Palestinians wait for release of prisoners

By  Sam Metz and Jalal Bwaitel, HBCU News

 Cheers erupted among Palestinians on Monday as Israel released nearly 2,000 prisoners under a Gaza ceasefire agreement that saw them exchanged for Israeli hostages freed by Hamas.
Large crowds greeted the freed prisoners in Beitunia in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Khan Younis in Gaza, flashing V-for-victory signs as they descended from International Committee of the Red Cross buses. In Beitunia, they were given traditional keffiyeh scarves as a show of nationalist pride. Some were lifted onto people’s shoulders. Others sank into chairs, exhausted.
“It was an indescribable journey of suffering — hunger, unfair treatment, oppression, torture and curses — more than anything you could imagine,” said Kamal Abu Shanab, a 51-year-old from the West Bank town of Tulkarem who was released after more than 18 years in prison.
His face was gaunt. He said he lost 139 pounds (59 kilograms) in prison. “We don’t recognize him. He’s not the person we knew. Our uncle doesn’t look like our uncle,” said his niece, Farah Abu Shanab.
A military court in 2007 convicted Abu Shanab of “military trainings, voluntary manslaughter and membership in an unrecognized organization,” according to Israel’s list of exchanged prisoners. He was arrested that year during an Israeli raid targeting members of the armed wing of Fatah, the political party that runs the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Those freed include around 1,700 of the several thousand Palestinians that Israeli troops seized from Gaza during the two-year war and have held without charge.
Also among those released were 250 Palestinians sentenced to prison terms, most of them convicted for deadly attacks on Israelis dating back decades, as well as others convicted on lesser charges, according to Israel’s Justice Ministry. Of those, Israel exiled 154, sending them to neighboring Egypt, where officials said they will be sent to third countries.
The rest were returning to homes in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
A profound moment
The releases have powerful resonance on both sides.
For Israelis, they’re deeply painful, since some of those released were convicted over attacks that killed civilians and soldiers. For Palestinians, the issue of prisoners is politically charged. Nearly everyone has a friend or family member who has been jailed by Israel, particularly young men.
While Israel views the prisoners as terrorists, many Palestinians consider them as freedom fighters resisting a decades-long Israeli military occupation. Reports from the U.N., rights groups and detainees detailing conditions while held — including isolation, beatings, insufficient food and illness — have made prisoners prominent symbols of their people’s political struggle.
Israel says it adheres to its prison standards under law and investigates any reports of violations.
In Khan Younis, thousands of people cheered and celebratory gunfire rang in the air. The freed Palestinians filed out wearing gray jumpsuits and entered the hospital for medical examinations.
Israeli forces detained thousands of Palestinians during the war in raids on shelters and hospitals and at checkpoints stopping families as they fled their homes amid military operations.
Families often had no idea their relatives had been detained, and it often took months to determine if they were in Israeli custody, if confirmation came at all. Most were held under laws passed in Israel at the start of the war that allowed Palestinians to be detained for months as “unlawful combatants” without judicial review or access to lawyers.
Monday’s release still leaves about 1,300 Palestinians from Gaza in Israeli custody, according to a count of detainees in September by the Israeli human rights group HaMoked.