Fate of Palestinian Prisoners In Question

By Maureen Meehan

As the exhilaration of the Palestinian elections subsides, the issue of Palestinian prisoners is pushing with renewed vigor into the forefront. In addition to the estimated 4,000 prisoners in Israeli jails, hundreds of Palestinian activists were detained by Israel shortly before Israeli troop redeployment occurred in parts of the West Bank.

"Weeks, and in some cases days, before Israeli troops withdrew from Palestinian urban centers, we began to see a startling pattern of arrests of Palestinian opposition leaders, intellectuals and influential community activists," said Linda Brayer, director of the Jerusalem-based Society of St. Yves, a Catholic human rights and legal resource center. Brayer, an Israeli attorney, pointed out that most of the people arrested in the pre-redeployment sweeps have been placed under six-month administrative detention and are not charged with any specific offense.

A typical administrative detention order is brief and to the point: the below-named is a suspected security threat. The name of the organization to which the detainee allegedly belongs often appears on the order, which is signed by a military commander. No charge sheet, no hearing, no witnesses, no phone calls.

Allegra Pacheco, an Israeli attorney at St. Yves, explained that an administrative detention order is not the result of a legal process but rather a military order that can be "issued anywhere, anytime. One of our clients was in his kitchen making soup when Israeli authorities appeared with a detention order," said Ms. Pacheco.

Attorneys representing the prisoners contend that since administrative detainees are being held for their alleged political views and for no other stated offense, their detention violates the Oslo II peace accord which, among other things, stipulates that Israel is committed to assure "free and democratic elections."

"Many Palestinians argue that the detentions constitute a direct interference in Palestinian elections by preventing numerous members of the Palestinian political opposition from participating in or, in some cases, organizing against them," said Pacheco.

In mid-January, the Israeli Knesset ratified Oslo II into law. Therefore administrative detention also is a violation of Israeli law, points out Pacheco.

There are approximately 217 administrative detainees in prison in Israel. More than 100 of them were arrested during the days that preceded Israeli redeployment from six West Bank cities in November and December 1995.

"To stay out of trouble with the Israelis, one must never leave Area A, and that is impossible."

In Bethlehem alone, 21 people were arrested and over 100 homes were raided only days before the Dec. 21 Israeli troop withdrawal. In Ramallah, 40 people were detained; in the West Bank cities of Nablus and Jenin, at least 45 people were arrested on the eve of the Israeli redeployment, according to human rights monitors.

Included among the administrative detainees arrested during the second half of 1995 are at least three dozen university students, two journalists, a published author, two social workers, two teachers, three engineers, two CPAs, a housing rights activist, and a medical doctor. The rest are workers and all were arrested for alleged membership in groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

"They were cleaning up the areas slated for withdrawal, giving a grace period to the incoming Palestinian Authority," says Yifat Susskind of the Alternative Information Center of Jerusalem.

However, even after redeployment, Israeli security services have continued to detain Palestinians in the West Bank. On Jan. 11, 1996—three weeks after redeployment from the Bethlehem area—Bethlehem resident Issa Mizher was arrested by Israel while crossing the Allenby Bridge on his way to Jordan.

"The Israelis have no right arresting anybody from Area A," said George Abu al-Zulof, a human rights activist who said the 23-year-old detainee from Bethlehem's Deheishe refugee camp in Bethlehem is a known PFLP organizer.

As written in the Oslo agreement, the West Bank is sectioned into Areas A, B and C. Area A includes the centers of six Palestinian cities where total Israeli withdrawal took place—or one percent of the West Bank; Area B includes outlying villages and towns—or 27 percent of the West Bank; the remaining Area C comprises Jewish settlements, remote Palestinian villages and agricultural land. Area C is under total Israeli control.

Areas of Control

The only area controlled by Palestinians and where Israeli soldiers are not supposed to enter is Area A. Although it is under Palestinian jurisdiction, occasionally joint Israeli-Palestinian patrols operate in Area B. "To stay out of trouble with the Israelis, one must never leave Area A, and that is impossible," said Abu al-Zulof.

In Hebron, which is scheduled for partial Israeli redeployment in March 1996, a 15-year-old boy was arrested and placed under administrative detention in mid-January.

On Jan. 18, St. Yves attorneys submitted a habeas corpus petition to the Israeli High Court of Justice asking that the administrative detainees be released before the Palestinian elections. The petition argued that the sole charge under which the detainees are being held—membership in the PFLP, Hamas, etc.—is no longer illegal in the areas where Palestinian elections were to be held, which includes the entire West Bank and Gaza.

"With the signing of the peace agreement, Israel can no longer argue that there is a state of war or continuing occupation or state of emergency," said Brayer. "This arbitrary use of force is the action of a totalitarian government and a military junta."

The petition, submitted on behalf of all 217 detainees, was rejected by the Israeli High Court on the grounds that their release is a political issue and not a legal one.

"This makes no sense given the fact that all the detainees are being held under Israeli jurisdiction, inside Israeli prisons, under Israeli military orders issued in accordance with Israeli law," said Pacheco following the court hearing.

In addition to rejecting their petition, the Israeli High Court of Justice ordered the St. Yves Society, a non-profit organization whose legal work is pro-bono, to pay a fine of $1,700 to the Israeli government for submitting the petition.

"This reveals the true face of the Israeli High Court...that there is no guarantee of 'free access for all.' It also reveals the fact that the court regards this issue unworthy of its time," said attorney Pacheco, who added that during the second week of January, Israel renewed the detention orders of 55 detainees for another six months.

While lawyers try to get around the stone wall of the Israeli "justice" system, Palestinian and Israeli negotiating teams have been meeting to decide how many and which Palestinian prisoners are to be released from jails in Israel. Approximately 1,500 of the remaining 4,000 have been freed under the terms of the peace accord.

However, according to both Palestinian National Authority (PNA) sources and prisoners rights groups, the names and plight of administrative detainees have not been included in the negotiation. Some go as far as accusing the Authority of benefiting from the arrests and therefore remaining indifferent, if not silent, about them.

"The PNA has not objected to or spoken out on this issue. We regard their silence as passive complicity and even approval of the arrests," said an administrative detainee incarcerated in Israel's Megiddo prison. Speaking through his lawyer, he added, "The detainees view their status as political hostages."

Hisham Abdel Razik, PNA negotiator for the prisoners, denies the accusations. "We are asking for their release, but the decision on who gets out of jail ultimately rests with the Israelis," responded Razik. "Accusations that the Palestinian Authority is allowing Israel to 'do us a favor' by arresting those who oppose us is ridiculous. It only serves to divide the Palestinian people, which, in fact, benefits the Israelis," he added.

Suha Barghouti's husband, Ahmed Qatamish, has had his detention order renewed six times since his September 1992 arrest. She finds the PNA's response to Israel's continued use of administrative detention "disgraceful" and believes there may even be active collusion on the part of the PNA.

"Of all the prisoners, it is easy to argue for the release of the administrative detainees. They are in jail for their ideas, their political beliefs. None have been accused of violent crimes," pointed out Mrs. Barghouti. "They are indisputably political prisoners and should have been the first ones released," added Barghouti, a Ramallah resident.

"The PA's disdain for the internal political opposition was made clear when in Ramallah, two days before the elections, it arrested a well-known PFLP leader and held him until after the elections," continued Barghouti.

Ahmed Qatamish, Suha's husband, is a well-known writer and political activist. She is about to publish his third book in Arabic and English. His books are based on his jail-house lectures on topics ranging from the women's movement and child-rearing to religion, politics and the history of the world's most important revolutions.

"They can hold him in jail for his ideas, but it will do no good because I will keep publishing his books and ideas," said Mrs. Barghouti, who admits that she is not optimistic that her husband will be freed when his release date arrives this April.

"The most difficult part," Suha Barghouti said, "is trying to answer our six-year-old daughter who keeps asking, 'But when is daddy coming home?'"

Maureen Meehan is an American free-lance journalist who covers the West Bank and Jerusalem.