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Palestinian report
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Merrick
Merrick
2148 posts

Re: Palestinian report - khaled pt2
Apr 14, 2002, 18:35
Etzion prison

Etzion prison is an expanse of asphalt squares surrounded by barbed wire. The tents are placed on a hill, and it is very cold at night. The site was a carpark and tank site. They put me in one of the tents, with 41 other people. The youngest was 16, from Ayda camp. The oldest was 65, from Beit Jala. This tent was for people from the Bethlehem area.

When you arrive, they tell you to sit down, but you can’t because you are cuffed. Then you’re kicked until you fall, often on one of the other people, or just onto the asphalt. And they laugh at you.

Rami, the Druze soldier, is in charge. He shouts in Arabic. He is about 20. He especially dislikes Palestinians. Once he pointed his gun at us and said that he would shoot us. He said he could just claim it was a mistake and no-one could do anything. Everyone was scared of him. He taunted me, saying that "if I was a journalist I could film it."

The food was tinned military rations, tuna or bully beef. They would open the can and put it in front of you, still blindfolded and handcuffed, and give you 30 minutes to eat it. When you try to reach out to eat, you can’t always find the right place, and when the half hour is finished you often haven’t eaten it all. You had to eat just with your fingers, picking the food out of the can. I refused to eat like this, telling them I was on hunger strike.

You had to ask to go to the toilet. Each time, you had to ask maybe 10 times. When you try to call, you’re told to shut up. When you really need to go, and call many times, you are kicked in the head and body. One of the prisoners wet himself and started to cry.

The Shin Bet officers interrogate you and take your id card. This is the first time that they take off your blindfold, and they take a photo of you with your id number. Then they take you back to the same place and things start again, with the soldiers kicking you, hitting and shouting. You don't know if it's day or night – you lose all feeling of time. The people who are on the wanted list are taken elsewhere, I don’t know where.

You must sleep where sit without blankets, people heaped on each other, and when you try to sleep they don’t let you stay asleep for long – they shout and wake you to make you get up. They make you stand if they think you are going to sleep. Sleep is just a few stolen moments. You couldn’t sleep at night – it was too cold, and the blankets on the ground smelt really bad. You couldn’t take off you shoes, and you are always being beaten and woken.

Release

When they decide to let you out, you may have to stay days to collect 40 or 50 people to fill a bus to take you to the DCO in Beit Jala. It’s a horrible bus journey, still blindfolded and cuffed. When you arrive at the DCO they just let you out into the curfew and tanks, so you may be re-arrested
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Palestinian report - khaled pt1 (Merrick)
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