Even as I write the Israeli authorities are tormenting Palestinian women being held in Damon Prison by the occupation state. Israel is waging a brutal campaign against them an extension of its policy of aggression and terrorism against the Palestinian people in occupied Jerusalem and its neighborhoods who are threatened by displacement and illegal settlers attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque the Judaization of Muslim and Christian holy sites and arrests across the West Bank.
It is also an extension of the ongoing Israeli siege against our people in the Gaza Strip who face regular armed incursions by the so-called Israel “Defense” Forces as well as massive military offensives. The Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip are deprived of the most basic rights to a decent life.
The attack launched by the Israeli Prison Service against female prisoners in particular is an attack on the dignity of the Palestinian people because our women represent our honor and dignity. It is a cowardly attack and should be condemned by all reasonable people. It is part of a Zionist policy which mandates the abuse of male and female prisoners alike who continue to confront their Israeli jailers with strength and defiance.
Forty Palestinian female prisoners from various cities in the occupied West Bank Jerusalem the Gaza Strip and our land occupied since 1948 are icons of the Palestinian struggle against the Israeli occupation. They are a strong shield held by the Palestinians in the battle for liberation and our legitimate right to return.
Conversely Israel’s attack on our women reflects the moral weakness and defeatism that guides the occupation state and its government in light of the heroic resistance of our people in the West Bank and Jerusalem against the occupation and its illegal settlers.
The steadfastness of our people in the besieged Gaza Strip and their resistance has inflicted one defeat after another on the Israelis. The latest was in the Sword of Jerusalem battle in May which illustrated Israel’s inability to impose itself on the resistance groups. That is one reason why the Zionist cowards are tormenting Palestinian women prisoners.
The Israelis beat our women and torture them in defiance of international laws conventions and humanitarian norms. We have a duty to demand international intervention from governments and human rights organizations to stop these Israeli violations against female prisoners.
What is required by the Palestinians is to step up to the mark of our national responsibility and work within a united national program to confront the Israeli occupation and reject security coordination with those who attack us and abuse our women. The Oslo Accords have failed to achieve anything tangible for the Palestinians and should be abandoned.
Such a national program based on resistance and adherence to the constants of our people is the quickest way to end the Israeli occupation and achieve our aspirations including the liberation of our land and the return of all Palestinians. This right is guaranteed under international law.
There is also a central role for the Palestinians in the diaspora. Solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners especially our women is essential. Their plight needs to be raised in international forums and exposed for the whole world to see.
Furthermore the Arab and Muslim nations must take up their own pivotal role in the struggle to support the people of occupied Palestine especially the prisoners held by Israel. Normalization of links between Arab countries and the occupation state must be questioned and challenged. Projects which seek to make the state a natural entity in the region at the expense of legitimate Palestinian rights must be blocked.
International support is a great morale booster for the Palestinian prisoners. When they read about solidarity events or see them on the TV news their determination is strengthened. That is why whenever attacks on prisoners take place the Israeli prison authorities remove televisions and radios from cell blocks cutting off the connection with the outside world.
We have confidence that the Palestinian prisoners will be able to stand up to the latest Israeli attack secure in the knowledge that they are being supported by a unified Palestinian Arab and Muslim position in the struggle for their rights. That must be the case until they regain their freedom from Israel’s brutal military occupation.
– Hisham Abu Mahfouz is a Palestinian activist and deputy secretary general of the popular conference of Palestinians Abroad. His article appeared in MEMO.
