Dr Abusebah: On Palestinian Prisoners, 3rd Intifada, Al Aqsa

Dr Abusebah on Palestinian Prisoners, the 3rd Intifada, and Al Aqsa

June 25, 20120 comments

By Julie Webb-Pullman
24/06/12

As human rights group prepare to release a detailed update on the current situation of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli custody, I interviewed Gaza Minister of Detainee Affairs Dr Attallah Abusebah about his take on the situation, one month after the conclusion of the ‘Karameh Agreement’ between hunger strike leaders and the Israel Prisons Service (IPS). We also discussed the possibility of a third intifada, and the crisis facing Al Aqsa.

JWP: It has been reported that some prisoners have resumed or intend to resume their hunger strike because their administrative detention orders have been extended. Do you think that a resumption of the mass hunger strike is likely?

Dr Abusebah: I don’t expect it to get bigger because many of the demands have been met, or are about to be. All of the prisoners have been released from solitary confinement, including Dirar Abu Sisi, family visits are currently being organised, and strip searches have stopped. Administrative detention is still happening, though – Hassan el Safadi had his extended for another six months last week, although under the agreement he should have been released on 29 June. There needs to be continuing pressure on Israel by the International Committee of the Red Cross, to enforce this aspect of the agreement. Although the ICRC is only a human organisation, and can only talk, we hope that they will succeed in this.

JWP: Last week, scores of prisoners were reported to have been injured in a night raid in Eshell Prison. What is your comment on that?

Dr Abusebah: Israel prison staff are known criminals. Attacks on prisoners have been happening ever since the state of Israel began, they have never stopped. As long as there are Palestinian prisoners, there are attacks on them. It is a form of torture. They are beaten constantly, and subjected to the harshest physical punishment as a way to deter them from returning to the resistance when they are released.

JWP: It does not appear to have worked too well, judging by the number of ex-prisoners in the resistance.

Dr Abusebah: I was jailed five times by the Israelis, beaten, tortured – all my teeth were smashed out. It did not make me want to leave the resistance, it just made me even more determined. They use many methods, not just physical torture of the prisoners themselves. In the West Bank they attack prisoners’ families, breaking into their houses and smashing everything, demanding their mother and father report to the police station, keep them waiting for hours on the doorstep, then make them strip. What can they do? The only weapon the prisoners have to fight it is to hunger strike.

JWP: The situation in the West Bank does seem to be deteriorating rapidly – the New York Times reported on Friday that a third intifada is imminent. What do you think?

Dr Abusebah: Everything is possible. Israel is behaving worse every day, and Palestinians are refusing to take it. It is the same situation as existed in 1987 and in 2000 – Palestinians refusing and rejecting Israel’s behaviour which is also the same – taking land, destroying houses and olive trees, and attacking and trying to destroy one of our most holy sites, Al Aqsa Mosque. If there is a third intifada it will not be because it is media-initiated – the only reason will be because Palestinians have had enough. The weekly protests in Bil’in by international solidarity activists have motivated us to resist, having people support us encourages us to continue in our battle for justice.

JWP: The situation with Al Aqsa Mosque is also becoming critical, with repeated stormings by Israeli soldiers in military uniforms above, and excavations weakening its foundations below. Are there any efforts by international agencies such as UNESCO to protect this World Heritage Site?

Dr Abusebah: No-one is doing anything. Israel has been planning to destroy it for some time, they have taken over all the surrounding land and homes. There are only 20% of the Palestinians left in Jerusalem that were there before. And all of this is happening in front of the eyes of the world. UNESCO has condemned Israel many times for destroying this cultural heritage, as well as for destroying Nablus, but it has succumbed to pressure from the United States and Israel. I am sure that nothing will save Al Aqsa but the Arabic and Palestinian people – they are the only ones able to save it. Jerusalem is being destroyed.

It is timely, then, that in London and Manchester today, thousands of Palestinians are gathering for the 8th Annual Palestine Day organised by the Palestinian Forum in Britain, to confirm that Jerusalem is their main concern, and demand an end to its Judaization.

Translation by Mukarram AbuAlouf

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