Qalandiya Military Checkpoint The Xavierite
Since Oct. 7, Israeli Occupation Forces have been conducting mass arresting campaigns all over Occupied Palestine which have resulted in the detainment of over 9,000 Palestinians.
While many address those in Occupation jails as prisoners, I like to refer to them as hostages, as they were taken without just cause or reason. Many Palestinians hostages are taken by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) for protesting and/or posting on social media in support of Gaza. Others are arrested for simply existing as Palestinians.
It goes without saying that Israel does not care about your religion, political stance, or where in Palestine you are from. Every Palestinian is a criminal in their eyes.
It is the tenth day of Ramadan 2024, and for Palestinians in Occupation jails, that means different things; some might be spending their first, second, fifth, tenth, and for some it is their fortieth Ramadan in Occupation prisons.
It is no secret that Palestinians held hostage in Israeli jails are exposed to more extreme torture than a human can possibly go through. For starters, Palestinian hostages are exposed to religious discrimination and oppression by their captors which includes them banning the call to prayer inside their cells. According to a letter smuggled out of Ofer Military Detention Center in February 2024, Palestinian prisoners claim that Israeli forces have confiscated their watches, preventing them from telling the time.
This might seem like a rather trivial act, because why would they need to tell the time? The answer is so that Palestinian hostages may calculate and estimate prayer times so they may pray. Since it is Ramadan, every Muslim engages in increased acts of worship and prayer, and preventing Palestinians from their right to practice religion freely is abhorrent.
Moreover, due to the fact that they do not have access to their watches, Palestinians in Occupation jails cannot tell the time to start or end their fasts.
The smuggled letter, which has since been published online states, “…we have a request that we hope will not be too burdensome for you. We wish for our people in Beitunia and Rafat to raise the call to prayer or to place loudspeakers near us. The jailer has confiscated our watches and has banned the call to prayer in the prison, so we do not know the time for prayers, O our loved ones.”
The villages mentioned in the letter, Beitunia and Rafat, are in the Occupied West Bank and are closest in distance to Ofer Prison.
Prior to Ramadan 2024, it was reported that Palestinian detainees were subject to extreme forms of human rights abuse such as medical neglect, rape, starvation, and lack of clean water.
Palestinian detainees were banned from family visits, using radios for news, going outside, taking showers, limited to only one hour of bathroom time a day, and a clean change of clothes. Additionally, prison cells are overcrowded and oftentimes hostages sleep on the cold cement floor without blankets.
It is worth addressing that the International Red Cross has also been denied access to Israeli prisons so they are unable to check or report on the inhumane conditions of them.
Upon the release of Palestinian hostages during the temporary ceasefire in late November 2023 between Hamas and Israel, Palestinians gave testimony on the inhumane conditions of the prisons and the torture they had faced.
According to the Defense for Children International–Palestine, a child inmate stated, “The room, housing eight children, received one meal a day consisting of a plate of rice insufficient for one person.”
It’s worth noting that since Oct. 7, 13 Palestinians have risen to martyrdom in Occupation jails as a result of inhumane treatment and medical negligence.
Given such evidence of abuse of human rights, how are Palestinians in Israeli detention centers supposed to engage in worship and fast properly, if at all?
Just as Palestinians in Gaza are facing starvation and human rights violations, Palestinians in Occupation jails are as well. Just as Palestinians are actively targeted for expressing their religious beliefs in Occupied Jerusalem, Palestinian in Occupation jails are as well.
These are the recollections and statements of only a few Palestinian hostages in Occupation prisons, and they do not nearly begin to tell the story of what thousands of others may be facing.
We must keep our Palestinian brothers and sisters suffering in Israeli detention centers in our minds and continue to advocate for them, as they are often overlooked or dismissed.
Palestinians are not criminals and do not deserve to be treated as such. Palestinians deserve to live, observe their religion, and die in dignity, freedom, and peace.
Free our prisoners. Free them all.