My Friend Returned From Ansar

By Pinhas Inbari (Translated by Dr. Israel Shahak from Al Hamishmar, Oct. 14, 1988)

M.D. is an old Palestinian friend of mine, a teacher in a West Bank village. Like many others he had been put for half a year in administrative arrest in Ansar III, but had been released. I hurried to see him before he might be arrested again.

M.D. told me that when he was arrested he was kept for two or three days at a collection point. The treatment there was good, but on the way to Dahariyah it got worse. The trip took place at night, and all of the prisoners were blindfolded. They remained blindfolded in the bus until morning.

At about 8 a.m. he heard the officer who accompanied them telling one of the soldiers that some detainees should be beaten. The soldier took three prisoners, including M.D., to a storeroom where they were beaten, for four hours until noon.

"I fainted," says M.D. "He hit us with a stick and kicked us with his boots. Sometimes he brought two of his colleagues to help him. I told him that I had done nothing, but he didn't care. When I fainted, they poured water on me and I felt terrible pains. Our screams were heard in the neighborhood and shocked my arrested colleagues. After three days in Dahariyah, we were taken to Ansar. We were forced to sit in a humiliating pose, our eyes blindfolded, our heads bent under a window and our hands tied high behind our backs. In this manner we were driven into the Negev. On the way, the soldiers forced us to shout insulting slogans about the PLO and Arafat. Our colleagues who came in other buses told us that the soldiers who escorted them forced them to shout insults against Peres as well. There was an atmosphere of terror, we were sure we were going to be executed. The soldiers, of course, did not stop beating us here. When we arrived at Ansar, the soldiers told us: 'Go to Jordan or Egypt.' We said: 'We won't go, this is our country.'

"We were put into the compound. Our clothes were taken away and we received prisoner uniforms. Then we were tied again and put on the ground with our heads bent downward.

"They yelled at anyone who tried to raise his head. After several hours of dehydration in the sun, we were put into tents where we lay exhausted. The treatment was harsh, but we felt the treatment was not the result of orders, but because of the hatred the soldiers felt for us.

"The problem was that every month the soldiers were replaced. As soon as we succeeded in improving the relations with one group, a new and tougher group would arrive. Among six such groups, only one was humane, thanks to an officer who really took pity on us, and who had a moderating influence on his soldiers. He tried to establish rules that would help us, but without success. During his time, we felt secure and the camp was calm.

"The daily routine was hard. There were roll calls four times a day. The meals came at strange hours; breakfast at 9, lunch at 4, dinner at 11. We could not rest or sleep, because there were either roll calls, or harassments or meals. The main harassment was to take us out for hours to dry in the burning sun, with our hands tied behind our backs.

"There was a water problem. We could not wash ourselves or our clothes. We were insulted all the time. We were treated like criminals. Our comrades were beaten in front of us, which roused our anger. When tempers rose, we would shout; 'Allahu Akhbar' (God is Great). This would infuriate the prison guards and they would shoot tear gas at us.

"Almost every one of us was beaten at some stage in Ansar, in the bus or in Dahariyah. None of us knew why he was arrested. Among us was one crazy man who suffered a lot and we suffered with him. We were constantly afraid that some disaster might happen to him, or to all of us because of him. I have heard that he was arrested again after his release.

"Many of the detainees were neutral in their attitude toward the Jews, until they were arrested for nothing. Now they hate the Jews. There were only a few like me who said: 'These soldiers do not represent all of the Jews. There are good Jews with whom one can live.' It was hard for us to face the others. I was constantly reminded how I was beaten in Dahariyah."

M.D. did not leave the camp in a healthy condition. Today he suffers from severe pains in the back, a result of the difficult positions in the buses and the loss of liquids in the sun. He told me: "I know the history of the Jews and I know what they went through during the holocaust. I feel sympathy for you because of the persecutions you suffered in your sad history. But what is your lesson? To do to us what your enemies did to you?"

For introductory copies of translations from the Hebrew press by Israeli peace activist Israel Shahak, call AET at 1-800-368-5788.