Testimony from prison: unprecedented brutality against Palestinian detainees

An Arabic version of this testimony first appeared in the Institute for Palestine Studies and was translated by Basil Farraj and republished with permission.

This testimony is from our daily life in prison. I hastily prepared it amidst difficult imprisonment conditions, especially deliberate power cuts, a shortage of essentials like cigarettes, a lack of our basic necessities, and the general violent and unstable condition in which we are living.

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At a time when our people and the resistance in the Gaza Strip are facing an unprecedented fascist attack since October 7, comprised of genocide and forced displacement that has taken place under the scrutiny of the entire world and in a flagrant violation of all international conventions and norms that define the rules of war; at a time when our people in the West Bank and Jerusalem are facing repression, abuse, arrests, and massacres every day; at a time when our people in the ’48 occupied territory are facing continuous Israelization campaigns, plans to flood them with organized crime, arrest campaigns, and gagging; at a time when our people in the Palestinian diaspora are being pursued and deprived of their natural right to raise their voice against Zionist colonial fascism; at these times, we, in the “sixth Palestinian geography” (as coined by Dr. Abdul Rahim Al-Sheikh) — the prisons of the Zionist colonizers that span the entire homeland — are facing a brutal fascist attack, the first of its kind since the early years of operation of Israeli prisons following our second catastrophe in 1967.

This attack has rolled back all of our achievements in winning humane living conditions as prisoners, including food, drink, cleaning supplies, yard time, health care, family visitation, television, radio, access to books, pens, and notebooks, access to personal belongings such as clothes and family pictures, access to means of protection from the extreme cold of winter, and so on.

Prisoners are at the heart of ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’

The policies of slow death by Zionist colonialists are no longer a metaphor for the constant targeting of prisoners, whether in cells, interrogation centers, or in prisons. Rather, these have become part of a tangible reality, practiced daily and in various ways against all prisoners, including systematic torture and severe beatings. New prisoners, a considerable number of whom have been liberated and re-imprisoned since October 7, in addition to detainees from the Gaza Strip, particularly those who were working in ’48 occupied territory, are the main targets of these attacks.

As a result of these practices, six prisoners have been martyred, including Omar Daraghmeh, Arafat Hamdan, Abdel Rahman Marei, Thaer Abu Asab, Majed Zaqoul, and another prisoner from the Gaza Strip whose identity is not yet known. In addition, serious injuries have been inflicted upon dozens of prisoners, including elderly people, without receiving any treatment.

According to testimonies by a number of prisoners, the aforementioned severe beating is not only practiced by members of the repression units deployed in Ofer prison but also by members of the Israeli Prison Service. These practices include shooting rubber bullets and forcing new prisoners taken to Shin Bet and police interrogations to bend their backs and heads in an extreme manner. Whoever does not comply with these instructions is subjected to severe beatings!

Add to this a barrage of insults, curses, and provocations during the daily count and inspection of windows and floors, with the aim of pushing prisoners to respond and thus use excessive force in response. Aware of the intention behind such practices, the prisoners, however, maintain self-control to avoid being targeted or even killed.

It is clear that killing prisoners through torture and severe beating is now on the agenda of the Israel Prison Service, a translation of the policies promoted by the Minister of the so-called “National Security,” Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Israeli media revealed that the Zionist security services considered the launch of the assault on our people in the Gaza Strip was as good an opportunity as any to implement Ben-Gvir’s plan to crack down on prisoners and obliterate their achievements following decades of struggle. They are no longer afraid of the situation erupting as a result of the prisoners’ issue; it has already become explosive, since the slogan of “whitening all the prisons” is now at the heart of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation. Therefore, Palestinian prisoners have become targets for revenge.

Consequently, the Israel Prison Service no longer needs to employ what might appear as containment policies for managing prisoners. Instead, discourse and practice have shifted towards the use of an iron fist, emphasizing attempts to exert control through heightened force — a clear indication of a return to traditional methods of repression that were employed in the first years of the formation of the prisoners’ movement.

Central to this issue is the manifestation of direct “structural violence” involving torture, brutal beatings, and dog attacks. Additionally, indirect forms of torture are also practiced, perhaps best epitomized by the Israeli settler colonial authority’s callous approach of “let them die.” This is implemented through starvation, medical neglect, exposure to extreme cold, the denial of basic human necessities, and a suffocating siege on prisoners’ movement, in addition to other forms of violence and torture.

Collective punishment against freedom fighters

Feeling full is now outlawed by official decree! Today, Palestinian prisoners’ breakfast rations are limited to a spoonful of yogurt and a slice of tomato or bell pepper. Lunch is often a limited amount of undercooked rice, with a few grains of boiled lentils, corn, beans, or peas, and sometimes hot dogs or “schnitzel” that is added. Turkey is served raw, so the prisoners do not eat it. As for dinner, it is a spoonful of hummus, and sometimes an egg with a potato. Fruits have been prohibited since the onset of the aggression. Prisoners feel real hunger that runs through their veins. They try to silence it by eating a piece of bread and some water, if available.

The situation was different before the crackdown; political prisoners ran the prison kitchen, but at present, they are prohibited from doing so. Prior to the onset of the repression, food was prepared in cells using electric stoves, which were later confiscated. The significant shortage in the quantity and quality of food was compensated for by purchasing from the prison canteen, including fruits and vegetables that were sometimes permitted. Now, the canteen is closed, and transferring money to the prisoners [from their families] is prohibited, whether it is from their families or from the Palestinian Authority.

Water is the only drink prisoners are allowed to have, turning tea and coffee into a luxury item. The same is the case with cigarettes; the stockpiles previously held by prisoners have already finished.

Prisoners face collective punishment, including daytime electricity cuts in prison cells, and lights are only allowed to be turned on at night for surveillance and searches every half hour. This practice, like other procedures, reflects a vengeful mindset that is deeply rooted in authoritarianism and fascism. Yard time has also been restricted to a brief 15-minute window per cell, typically allocated for eight prisoners to shower, and for brief walks and limited interaction with prisoners in neighboring cells through the mesh of their iron doors.

We used to say that the settler colonial authorities practice a deliberate policy of “medical negligence.” Today, we need a different description, because medical care is completely absent. While prisoners suffering from chronic diseases still receive some of their medications every week, patients who suffer from emergency and seasonal diseases, such as influenza, cannot receive any medication, health care, or hospital treatment. They are, therefore, forced to manage by using medicine they might have been able to keep in their cells.

During the past weeks, general physicians did not visit the sections to examine sick prisoners. Furthermore, prisoners have become very reluctant to seek health care, despite their need for it, due to the apprehension that their trip to the clinic might turn into an excuse for physical abuse, which proves the settler colonial mindset of “let them die.” This logic has always underpinned the approach toward prisoners in open hunger strikes.

A policy of rationing has been adopted in providing the prisoners’ needs, including basic hygiene materials such as toilet paper, dishwashing liquid, shampoo, etc. Very limited amounts of these materials are provided from the closed canteen, at the expense of the prisoners. Moreover, prisoners are forbidden from keeping basic cleaning tools, such as brooms and floor squeegees in the cells!

Since October 7, prisoners’ organizational structures inside prisons have also been specifically targeted. Most notably, the prisoners’ struggle committees, national committees, canteen committees, and the representation of political factions and prison wards, have all been dismantled, and the prison administration refuses to currently engage with any form of collective representation for the prisoners, thus demonstrating the targeting of collective national action and the leadership of the various factions. Instead, the prison administration seeks to impose a system of individual treatment with prisoners in an attempt to go back 56 years in time.

Furthermore, the attack against prisoners includes the suspension of family visits in all prisons and the confiscation of televisions, radios, books, pens, notebooks, and all possessions, such as family photos, footwear, clothes — prisoners can keep one change of clothes — in addition to removing access to mirrors, outdoor games, cold water fridges, etc.

Collective punishment has also included keeping the windows of prison cells open despite the extreme cold and not returning the confiscated winter clothing to the prisoners. Cells’ possessions are limited to a mattress and one blanket at best, and some prisoners only have a light summer blanket. Shaving is also prohibited, and shaving tools have been confiscated.

Offering condolences to prisoners whose family members have been killed during this episode of genocidal war is also at the forefront of the restrictions against Palestinian prisoners. Such was the case with a father who was arrested alongside two of his sons while the third was martyred. This was also the case of another prisoner who lost his brother. Congregational prayer in the yards has also been banned.

The list of prohibitions and penalties stretches endlessly.

Prisoners are living under immense pressures, but they remain steadfast in the face of the prison administration and repression units that are prepared to exercise the utmost levels of abuse against them, especially since the prisoners are imagining the approach of their liberation. For the prisoners, nothing surpasses the beauty of long-awaited freedom.

Mahmoud Darwish says: “In prison, do not say that everything is over. In prison, you say that everything has begun. And the beginning is freedom.” The Palestinian freedom fighters affirm that the terrorist wave of attacks against them will not isolate them from their great people, who are paying a heavy price to achieve freedom, nor will it prevent them from thinking freely, which can break the most severe restrictions, just as Nelson Mandela used to say: “Nothing in prison is satisfactory except one thing: having time to meditate and think.”

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