“I have turbulent feelings toward my wife. I love her yet I was forced to divorce her by the Israeli occupation. I mustered up all my courage and I did it” says Shu’aib Abu Snaineh a freed Palestinian detainee.
Shu’aib Abu Snaineh age 55 is a Palestinian from Silwan town in Occupied Jerusalem. He is a father of 5. He was married in 1990 and was detained by the Israeli occupation in 1998 after allegedly stabbing an Israeli soldier. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Abu Snaineh was freed in 2011 in an exchange between the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza and the Israeli occupation state and he was deported to the Gaza Strip. His family in Occupied Jerusalem is allowed to contact and visit him according to the deal.
Abu Snaineh thought that his freedom would end his pain but he never could have imagined the new chapter of Israeli vengeance has commenced upon his release. Abu Snaineh’s wife visited him three times before banning her from returning to him in Gaza. “My wife’s torment was exacerbated each time. Every time she would come they humiliated her at the Israeli checkpoint and crossing.” He continues “Not only that but they also summoned her more than 15 times asking her about her social life with me. She described to me the very painful and subjugated way they treated her during the interrogations. They also invaded my home in Silwan many times searching it and finding nothing but putting more pressure on my family to hate being connected to and dealing with me. And when my parents and brother came to visit me here they summoned them threatening them to not contact me again.”
After one visit Abu Snaineh’s wife discovered that she is pregnant. When she was due to give birth her husband asked her to go back to Silwan so that the baby will be born with the Jerusalemite ID because if he could not have it then he will never make it to Jerusalem again. So she returned to Silwan. But she wished that she didn’t know how much agony was awaiting her. After giving birth to her new baby boy in Bethanina hospital in Jerusalem the occupation authorities refused to issue him a Certificate of Birth. Abu Snaineh says “We sued them in the court and it was so expensive. We paid 6000 shekel and kept following up with the court until they approved his certification of birth after 13 months.”
Abu Snaineh’s wife was not only subject to torment from the occupation authorities but also from the neighbouring countries like Egypt and Jordan. In Egypt they dealt with her as unacceptable visitor so they deported her directly to Jordan.
After her last visit to Abu Snaineh the Jordanian authorities prevented her from entering Jerusalem through Jordan’s crossing for nonsensical reasons so she spent many days trying to convince them until she burst into tears begging the Jordanian soldiers. Finally they informed her that in order to be allowed to enter the occupied land she must sign a pledge promising not to return to the Gaza Strip. Subjugated to the pressure at the border she had no choice but to accept.
This incident proves collaboration and cooperation between the Israeli and Jordanian authorities; once she had crossed she made it through the Israeli side of the crossing very easily without facing interrogation because this time the Jordanian soldiers played the role of the Israeli occupation soldiers.
“We know that they use all forms of violence and subjugation in order to separate us but they will never broke our will” Abu Snaineh says. “I thought I am strong enough to bear more pain yet I never cried of anything harder than a call from my wife telling me that the occupation authorities summoned her again informing her that they will not deal with her and her children and her grandsons administratively until her husband divorces her.”
Abu Snaineh says “It was like a shock that came so quickly and struck so deep that the blow is internalized but I mustered up my power and I divorced her. I did this so that her life with my children will be happier and hopefully easier but I know that we will never enjoy happiness under the brutal occupation.”
Abu Snaineh’s deplorable story is the epitome of Israeli occupation barbarism and atrocity. There are so many such stories to be told yet these stories of Israeli cruelty never garner attention by the media.
– Wafa Aludaini is a Gaza-based journalist and activist. She contributed this article to the PIC.
