Palestine Is The Other for Israelis

Palestine is the ‘other’ that connects the cosmopolite Israeli nation. Palestine connects them together. If they had not this war against Arabs they would not live in peace says Palestinian human rights activist Sahar Francis, one of the participants in the panel discussion for “International Meeting For A Peaceful World” organized by the Global Peace and Justice Coalition in Istanbul.

Daughter of an Arab family who chose to stay in Jerusalem after the proclamation of the Jewish state in 1948, Francis is an Israeli citizen. Of Christian belief unlike majority Arabs Francis supports legal aid for Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association (ADDAMEER= conscience in Arabic)

Describing her status, “minority of the minority” Francis answered questions by Bianet’s Cafer O. Ant and Tolga Korkut.

Do you observe any improvement in the situation of Palestinian prisoners after the truce declared by Mahmoud Abbas and Ariel Sharon?

Israel uses the negotiations to put pressure on Palestinian side which results in more and more complicated detention procedure. Now they try to categorize the prisoners to determine whom they will release.

In the first step, 500 prisoners will be released along with 400 more in the second step. But 70 percent of the first group are those who are about to finish their sentences in the forthcoming weeks or even days.

But the plan does foresee release of those involved in the armed struggle. Future of the administrative detainees is still unclear.

Case of administrative detainees is mischievous. Israel is still using the British regulations in this case. The ones who are arrested are held on secret evidence unavailable to them or to their lawyers.

Think of it: You go to the court hearings but they do not reveal your charge to you. They have to renew your detention period every six months, a decision which must be approved by the judge too(which is usually the case). Although they try to make the whole process look democratic, it is not. People are held in prisons for years without being charged publicly. There were 2000 of administrative detainees in 2002. Now the number is about 900.

The regulation is applicable to everyone but it is implemented to only two Israeli citizens in the last four years one of which is Tali Fahima Fahima had declared on TV that she was ready to be a Human Shield for Zakaria Zbeida, head of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. She was then suspected of conspiracy of terror attack.

What is the situation in prisons?

With the beginning of the second intifada Israel reopened the old prisons in the desert. Ketziot prison in Negev desert, known as Ansar 3, is one of these prisons where the conditions are extremely harsh. Prisoners stay in tents where it is either too hot or too cold. They also built eight meter high walls around the prisons as if there is a any chance to escape.

Conditions of prisons inside the cities are no better. Inside the cells is crowded, humid, dark and airless. Prisoners are searched everyday, a potential for being abused or isolated.

They launched a hunger strike in August 2004 because of vulnerable conditions but it did not last more than 15 days. Officials manipulated the protesters. They told them that the others had already given up and the prisoners lacked the necessary communication.

Israel teaches US how to torture

In 1999, physical torture was banned in Israel by the laws. Consequently, Israeli officials enhanced new methods so that they would not leave any remarks of torture. Now isolation inside the prisons is widespread.

The scenes from Iraqi prisons on TV are similar to the ones in Israel. I think Americans learn how to torture from the Israelis.

The Israeli civilians are witnessing all the wrong doings you mention. What is their approach?

Israeli civilians were participating in our campaigns more actively before the second intifada like the one we launched for the 800 hundred people arrested and held as administrative detainees between ’95 and ’98.

However, after four years of armed struggle Israeli people hesitate because they do not know who got involved in the combats. So we cannot find support inside the Jewish community as we did in the past. But know the international community helps us and Amnesty International is one of our major supporters.

We cannot go far

After all I should confess that I personally do not believe we will go far. It is hard to put pressure on the Israeli government on the administrative detainees. Even after the releases foreseen now, we will end up with 800 hundred more of them.

You have a difficult position. Does it challenge your struggle in anyway? Are you threatened for instance?

Both the officials and the system strive to make my life even harder. They search me in the court hearings like my client. That’s a psychological warfare. They sometimes make wait for hours to see my client in the prison.

According to laws actually, I cannot go to West Bank. But I get to my office in Ramallah everyday which is illegal. When I speak in Arabic on a bus of Israelis, people think I will explode. Those buses are potential target for the Palestinians too. I am under double fire.

Any hope for the future of relations?

It is very hard to say there is hope. People are really tired after four years of fighting and that is why they wanted to end clash and start negotiations.

We know we are weak. We know Israel will enforce all its policies. For a fair negotiation both sides should be equal but we are not.

What about the wall and withdrawal plan of Sharon?

The reason to build the wall is to control the water resources. Water is at the heart of the problem. Palestinians are not allowed to dig wells to find water even on their private lands since 1967. Can you think about it? You cannot dig a well in your own garden.

All the Israeli settlements are placed strategically near the water resources. Settlements will live there for ever. Withdrawal plan is not the end of the occupation. They do not want Gaza, that is why they leave it.

The checkpoints will also stay like the ones in Jherico and the bypass roads separated from those of the settlers’ will connect the Palestinian cities. We will end up with separated cantons. For example, Ramallah will be separated from Nablus.

All the borders will be controlled by the Israeli government. Palestine will not have any contact with Egypt nor with Jordan. Palestinian people cannot see their own independent state in the future.

How do you think the conflict will be resolved?

It is not easy to continue the armed conflict. Talks on how to act prevails among the Palestinians. Marwan Barghouti shows Palestinians are not only al-Fateh or Hamas. Palestine needs the help of the international community.

Palestine needs United Nation’s (UN) intervention. It should send its armed forces to end Israel’s violations of human rights. UN should also push Israel to get back to 1967 borders.

If we wait for good will of Israel…

UN persistently says that refugees can come back to their homes and have their own properties back depending on a resolution but it is not applied in Palestine because Israel does not want.

If we wait for goodwill of Israel we will get nothing. That’s why Abu Mazin (Mahmoud Abbas) will not succeed.

What about the leftwing politicians in Israel? What do they do?

They are very small in number now and they do not want to see or hear anything. It is easier to blind one’s eyes and not to see what the government is doing. It is not true for the politicians only but for all.

People do not know what is going on in checkpoints in Ramallah which is ten minutes from Jerusalem. If a 17 year old soldier behaves you like an animal in the checkpoint and if you live through it for four years you think of being a suicide bomber: you want to kill those soldiers.

Israelis steal Palestinian’s time everyday in the checkpoints for nothing; they steal their lives and this issue is never touched on.

Israel is a cosmopolite society consisting of different segments. So it is not a connected one and Palestine is the ‘other’ that connects them together. If they would not have this war against Arabs they would not live in (internal) peace. (COA/EK/YE)