Israeli military "justice"

Ofer army base, prison, and court

It is hard for international observers to get into an Israeli military court, but it is even harder for a Palestinian detainee to get out of one. Fellow EA Olli from Finland and I joined a dozen other international observers to attend a hearing today in Ofer, which is a huge army base, prison, and court near Ramallah.

We were following the case of Hassan Karajah, the youth coordinator of the Stop the Wall Movement, who was arrested at 2:30 a.m. on January 23 in his  home in the village of Saffa, near Ramallah. He was not allowed to see his lawyer for the first 20 days.  He has been held in solitary confinement in a windowless 6x6 foot cell, and the only time he sees the sun--or family--is when he is taken to court hearings. He is being held in a prison inside Israel, which is illegal under international humanitarian law.

Hassan Karajah (Photo by Palestine Monitor)

His 10-minute hearing today in a packed, trailer-like military court, was chaotic and farcical. The young military prosecutor said little, and the elderly military judge mainly shuffled papers. He drew a firm denial from Hassan when he suggested that the detainee has links to Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based Islamic militant group.

At the end of the hearing, the judge ordered Hassan held for an additional seven days to allow the prosecution time to prepare charges. His lawyer, Mahmoud Hassan, told us that when formal charges are filed, he will be able to request a copy of the evidence, which so far has been secret. The good news for the detainee is that his interrogation phase is over. He has reportedly been questioned over and over for up to 14 hours a day, shackled to a chair. The attorney said he may be able to request bail after the charges are filed.

Hassan's odds for acquittal under Israeli military "justice" are exceedingly slim. Official military court statistics report the rate of convictions is more than 99%!  The Adameer human rights organization says most defendants accept a plea bargain for a shorter sentence.

Hassan's seat on the defendants' box in the cramped court was only about six feet from his mother Hanan, and he was allowed to chat with her during the proceedings, which he may have tuned out because they were all in Hebrew. A soldier assigned to translate seemed to provide only sporadic explanations. Hassan's fiance Sundos was also there, but not close enough to chat. They were the only two family members permitted to attend the hearing, besides his brother Muhannad, an attorney who is part of his legal defense team.

First cage door to military court security

Family members waiting in the cage outside court security

It took us an hour and a half to get through the disorganized security process to enter the court. When we first got a guard's attention, he said, "Are you on the list?" When we replied affirmatively, he said, "Wait five minutes." After 30 minutes, we called the official who had approved the list. He said, "Give me five minutes." After 30 more minutes we were admitted through the first cage door to surrender our passports (with some trepidation) to the Israeli Prison Service and to get a key to a locker. There we deposited everything except the blank notebook, pen, and money for snacks that we were permitted to bring in the compound. We went back through the same door to a metal detector, which beeped even after we took out everything from our pockets. We then went through a turnstile to wait outside a blue solid steel door to be called individually for the next phase. Inside, I took everything out of my pockets for the second time, removed belt and boots, and got through the second metal detector without beeping. After I put on my belt and boots, I was sent to a closed room where I took everything out of my pockets for the third time and was given a very intrusive private "wanding," then released to follow the caged path to a courtyard where there is a comfortable waiting area with food service and toilets, right across from the six trailer-like courtrooms. Families and observers never know when their case will be called. They just have to wait. Sundos told me that one of the previous hearings was moved to a location where they were not permitted to attend at all.

If the Israeli Prison Service gives such a hard time to court visitors, I shudder to think how they may be treating the prisoners.

A "friendly" checkpoint

Students entering Zaytoun Checkpoint

The Zaytoun Checkpoint (called Hazeytim Checkpoint on the Israeli sign), down the steep hill east of the Mount of Olives, is for pedestrians only. Most of the persons crossing it during our spot check today were students.

Previous EAPPI teams said students were sometimes not allowed to go through to school if they did not bring their birth certificate, but were almost always allowed to pass if accompanied by an EA. Lately there have been no problems, and we did not see any today.

Woman and girls entering checkpoint

Greeting exiters

Empty waiting shed

There was a waiting shed across from the checkpoint that was empty because there were no lines. It took me eight minutes to transit the checkpoint, because I dallied a bit at the metal detector picking up dropped coins and trying to make sure I had the right belt. My EA partner was quicker. A Palestinian man confirmed that students have not been having problems, but he said it is hard to get a permit to come into Jerusalem for medical treatment.

Military watch tower next to checkpoint

Although the adjacent tower left no doubt about who is in control here, at least the signs with the rules ended on a courteous note. At the entrance, they said: "We wish you a safe and pleasant transit," and "May you go in peace and return in peace." At the exit, a sign said "Have a safe and pleasant visit."

That is very friendly but I am sure the Palestinians would be happier if the 45-year-old Israeli occupation ended and there were no more daily hassles because of movement restrictions in the name of security.

A helping hand for the Bedouins

A Roman Catholic order, the Comboni Sisters, is making a difference in the lives of about 450 Bedouin families facing forced relocation from their land east of Jerusalem. A Spanish nurse, Sister Alicia Vacas, has been working with Bedouins and refugees for five years. She says the order has organized five kindergartens and sent 25 young women to Italy to learn to be kindergarten teachers.

Sister Alicia

The Comboni Sisters  also operate mobile health clinics for the Bedouins, including one for women patients that has an all-female staff, since Bedouin women do not talk to men. The order is training 18 young women to be community health workers, and they have nearly finished the four-month course. Sister Alicia says women go to Jericho or Ramallah to have their babies, because to go to Jerusalem they would have to request a 24-hour permit two days in advance, and it's hard to predict the exact time of their delivery. She says one cultural health problem faced by Bedouins is congenital insensitivity to pain, because of their tradition of marrying first cousins.

Sister Alicia is personally impacted by the separation barrier because it runs right through the Comboni Sisters' property in Bethany. She and another nun who work in the West Bank live on that side of the barrier, and when she needs to visit the other nuns or go to Jerusalem, she has to go 11 miles around to go through an Israeli checkpoint.

The occupation's toll on children

Children ready for the party

Drum band

Palestinian children in a neighborhood just southeast of the old city of Jerusalem enjoyed a party today, hosted by the neighborhood cultural committee. They need some fun because of all the anxiety and stress they suffer daily because of the Israeli occupation.

Partial view of Al-Bustan

The event took place in the tent erected for the Friday prayers in Al-Bustan, a neighborhood of Silwan (see Feb. 15 blog). There were songs, poems, speeches, and skits dealing with the occupation. No police or soldiers came to mar the event.

A teenage drum band paraded down the hill and through the community, past many homes that are threatened with demolition by Israeli authorities to make way for an archeological park and more homes for Jewish settlers.

Fakhri Abu Diab and granddaughter Mirna

A member of the Al-Bustan Committee, Fakhri Abu Diab, says that every day his children and grandchildren ask him, "Are they going to come today to demolish our house?" He said that one child packed a bag with clothes and favorite toys to be ready. The children are frightened when they hear gunfire and police raids in the middle of the night.

Fakhri says this past week police arrested seven boys, and their parents had to pay fines of about $500 each to get them released. Two of them were restricted to their homes, so they could not attend school. Fakhri says the boys were falsely charged with throwing stones at police. They were only playing football, he said.

Amani Mousa Odeh 

One of the organizers of today's party, Amani Mousa Odeh, says her 13-year-old brother was arrested 33 times in the past four years! Part of the reason may be that her father is on the Al-Bustan Committee.

Ghaleb shows us new Jewish house in the Christian
Quarter. Palestinians across the street could
not get a permit for renovations.

Earlier today, we had a briefing and tour of the old city with Ghaleb Nashashibi, programs coordinator of the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center. The group is fighting demolitions, rezoning, and revocation of Palestinians' Jerusalem residency rights. He said Jews have been buying houses in the Muslim and Christian quarters and now account for about one-fourth of the old city's 55,000 inhabitants.

House bought (but not occupied) by
Ariel Sharon in the Muslim Quarter

The Arabic signs for this street in the Muslim Quarter call it the
 Shabi family compound, but Israeli authorities changed the name
in Hebrew and English to Little Western Wall, and Jews pray there

Beit Yakov Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter, destroyed by Jordan
in 1948, was rebuilt and reopened in 2010. But authorities have
refused permission to restore the adjacent mosque

Between a rock and a hard place

Nabi Samwil street

Life is difficult for the 250 Palestinians in the hilltop village of Nabi Samwil (The Prophet Samuel, whose tomb is there), because of their location. They are in the "seam zone" on the Israeli side of the separation barrier, adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Ramot, in Area C, which means total Israeli control. If they are caught working in Israel without a permit, which many of them have to do to feed their families, they can spend two or three months in jail--six months if they are repeat offenders.


Community activists Eid and Nawal Barakat met today with  Israelis to seek their support for bringing international attention to the village's plight and consider starting some demonstrations to relieve their restrictions on movement.

Eid Barakat, a contractor, and his wife Nawal, a teacher
and president of the Feminist Association

Eid showing picture of the part of the village
 demolished by Israel in 1971

Residents of Nabi Samwil have to go through a checkpoint to Ramallah for shopping, and Eid told a sad story of his family's attempt to return last year with a bag of barley. Soldiers at the checkpoint refused to let him bring it in, saying that he had bread, eggs, and meat, and didn't need the barley. He says the border police pushed him, and his 16-year-old son said "don't push my father" and got sprayed with gas. Eid and his son were both handcuffed and detained from 6 p.m until 4 a.m., and were released on bail pending trial. Eid is still waiting for the photos from the checkpoint security camera that he requested to prove that his  behavior was nonviolent, and he cannot get a permit to go to Jerusalem.

Nabi Samwil's playground and store

Israeli authorities have demolished additions to Eid and Nawal's home three times, and many  houses in the village have received demolition orders for their additions, which could be executed at any time. It is virtually impossible for Palestinians to get a permit to build in construction in Area C.

A Nabi Samwil family enjoys a water pipe

Because of the village's location, Eid says that "we feel like we are under arrest and nobody is taking care of us. We would like Israel to let us in, or to be placed under the Palestinian Authority."

Nowhere left to go

Eid Abu Khamis

The spokesman for the nomadic Jahilin Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar, Eid Abu Khamis, is excited about his invitation from the  New York Peace Film Festival. On March 10 he will present the short documentary, "Nowhere left to go," about his community's battle against forced relocation to make way for expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are contrary to international humanitarian law. You can see the film at www.jahalin.org. It will be his first visit to the United States.

Speaking to EAs and other foreign visitors today in his comfortable but smoky tent, he said this week settlers in vehicles had chased Jahalin boys who were herding animals on the adjacent hill.

We listened again to the community's story that Eid shared today, and one of his phrases really struck me: "This is the only place in the world where they want to move people next to a garbage dump."

Jahalin children entranced by storyteller

As part of a European Union project to develop the Bedouin children's creative thinking, a storyteller today at the "tire school" gave an animated rendering that fully engaged about a dozen of them.

The community is living with the threat of forced relocation in June, at the end of the school year.

Israelis against the occupation

Vered and Roee at the Women in Black vigil

I did not see the violent clashes in the old city of Jerusalem today that may have made news at home, but I did see something new today: an "American Indian" boy at the weekly vigil of the Women in Black in Israeli West Jerusalem. He was actually a five-year old Israeli boy named Roee, dressed up for the Jewish holiday of Purim, which commemorates the deliverance of the Jews from the Persians thanks to Esther. I saw several costumed children, but Roee was the only one with the Women in Black. His mother, Vered, said she has been in the weekly protest for 10 years. She says she started because "I wanted to change the situation.We want to stop the occupation." There were fewer demonstrators and passersby today, perhaps because of the holiday weekend. There were the usual hecklers and the lone woman counter-demonstrator across  the street. For more on the Women in Black, see my blog of February 8.

Sheikh Jarrah demonstration

A couple of the Women in Black were also present, as usual, at a larger weekly demonstration in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of  East Jerusalem to protest the eviction of Palestinian refugees. Unlike the silent protest of the Women in Black, here there was chanting and singing. About half of the demonstrators were Israelis, and half Palestinians.

Just one block from the demonstration   lives the family of Mohammed Shamasneh, which is threatened with eviction next Friday if the Supreme Court rejects his appeal for a new delay.

Mohammed Shamasneh

Ten people in the house could become homeless: Mohammed, his wife, his parents, four sons, and two daughters. He says his family has rented the house since 1964, and his father signed a lease in Hebrew, which he did not understand. He says the owners want to evict them to make room for more Israeli settlers. I asked him where they will go if evicted next week. He said, "We have no alternative plan."

Hundreds of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem are fighting eviction orders.

Final "postcards" from Bethlehem

Here are the remaining pictures I want to share from those I took during my three days off in Bethlehem...

A very friendly family climbing the stairs to go shopping

Fruit in the main market

Typical shopping street

Corn vendor. It was delicious!

Star on Star Street. Syrian Orthodox Church atop steps.

Alley art

Traditional wedding dress in Old Bethlehem Museum.
Note gold coins in headdress.

Cooking utensils in recreated kitchen in Old Bethlehem Museum.
Note white "fridge" hanging from ceiling.

Photos of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The pole is on busy Paul VI Street

When leaving Bethlehem, I walked through Checkpoint 300, which took about 15 minutes even though there were no crowds at the time. I set the metal detector off after removing all that I thought might cause it to beep, and as I pondered what else to remove, the men behind me, anxious to move on through, said "just show them your passport." I was loath to take special privilege as an international, but I did not want to hold the men up, so I did it, and was waved through despite the beep. A Palestinian woman behind me did not have that option. When the machine beeped on her, she had to go back and take off her boots.

Blue entrance along the separation barrier to Checkpoint 300

The Bethlehem EAPPI team told me that this checkpoint serves more people with fewer metal detectors and more delays than Qualandiya Checkpoint, the one our Jerusalem team monitors. They do one more monitoring visit per week at Checkpoint 300 than we do at Qalandiya. They also visit refugee camps, which are sometimes the scene of confrontations with authorities, and they are making contact with 17 Palestinian villages, some of which say they cope with with raw sewage dumped on them by Israeli settlements. Most visitors to Bethlehem are sadly unaware of the reality of the occupation.

"Postcards" from Bethlehem

Before I start showing some of my "postcards" from Bethlehem, here is an update on a project I described in my blog of October 26, 2012 (see "older posts"). I called Daoud Nassar of the Tent of Nations, which my church  supports. He told me that although the court rejected their appeal of the demolition order, they are working under new rules to submit a permit application with fresh plans by next Tuesday, February 26, so that they can buy more time. The U.S. and German consulates have been asked to help. Daoud says, "In the end, we will prevail." 

Here are some images of Bethlehem, beginning with the most-visited site...

Humility door to the Church of the Nativity, added in the Ottoman era

Star over traditional site of Jesus' birth

Nativity scene in Milk Grotto, where according to legend, a drop of Mary's milk
 turned the stone white

Image of nursing Mary in Milk Grotto

Mosque of Omar, honoring a seventh-century Muslim promoter of religious tolerance

Salesian church

Greek Catholic Church

Christmas Lutheran Church

Bethlehem University

That's enough "postcards" from Bethlehem for today. I'll post the rest tomorrow.