"Breaking Chains"
Last week, I watched CNN speak about the hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas, and here is what they said about the Palestinian prisoners being released. "Out of 150 being released, 39 are women and the rest are males age 18 and below, who have ties to Hamas or other militant groups." If you catch the play on words here, they used "males" instead of teenagers, kids, or children. Making a blanket statement they all have ties to terrorism, is not only inaccurate and wrong, but it further dehumanizes the Palestinians. Sure, some in prison do have ties to Hamas and militant group, but this is not the majority. Many have said the Israeli government labels every Palestinian a terrorist, and quite often America does too.
Jordanians were very happy the Israeli hostages Hamas released are home and safe. It was great to see them all in good health and it appears they were all well taken care of. Many of them as they left, were saying thank you and goodbye to the members of Hamas who dropped them with the Red-Cross which can be seen in the video footage.
Western media, including President Biden has dismissed the Palestinian prisoners as an afterthought, inferior in value, and they are not seen as individuals who also have names and stories. Many here are calling them “Israel’s hostages,” due to the fact so many are arrested and left in prison for minor charges or no charges at all. On the original list of 300 Palestinians that were being considered to be released, 270 of them are teenagers or kids under the age of 18, 230 have never been convicted of a crime, and 4 of them are under the age of 14.
Did you know, Israel is the only country in the world that tries children in military court? At least only the Palestinian children. The most common charge against Palestinian children is for stone throwing, and this offense is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison. If they are even tried in a court of law, because many sit in prisons as detainees, with zero charges against them for at least 6 months and sometimes indefinitely. Some of these children are as young as 12 years old. If their case does get to court, 99% of the time the courts rule against the Palestinian, according to Jessica Montell, Executive Director of Jewish Israeli human rights group HaMoked. Israeli forces detain, prosecute, and imprison 500-700 children each year.
For context, sex offenders in the US are often given less jail time than a Palestinian child throwing stones.
Here is just a few of their stories.
Laith Othman is a 17-year-old who was released in the prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel. Laith was detained earlier this year, that means there are still no charges against him, which means he is being held on suspicion only, of "throwing an incendiary device." Laith reported that inside the prison, he spent much of his time in solitary confinement, and recently they were starving him and other child prisoners. He stated in an interview they did not have beds or even blankets in their cells and the conditions were incredibly difficult.
Marah Bkeer who is now 24 years old, was arrested when she was a 16-year-old high school girl from Sheikh Jarrah. On October 12, 2015, Marah was making her way home from school when Israeli forces shot her and then arrested her on charges of attempting to stab an Israeli officer. Marah has vehemently denied the accusations. When she was arrested, Marah was on the ground and had 12 gunshot wounds to her arm and hand. This has left her permanently disabled. Marah was sentenced to 8 and a half years of prison. She had served all but 4 months, when she was released on Friday in the hostage exchange. After the attacks on October 7, Marah was moved to another prison and put in solitary confinement. For 6 weeks, she was not permitted to communicate with anyone inside or outside of the prison.
Amani Hashim is a 32-year-old who was freed on Friday. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison for getting "too close" with her vehicle in the proximity of Israeli soldiers in 2016 and has been in prison ever since. She was accused of trying to run them over, and Israeli forces fired bullets at her and her car at a checkpoint. Amani is the mother of two children. I saw her interview live on Al-Jazeera right after she was released, and she reminded me of so many lovely women I know here in Jordan. She spoke with such kindness and seemed to be completely at peace in her life. The fortitude of these people continues to astound me.
Malak Salman was arrested when she was 16 years old and spent 8 years in prison, with only one month left. She was imprisoned for being caught carrying a knife in her bag after being stopped near the Damascus Gate. IDF soldiers demanded a search of her bag and they found the knife. They charged her with intent to stab an Israeli soldier. She reported like many others who have been released, the conditions in prison became even worse and they were subjected to beatings, denied food and clean drinking water since the attacks by Hamas on October 7.
Aseel Al-Titi is a 23-year-old girl who was arrested almost a year and a half ago while visiting her brother in prison. She was blamed in an altercation with a guard who had asked Aseel to undergo a humiliating physical search. Israeli media reported she tried to stab a guard with a pair of scissors, but her family claimed she had only pushed the guard. She was also released in the past few days as part of the exchange.
Ahmed Manasra was not part of the prisoner exchange, but his family has been pleading and hoping he will be. Ahmed is a Palestinian boy from Jerusalem who was arrested at the age of 13, after he watched his cousin die in front of him. Ahmed and his cousin were accused of stabbing Jewish settlers on Oct 12, 2015. The mob of settlers shot his cousin Hassan and beat Ahmed, fracturing his skull and then running him over with a car. He was arrested and Israeli forces interrogated him without a lawyer or his parents present---this is quite common. There are viral videos of all of this online. At that time, it was illegal to try kids under 14 in a court of law, so the government waited until he was 14. Ahmed is serving a 9-and-a-half-year sentence in prison and has been held in solitary confinement for years. He has now been diagnosed with schizophrenia, sever severe depression and suicidal thoughts due to the extreme human rights abuses against him. Even though the court knew Ahmed was not involved with the stabbing, he continues to sit in prison serving this sentence. Reports have said teenagers in Israeli prisons are usually held in 3 by 5-foot cells for 23 hours a day. He has been denied family visits, medical care, and has been beaten and tortured. Many international rights groups have called for his release, but he continues to sit in prison since the age of 13.
At the release of Palestinian prisoners, the IDF declared Palestinians were to have no celebrations, threatening arrests if caught. There was to be no flying of the Palestinian flag, and they raided many of the homes of the families of prisoners being released. Amani Hashem’s family reported they even took the sweets and pastries from their home. I think the greater question the world should be asking is, why are so many kids arrested, detained and imprisoned every year by Israel? And why are kids that young being subjected to extended time in solitary confinement, beatings, torture, sexual assault (as has been reported by human rights groups and prisoners themselves), and near starvation?
