[NYTr] Palestinian political prisoners defy occupation courts, prisons

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Workers World - Sep 13, 2007 issue
http://www.workers.org/2007/world/palestine-0913/

Palestinian political prisoners defy occupation courts, prisons

By Greg Butterfield

Attorney Charlotte Kates co-chairs the Middle East Subcommittee of the
National Lawyers Guild. She’s also an organizer with Al-Awda NY and New
Jersey Solidarity-Activists for the Liberation of Palestine.

In early August, Kates participated in a delegation to Palestine
co-sponsored by Al-Awda and the Palestine Solidarity Group of Chicago,
in conjunction with the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees and
other grassroots organizations. Workers World spoke with Kates about
her experience.

Workers World: What was the purpose of the delegation?

Charlotte Kates: There was a strong focus on Palestinian political
prisoners. Eight activists from a variety of backgrounds participated.
Three were attorneys and there were others who work on political
prisoner issues. Two delegates had worked in the Irish movement,
including one currently living in Ireland who works with former IRA
political prisoners.

We had several meetings with former political prisoners to find out
what was happening inside Zionist jails. At the same time, we also met
with activists in other spheres of life: youth organizers, women
organizers, agricultural and labor activists. Almost universally,
everyone we met with had spent some time in an Israeli jail or
administrative detention.

Over 25 percent of all Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza
since 1967 have spent time in Zionist jails, either as political
prisoners or administrative detainees, which is a form of political
imprisonment where they never have to present charges against you or
classify why you’re being held and you never receive a trial.

We also learned that Palestinians who hold Israeli citizenship and live
within the borders of Palestine 1948 are subject to similar repression.

There’s a myth that the Israeli regime has moved beyond torture, that
the high court has forbidden it, so there is now a more enlightened
policy. But the reality is that when one form of torture is
specifically outlawed, the government moves on to other, psychological
tactics, that leave no marks on the body but can be physically and
psychologically damaging.

We heard time and again about the methods that were used in an attempt
to break prisoners’ spirits: threats to family members, the use of
stress positions, sleep deprivation, loud music, light. It’s very
similar to what the U.S. has been reported to engage in at Guantánamo,
Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.

One thing that was really amazing was that despite these horrible
experiences universally shared by Palestinians under interrogation,
they organized, spoke with their fellow prisoners, and once released,
they continued organizing. The prison itself became a school for
struggle.

WW: Were you able to meet with any current political prisoners?

CK: We were not able to go into any of the jails. But on Aug. 8 the
three of us who were attorneys were able to attend the trial of
Palestinian national leader Ahmad Sa’adat at Ofer military facility
outside Ramallah. This was arranged by Addameer, the Palestine prisoner
support network.

Sa’adat is the general secretary of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine. He was kidnapped by the Israeli army on March
14, 2006, after a 10-hour siege on a Palestinian Authority prison in
Jericho. Sa’adat, four of his PFLP comrades and another prisoner were
being held there under guard by U.S. and British forces.

Sa’adat was elected to succeed Abu Ali Mustafa, who was assassinated by
an Israeli missile attack in 2001. Fighters from the PFLP’s military
wing killed an extremist racist Israeli minister, Rehavam Ze’evi, in
retaliation. From that time, the Zionist government had maintained that
they sought to try Sa’adat for what they termed the murder of Ze’evi.

But after five years, Israel’s Ministry of Justice was forced to admit
there was no evidence to pursue the charge. Instead they came up with
19 charges against Sa’adat which are very political in nature—things
like being a member of a banned organization, holding a post in an
illegal organization, and incitement for making a speech after
Mustafa’s assassination.

The trial has been postponed numerous times. The prosecution has a list
of 39 witnesses. These are political prisoners who are put on the stand
and don’t have anything to say. They don’t even know they’re being
taken to Sa’adat’s trial. They’re taken out of their cells at 2 o’clock
in the morning, put in a van, taken to Ofer and brought into the
courtroom.

The prosecutors start barking at them and try to get some kind of
incriminating statement by asking questions like, “How did you meet
Sa’adat?” and “What is his position?” One witness said he knew who
Sa’adat was because he’d seen him on the news.

Three military judges were seated at the front of the room and barked
out when they heard people translating the proceedings in the back,
telling them to be quiet. At the end of the hearing, one judge said to
a prosecutor, in a very buddy-buddy tone, “Why are you bringing all
these witnesses? We don’t need them.” The implication was clear:
they’ve already made up their minds.

While we observed this hearing, Sa’adat was seated in a box to our
right. His feet were shackled. He would pay attention to the
proceedings only when another Palestinian prisoner was on the stand.

Sa’adat has maintained throughout that he absolutely refuses to
recognize the legitimacy of these courts. He refuses to stand for the
judge. His attorneys observe and compile very detailed notes, but they
will not participate in what is at its core an illegitimate process
with no authority to pass judgment on Sa’adat or any other Palestinian.

WW: Did you see a connection between Palestinian prisoners and
political prisoners held by the U.S.?

CK: Right now, the U.S. maintains a military prison at Guantánamo Bay
on the basis of secret hearings devoid of any real process. The
so-called war on terror has been the justification for holding hundreds
of men there, in addition to thousands of people being held in
Afghanistan, Iraq and secret CIA detention around the world.

Much as the Israeli military courts are illegitimate forces of
occupation, we see the same thing at Guantánamo, which is occupied
Cuban territory. It’s a prison camp for the international political
prisoners of the U.S.

Increasingly we hear Guantánamo called a stain on U.S. history. But
political imprisonment is nothing new here. There are many political
prisoners, from Mumia Abu-Jamal and other veterans of the Black
Liberation Movement to the Puerto Rican Liberation Movement and other
struggles for social justice. It’s certainly nothing new for U.S. proxy
regimes like Israel.

Every day U.S. taxpayers are spending between $10 and $15 million to
support the Israeli state. We’re paying for the trial of Ahmad Sa’adat.
We’re paying for the detention and imprisonment of 11,000 Palestinian
political prisoners, just like we’re paying for the detention of
thousands of Iraqis and the ongoing abuse of hundreds of men at
Guantánamo. The torture is the same, the abuse is the same, and the
injustice is the same.

We must confront head-on the responsibility the U.S. has for the
political imprisonment it’s engaging in and supporting and paying for
around the world.

There’s an international campaign to free Ahmad Sa’adat and all
Palestinian political prisoners. Sa’adat’s trial has been postponed
again and is scheduled to reconvene on Nov. 4. The campaign is asking
people to get involved, hold events, send letters and write statements
to raise awareness about his case. Please visit www.freeahmadsaadat.org
or email info at freeahmadsaadat.org for information.

To host a speaker from our delegation, please contact
info at al-awdany.org. Articles copyright 1995-2007 Workers World.
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