Articles
December 2011, Page 12
Gaza on the Ground
28 Years: One Palestinian Prisoner's Story
By Mohammed Omer
Human rights activists refer to Salim Al-Kayyali as "the dean of detainees." One of the 1,027 Palestinian prisoners Israel agreed to release in return for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, he has been incarcerated in an Israeli prison—without trial—longer than any imprisoned Palestinian. Even before his latest incarceration, for his affiliation with the military wing of the Fatah party, Al-Kayyali had been arrested and jailed multiple times for that affiliation and his political activities. The last time he saw freedom was on May 30, 1983, 28 years ago—and exactly half his life.
Al-Kayyali has been in prison since before the first intifada broke out; before the massacre perpetrated by Barnard Goldstein on a Hebron mosque, killing dozens and wounding hundreds of worshippers, and opening the door to retaliatory bombings; since well before Oslo, before the 2000 Camp David summit, before Sept. 11, 2001, before hundreds of checkpoints made travel nearly impossible, and before a single concrete slab of Israel's wall was pounded into the earth, tearing apart entire Palestinian communities. The world the 56-year-old Al-Kayyali returned to on Oct. 18 barely resembles the one he last saw. Things are far worse—but he'll have plenty of time to absorb all the changes in the weeks ahead. The day of his release was about joy and reuniting with his family members—many of whom he's never met.
Al-Kayyali's wife has waited nearly three decades for her husband's return. She has not seen him since 1996, when the Israeli Prison Service began denying her visitation with her husband. "Not a moment passed when Salim was not on my mind," she explains. "Now my husband is back," she says with delight. "I have no further reason to feel the weight of the seconds, minutes, passing by on the clock hanging in the hallway next to his photograph."
Recalling the moment she heard the good news that her husband was to be released, her eyes well up with joy: "When I heard the words of the radio news presenter announcing my husband's name, I cried, and knelt down on the floor to thank God for this gift."
In addition to his wife, Al-Kayyali has a daughter he's never seen. Douwaa Al-Kayyali is now 28 years old, married and with a newborn baby of her own. All she knows of her father comes from family stories and the poster of him hanging in the family's hallway. "Hope came back to me after 2006 when Gilad Shalit was captured," the young mother explains. Her hope was based on the fact that over the years Israel has traded Palestinian prisoners for captured Israeli soldiers or the bodies of those killed in action.
Al-Kayyali's mother, Roqayya, who was 43 when he was born, just celebrated her 100th birthday. This is a day she never thought she'd see. Speaking from her wheelchair, she eagerly anticipates the son she hasn't seen in years, as the "Israeli occupation denied my visits to him for the past years."
For all these years her faith sustained her, as she prayed that her son would be freed. Today that moment has arrived. "Son, I miss you so much," the grateful mother exclaims. "I want to hold you tight, before I die." In celebration, she dons a special white Palestinian dress that she made for the occasion.
In front of the Al-Kayyali family home in Al Zaytoun, an area southeast of Gaza City, hangs a banner emblazoned with the words: "Welcome to the heroic leader." The family has erected a tent to accommodate the hundreds of anticipated guests.
The prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas was brokered with the assistance of Egypt and Germany. A member of the Egyptian team told the Washington Report with relief that "after 65 months of negotiations…thousands of hours, we made it!" Egypt "placed the screws" on the deal, he added proudly, but "Germany came afterward to make sure they are not too loose."
Of the 477 prisoners released in the initial round, 297 were released to Gaza, even though only 133 are originally from there. Israel exiled the others there, denying them access to their homes and families in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The second group of 550 detainees awaits release within the next two months.
Award-winning journalist Mohammed Omer reports on the Gaza Strip, and maintains the Web site. He can be reached at < This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. >.
