successfully.
Traveling a short distance takes hours because of multiple checkpoints, roadblocks, detours and unimproved back roads. Even with permits, the family may be denied passage or they often find the checkpoints closed. The "sterile" superhighways are for Israelis only and are another obstacle in the path for Palestinians. The Israelis want to keep their roads from becoming " contaminated", so Palestinians must go miles out of their way to get around them and to get around the apartheid wall . Every checkpoint is a humiliating experience. Many of the checkpoints are so porous that they serve no other purpose.
At the prison the families are treated with contempt. They must wait for hours. There is no respect for women and they are strip searched roughly. Then they may be told that their loved one does not want to see them or is sick. If there is a visit it might be cut short. Then the journey home is the same obstacle course. The family may not be able to get through the checkpoints before they close, causing the family to have to spend the night in a hotel. Every trip is like this for the Palestinians, whether it is family visits, shopping trips, or going to school; getting to work or even a medical emergency takes hours.
A friend of mine, his name is Mahmoud, told me about his imprisonment. He is now a medical student at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. There is a Palestinian prisoners' museum there, the Abu Jihad museum . I have visited it and met the curator Dr. Fahed Abu Al-Haj. It documents and displays the reality of Israeli prisons. The museum is a very impressive and a moving experience. As the museum's webpage says, the museum is dedicated to political prisoners around the world. The USA is no exception.
Our military has adopted the Israeli practices of kidnappings, kangaroo courts, indefinite detentions, solitary confinements, sensory deprivation, torture, and assassinations. What Israel does influences and becomes a model for the US. Our prisons, borders, ports, police, and our cities have become militarized as if we are an occupied country. Peaceful demonstrations are broken up as violently and with the same brutal methods as Israel uses. As the Israeli example continues it will not be long before we have checkpoints mushrooming on every corner. Citizens will be frightened into approval. The public will be brainwashed into saying that the checkpoints makes them feel safer.
The victory of the Palestinian Prisoners' hunger strike is a much needed victory for freedom and dignity everywhere. Victories for ordinary people have become rare. The Freedom and Dignity Hunger Strike is an example of how people power can stand up against great power. The people just have to stop eating Cheetos, get up off the couch and hit the streets. We must fight to keep our freedom and dignity, and we must fight to end the wars and destruction. Fight to put an end to imperialism and exploitation. We can secure our economic freedom, obtain treatment for the sick, provide education to the young, relieve the suffering of the poor, and guarantee everyone's human rights. The resolve and determination of Palestinians should be our inspiration. Palestinians say that to exist is to resist. Free Palestine, end the occupation.
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