Most times, I really hate to do this. I hate to have to bring things like this to your attention. I hate that things like this even exist, or that you will spend the evening resisting the urge to replay this in your head.
The twenty second clip above shows Israeli soldiers wrestling a Palestinian boy to the ground. You can hear him shouting for the beating to stop. “Khalas,” he says. “Khalas.” A soldier punches him in the face. His head hits the concrete floor. He’s identified later as 17-year-old Hasan Al-Afifi.
The worst sound is the thud you hear when two human beings make contact, forcefully. The soft clap that precedes it acknowledges that contact has been made. Skin on skin. The thud that comes next screams of a vague but sharp pain. And while you may not literally hear a scream, the agony is there. You know it’s there because you feel it in your gut where it lingers.
Israeli special military forces raided the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem today. Hasan, who had been standing outside of his home uninvolved in any confrontations, was beaten and his mother, who had attempted to shield her son, was teargassed. He was sent to an interrogation complex. She passed out.
Visit the Electronic Intifada for more detailed coverage.
Forcing a C-section in prison: Israel’s systematic abuse of Palestinian women
The world has taken a keen interest lately in the status of women in the Middle East. Initially, the emphasis seems to have followed the Western narrative that Arab men inherently hate Arab women. The discourse, however, is shifting rapidly as more and more people are beginning to identify the sources—overwhelmingly institutional and political rather than religious—of gender inequity. So why aren’t people calling into question Israel’s treatment of Arab women? Does this flagrant dismissal of the female agency not qualify for anything? Samar Isbeh’s disturbing experience in the pit of an Israeli jail forces open these questions once and for all.
Samar Isbeh, now 28, was arrested and detained six years ago by Israeli authorities for participating in student protests at the Islamic University. She was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and her husband, who played no role in the protests, was arrested two days later and sentenced to nine months behind bars.
Samar and her Tulkarm-based husband married just three months before their incarcerations. Samar was a few weeks into her first pregnancy when Israeli soldiers entered her husband’s home and carried her away.
For 66 days, Samar was held in an underground cell in solitary confinement. According to her interview with RT News, she was tortured and humiliated in a variety of ways. At times, the cell was made unbearably cold, posing a severe health risk to Samar and her unborn child. Israeli prison guards also forced her to “balance” on a children’s chair. Although “balance” is unspecified, it is logical to assume it was uncomfortable and dehumanizing. Maybe it was a sick joke, having a pregnant woman interact with children’s toys that her unborn child might never get a chance to play with if her abusers continued unchecked. [Read more...]