4 Apr. 05
 
   New Report: One Big Prison  


B'Tselem and HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual have published a new report, "One Big Prison", which documents the ongoing human rights violations and breaches of international law inherent in Israel's restrictions on the movement of people and goods to and from the Gaza Strip. The report argues that even following disengagement, the government cannot avoid its responsibility for the Palestinians living in Gaza.

Israel relates to many fundamental rights - such as the right to movement, family life, health, education, and work - as “humanitarian gestures” that it grants to Gazans, and denies them whenever it wishes. Separating Gaza from the rest of the world splits many Palestinian families, even spouses. It is easier for Palestinian residents of Israel or the West Bank to visit a relative in jail than it is to visit a relative living in the Gaza Strip.

The report illustrates the sweeping criteria for imposing almost all the restrictions on freedom of movement, the failure of Israeli authorities to consider whether the individual indeed constitutes a security threat, and their failure to take into account the extent of the harm caused by the prohibition on movement, or whether less harmful means are available. In most cases when human rights organizations intervened, Israel withdrew the restriction rather than defend the problematic decision.

Over the past four years, the economic condition of residents of Gaza has declined to unprecedented levels. Most Gazans, more than a million persons, live in poverty, and almost one-quarter of them do not even reach the survival line, even with the help of the international aid they receive.

The report offers a legal analysis criticizing the government's claim that it will no longer be legally responsible for breach of the rights of residents of the Gaza Strip after disengagement.

 
Palestinians waiting for their relatives at the Rafah Crossing
Palestinians waiting for their relatives at the Rafah Crossing. Photo: Reuters

   
Summary of the report, DOC
 
   Israel expels Palestinian to Gaza; prevents another from leaving  


In 2000, on the eve of the intifada, the Samak family left the Gaza Strip to live in Zeita, a village north of Tulkarm in the West Bank. Israel refused to approve the change of address of the father of the family, Nidal Samak, and in 2003, expelled him to the Gaza Strip. Since then, Samak has been trapped in Gaza and has not seen his wife and children.

In her testimony, which appears in One Big Prison, Nidal's wife, Randa, said: “I began to submit requests to enter the Gaza Strip. I submitted four requests to the Palestinian DCO… Israel rejected all of them… It is terrible how we live… There are times that I don't have any food to feed my children. I live off the money I get from begging… Neither my husband nor I work… He is stuck in Gaza. He calles me twice a day. I don't know how much more we shall have to suffer before they let us live together.”

The report also presents the testimony of Muhammad Nassar, a 21-year-old student and resident of Beit Lehiya, in the Gaza Strip. He suffers from hemorrhoids and needs to undergo surgery that cannot be done in Gaza.

In 2003, after he was given an appointment at Tel Hashomer Hospital, in Israel, he submitted several requests for a permit to enter Israel. All were rejected. “I tried to travel to Egypt to undergo treatment there,” Nassar relates in his testimony. When he reached Rafah Crossing, his name was given to the Israeli side. The next day, he was notified that he was considered “prohibited for security reasons.” Nassar's testimony continues: “I looked at the list and saw a red "X" alongside my name. That same day, I went to the Ministry for Civil Affairs in Gaza, and told them that my request had been rejected. They said it might have been a mistake. So, on 11 December, I went back to the Rafah Crossing and submitted another request, but this time too, the Israeli side rejected it. The Palestinian DCO recommended that I request help from Israeli human rights organizations or from an Israeli lawyer.”

  
Randa Samak
Randa Samak. Photo: B'Tselem

Testimony of Randa Samak
Testimony of Sanaa Matsheh
 
   Police beat worker to force him to promise not to enter Israel  

Zakariya Baraq'a, 28, married with four children, is a construction worker from the al-‘Aida refugee camp, Bethlehem District. On 15 February 2005, after entering Jerusalem to work, Border Police officers stopped him. When they found that he did not have a permit to stay in Israel, they took him to the police station. After questioning, Baraq'a was told to sign a document in which he committed not to enter Israel. He refused.

In his testimony to B'Tselem, Baraq'a said that the interrogator “told me that if I didn't sign, they would detain me for three months… I argued with him and things heated up. He began to swear at me, and I cursed back at him. He got upset and stormed out of the room. After he left, two uniformed policemen came into the room… They took me to an empty, unfurnished room. They didn't ask me anything, but right away kicked me and hit me in the neck and back. I was on the floor all the time, and used my hands to protect my face. They beat me for ten or fifteen minutes. It felt as if my whole body was broken. When they stopped, they bound my hands with plastic cuffs, dragged me along the floor, and put me in the interrogation room. There was an interrogator there. He said, ‘What do you think. This time you'll sign the forms without philosophizing with me?' I refused to sign…”

Baraq'a was taken to another room, where he was kept alone for half an hour before being taken back to the interrogation room. “I was tired and my neck and back hurt. After about twenty minutes, two police officers I hadn't seen before took me to a car.” He was taken to the Etzion detention center, near Bethlehem, where he was kept for about an hour and a half. He was then taken for questioning, during which he was handcuffed. At the end of the questioning, he was again told to sign a document saying that he would not enter Israel. “I refused, and the policeman began to swear at me. Three policemen came into the room. They were big men. One of them said, ‘He doesn't want to sign. He'll see what he gets.' Immediately, the three of them jumped on me and began to kick and beat me all over my body, mostly my back and legs. They had heavy army boots on, and it hurt. I felt as if all my bones had been broken. They punched me in the face, causing my nose and face to bleed. It hurt so much that I thought blood was coming from my ears. They beat me for about half an hour non-stop, and then left the room. A policeman came in, helped me get up, and took me to a room with a sink. I washed my face. My nose and face were still bleeding. The policeman then took me into the corridor, and I sat down on one of the chairs. My whole body hurt a lot.”

After waiting about two hours, Baraq'a was returned to the interrogation room. “There was one interrogator. He said, ‘You don't want to sign the document and end the beating and the pain?' I refused to sign, and he left the room…” About fifteen minutes later, the interrogators released Baraq'a without him having signed the document.

“After about 500 meters, I stopped running and began to walk. I do not know how I managed to walk with all the pain I felt in my legs and back. I walked to the Beit Fajar intersection… A car with Palestinian plates came by… It stopped next to me, and the driver got out. When he saw my condition, he brought out a bottle of water, helped me wash my face, and drove me to al-Khadr. I walked across the dirt roadblocks between al-Khadr and Bethlehem and took a taxi to the ‘Aida Refugee Camp. As soon as I got home, I collapsed and lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was in the Beit Jala government hospital."

   


"They punched me in the face, causing my nose and face to bleed. It hurt so much that I thought blood was coming from my ears"

Zakaria Baraq'a

 
   
   
   
   
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