[[link removed]]

PALESTINIAN RELEASED FROM ISRAELI PRISON DESCRIBES BEATINGS, SEXUAL
ABUSE AND TORTURE  
[[link removed]]


 

Gideon Levy and Alex Levac
April 28, 2024
Haaretz
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Amer Abu Halil, a West Bank resident who was active in Hamas and
was jailed without trial, recalls the wartime routine he endured in
Israel's Ketziot Prison. _

Amer Abu Halil, who was recently released from Ketziot Prison,
demonstrating how he was forced to walk, with hands bound behind his
back., Credit: Alex Levac // Haaretz

 

There is no resemblance between the young man who sat with us this
week for hours in his backyard, and the video of his release from
prison last week. In the clip, the same young man – bearded,
unkempt, pale and gaunt – is seen as barely able to walk; now he's
well groomed and sports a crimson jacket with a checkered handkerchief
tucked into its pocket. For 192 days, he was forced to remain in the
same clothes in prison – maybe that accounts for his extreme
elegance now.

Nor is there any resemblance between what he relates in a never-ending
cascade of words that's hard to staunch – more and more shocking
accounts, one after the other, backed up by dates, physical
exemplifications and names – and what we knew until now about what's
been happening in Israeli detention facilities since the start of the
war. Since his release, on Monday of last week, he hasn't slept at
night for fear of being arrested again. And seeing a dog in the street
terrifies him.

The testimony of Amer Abu Halil, from the town of Dura, near Hebron,
who was active in Hamas, about what is going on in Ketziot Prison in
the Negev, is even more shocking than the grim account reported in
this column
[[link removed]] a
month ago, of another prisoner, Munther Amira, aged 53, who was
incarcerated in Ofer Prison. Amira likened his prison to Guantanamo,
Abu Halil calls his prison Abu Ghraib, evoking the notorious facility
in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and later used by the Allies following
Saddam's overthrow.

Among candidates for U.S. sanctions, Israel's Prison Service should be
next on the list. This is apparently the realm where all the sadistic
instincts of the minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, find
their outlet.

We were accompanied on the visit to Abu Halil's home in Dura this week
by two field researchers of B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights
organization: Manal al-Ja'bari and Basel al-Adrah. Abu Halil, who's
30, is married to 27-year-old Bushra and is the father of 8-month-old
Tawfiq, who was born while his father was in prison. Abu Halil met him
for the first time last week, though it's still emotionally difficult
for him to hold the infant in his arms.
 
Amer Abu Halil, with his son.  (Photo credit: Alex Levac / Haaretz)
Abu Halil is a graduate in communications from Al-Quds University in
Abu Dis, adjacent to Jerusalem, where he was active in the school's
Hamas branch, and he is a former spokesperson for the Palestinian
cellular communications company Jawwal.

Since his first arrest, in 2019, he's spent a cumulative period of 47
months in Israeli imprisonment, much of it in "administrative
detention" – in which the detainee is not brought to trial. The
Palestinian Authority also wanted to take him into custody at one
time, but he didn't report for the interrogation. Like some of his
brothers, Amer is active in Hamas but he's not a "senior figure in
Hamas," he says in his few prison-Hebrew words.

The brothers: Umar, 35, lives in Qatar; Imru, 27, who is suffering
from cancer, is incarcerated in Ofer Prison for his activity in Hamas
and has spent seven years imprisoned in Israel and 16 months in a
Palestinian facility; 23-year-old Amar is sitting with us in a white
robe and a kaffiyeh – the imam of the mosque in Dura, he hopes soon
to hold the same position in a mosque in North Carolina, which he
would like to immigrate to. Not since 2013 have all the brothers –
Amer, Amar, Imru and Umar – sat together for a holiday meal. Someone
was always in custody.

On one occasion, Amer Abu Halil was summoned to an interrogation by
the Shin Bet security service, through a call to his father: "Why
haven't you been praying in the mosque lately?" the Shin Bet agent
asked him. "Your quiet is suspicious." "When I'm quiet you suspect me,
and when I'm not quiet – the same," he told his interrogator. That's
how they "sat on" him, as the term goes.

He was in and out of interrogation rooms up until December 4, 2022,
when his home was raided in the dead of the night, he was again
arrested, and again he was sent into administrative detention with no
trial. This time it was for four months, which was extended twice,
each time for an additional four months. Abu Halil was slated to be
released in November 2023. But then the war broke out and the prison
underwent a radical change. The terms of all the Hamas prisoners who
were scheduled for release – Abu Halil among them – were extended
automatically and sweepingly.

In his latest term, he worked as a cook in the prison's Hamas wing. On
the Thursday before the war broke out, he thought of preparing falafel
for the wing's 60 inmates, but then decided to postpone the falafel
until Saturday. On Friday he delivered the sermon in the afternoon
prayers and talked about hope.

On Saturday he awoke at 6 A.M. to prepare the falafel. Inmates there
were no longer allowed to prepare their own food or deliver sermons.
Not long afterward, Channel 13 broadcast images of Hamas pickup trucks
driving through Sderot, and a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza fell
in the area of the prison, which is north of Jerusalem, in the West
Bank. "Allahu akbar" – "God is greatest" – the prisoners said
accordingly, as a blessing. They hid under their beds from the
rockets; for a moment they thought Israel had been conquered.

Around midday, the prison guards arrived and impounded all the
televisions and radios and the cell phones that had been smuggled in.
The next morning they didn't open the cell doors. The shackling,
beating and abuse began on October 9. On October 15, large forces
entered the prison and confiscated all personal items in the cells,
including watches and even the ring Abu Halil wore that had belonged
to his late father. That marked the start of 192 days during which he
was unable to change clothes. His cell, which was meant to hold five
inmates, now held 20, afterward 15 and more recently 10. Most of them
slept on the floor.

On October 26, large forces of the Prison Service's Keter unit, a
tactical intervention unit, accompanied by dogs, one of them
unleashed, stormed into the prison. The wardens and the dogs went on a
rampage, attacking the inmates whose screams left the whole prison in
a state of terror, Abu Halil recalls. The walls were soon covered with
inmates' blood. "You are Hamas, you are ISIS, you raped, murdered,
abducted and now your time has come," said one warden to the
prisoners. The blows that followed were brutal, the inmates were
shackled.

 
Ketziot Prison, in May.  (Photo credit: Eliyahu Hershkovitz /
Haaretz)
The beatings became a daily affair. Occasionally the guards demanded
of prisoners that they kiss an Israeli flag and declaim, "Am Yisrael
Chai!" – "The People of Israel live." They were also ordered to
curse the prophet Mohammed. The usual call to prayer in the cells was
prohibited. The prisoners were afraid to utter any word starting with
the sound "h" lest the guards suspect they had said "Hamas."

On October 29, the supply of running water to the cells was halted,
except between 2 P.M. and 3:30 P.M. And each cell was permitted only
one bottle for storing water for an entire day. That was to be shared
by 10 inmates, including for use in the toilet inside cell. The doors
of the toilet were ripped off by the guards; the inmates covered
themselves with a blanket when they relieved themselves. To avoid a
stench in the cell, they tried to contain themselves until water was
available.

During the hour and a half when there was running water, the prisoners
allocated five minutes in the toilet to each cellmate. With no
cleaning supplies, they cleaned the toilet and the floor with the bit
of shampoo they were given, using their bare hands. There was no
electricity at all. Lunch consisted of a small cup of yogurt, two
small, half-cooked sausages and seven slices of bread. In the evening
they received a small bowl of rice. Sometimes the guards delivered the
food by throwing it on the floor it.

On October 29, the inmates of Abu Halil's cell requested a squeegee to
wash the floor. The response to that was to send the terrifying Keter
unit into their cell. "Now you will be like dogs," the guards ordered.
The prisoners' hands were cuffed behind their back. Even before they
were shackled, they were ordered to move only with their upper body
bent over. They were led to the kitchen, where they were stripped and
forced to lie one on top of the other, a pile of 10 naked prisoners.
Abu Halil was the last. There, they were beaten with clubs and spat
on.

A guard then started to stuff carrots into the anus of Abu Halil and
other prisoners. Sitting at home now, reciting his story, Abu Halil
lowers his gaze and the flow of words slows down. He's embarrassed to
talk about this. Afterward, he continues, dogs hunched over them and
attacked them. They were then allowed to put on their underwear before
being led back to their cell, where they found their clothes thrown
into a heap.

The loudspeaker in the room wasn't silent for a second, with curses of
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar or a sound check in the middle of the night
to the tune of "Get up, you pigs!" to deprive the prisoners of sleep.
The Druze guards cursed and abused in Arabic. They underwent checks
with a metal detector while naked, and the device was also used to
deliver blows to their testicles. During a security check on November
2 they were made to chant "Am Yisrael am hazak" ("The people of Israel
is a strong people"), a variation on a theme. Dogs urinated on their
thin mattresses, leaving an awful smell. One prisoner, Othman Assi
from Salfit, in the central West Bank, pleaded for more gentle
treatment: "I am disabled."The guards told him, "Here no one is
disabled," but agreed to remove his handcuffs.

Yet the worst was still to come.

November 5. It was a Sunday afternoon, he recalls. The administration
decided to move the Hamas prisoners from Block 5 to Block 6. The
inmates of cells 10, 11 and 12 were ordered to come out with hands
bound behind their back and the usual hunched-over walk. Five guards,
whose names Abu Halil provides, took them to the kitchen. Again they
were stripped. This time they were kicked in the testicles. The guards
would lunge at them and kick, lunge and kick, again and again. Nonstop
brutality for 25 minutes. "We are Bruce Lee," the guards proclaimed.
They shook them and shoved them around like balls from one corner of
the room to the other, then moved them to their new cells in Block 6.

Guards claimed that they had heard Abu Halil saying a prayer on behalf
of Gaza. In the evening the Keter unit entered his cell and began
beating everyone, including 51-year-old Ibrahim al-Zir from Bethlehem,
who is still in prison. One of his eyes was almost torn out from the
blows. The prisoners were then forced to lie on the floor as the
guards stepped on them. Abu Halil lost consciousness. Two days later
came another round of blows and he passed out again. "This is your
second Nakba," the guards said, referring to the catastrophe
experienced by Palestinians at the time of Israel's founding. One of
the guards struck Abu Halil on the head with a helmet.
 
Abu Halil.  (Photo credit: Alex Levac / Haaretz)
Between November 15 and 18 they were beaten three times a day. On
November 18, the guards asked which of them was Hamas, and no one
replied. The blows weren't long in coming. Afterward they were asked,
"Who here is Bassam?" Again, no one replied, because none of them was
named Bassam – and again the Keter unit was called in. They came
that evening. Abu Halil says that this time he passed out before being
beaten, from sheer fright.

Around this time, Tair Abu Asab, a 38-year-old prisoner died in
Ketziot Prison. It's suspected that he was beaten to death by guards
for refusing to bow his head as ordered. Nineteen guards were detained
for questioning on suspicion of having attacked Abu Asab. They were
all released without any charges.

In reply to a request for comment, a Prison Service spokesperson sent
Haaretz the following statement this week:

"The Prison Authority is one of [Israel's] security organizations, and
it operates in accordance with the law, under the strict supervision
of many oversight authorities. All prisoners are held in accord with
the law and with strict protection of their basic rights and under the
supervision of a professional and trained corrections staff.

"We are not familiar with the claims described [in your article], and
to the best of our knowledge, they are not correct. Nonetheless, every
prisoner and detainee has the right to complain via the accepted
channels, and their claims will be examined. The organization operates
according to a clear policy of zero tolerance of any action that
violates the values of the Prison Service.

"With regard to the death of the prisoner, you should be in touch with
the unit for the investigation of prison officers."

* Palestinian prisoners
[[link removed]]
* Israel-Gaza War
[[link removed]]
* Israel
[[link removed]]
* Gaza
[[link removed]]
* Palestine
[[link removed]]
* Hamas
[[link removed]]
* Hostages
[[link removed]]
* Benjamin Netanyahu
[[link removed]]
* Torture
[[link removed]]
* Torture Crimes
[[link removed]]
* war crimes
[[link removed]]
* Israeli prisons
[[link removed]]
* Occupied Territories
[[link removed]]
* West Bank
[[link removed]]
* Israeli Occupation
[[link removed]]
* Israel-Palestine
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]