AMMAN: On his way to a European Federation of Journalists meeting in Bosnia in April 2016, Omar Nazzal — an elected member of the Palestinian Journalists Union — was stopped by the Israelis at King Hussein Bridge and was turned over to Israeli prison authorities. For 11 months he was held without charge or trial, despite an international outcry for his release.
Ismael Hamdi, a law student at Al-Quds University, was sleeping in his home in Dheisheh refugee camp — in an area that is supposed to be under Palestinian control — when Israeli soldiers broke in and took him. He has been held under administrative orders without charge or trial.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Clubs says there are 750 journalists, students, intellectuals and elected parliamentarians held by Israel administratively. Although they are not charged with any crime, Israel deems them “terrorists” who should not receive any financial support from the Palestinian Authority (PA). Israel refuses to negotiate without the PA stopping this aid.
Israel’s Parliament has passed a law allowing the army to withdraw up to $300 million annually from the taxes and fees Israel collects on the PA’s behalf as part of the Paris protocol signed in 1994.
Suheir Ismael says the 1,450 shekels ($411) that the PA contributes to Palestinian prisoners hardly covers basic expenses. “They use the canteen money contributed by the Palestinian government for cigarettes, food and electricity,” she told Arab News.
“My son spends 1,080 shekels a month on cigarettes, and the rest goes on basic food they buy from the canteen.” She says the food given to prisoners is bad in quality and small in quantity. “He also uses the canteen money to buy a fan in the summer and a heater in the winter.” According to Ismael, cigarettes, fans and other items used to be paid for by the Israeli authorities.
Nazzal told Arab News that prisoners get 1,400-1,800 shekels depending on if they are single or married. “Cigarettes in prison cost much more than outside. A pack of Marlboro cigarettes in prison costs 37 shekels; outside it costs 18,” he said, adding that prisoners buy their own soap and shaving gear from that small fund.
If the PA stops this aid, “prisoners will demand that the Israeli prison service covers these costs as it used to.” Nazzal said before the Oslo Accords, prison authorities provided prisoners with all their needs and gave each five cigarettes a day.
In February 2016, Palestinian Minister of Finance and Planning Shukri Bishara wrote that the US and other countries were aware of the program to support prisoners: “The United States and other donors provided input when we established this social welfare program for detainees’ families. Donors recognize that this program provides a small but needed safety net for families who have lost their breadwinner and that it encourages released detainees to shun efforts by extremist groups to exploit them.”
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah also spoke on the issue when his government met to discuss the annual budget last Tuesday. Israel deducting from PA revenues “can’t be accepted,” he told his ministers. The press communiqué issued after the June 13 Cabinet meeting condemned “Israeli piracy of Palestinian funds.”
Bishara wrote: “Small periodic payments are made as welfare help to support the families of Palestinians detained on political charges fueled by Israel’s occupation, like curfew violations. This aspect of military occupation creates enormous social problems for Palestine because, overwhelmingly, the detainees are income-earning heads of families.”
While the issue of stopping aid to Palestinian prisoners is highly controversial and political, stopping funds to families of those killed by the Israeli army or settlers is even more troubling.
Bishara notes the double standards of Israeli demands in this regard: “This should not be controversial, especially when one considers that the Israeli government makes national insurance payments to Yigal Amir, the Israeli who killed Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.”
Nazzal said it would be political suicide for the PA to stop its aid. “Touching the funds for prisoners’ families and those of martyrs means tens of thousands of families will be affected. This will cause a major storm against the president and the Palestinian government if this is enforced,” he said.
Ahmad Jamil Azam, professor of political science and international studies at Bir Zeit University, wrote in the Jordanian daily Al-Ghad on Friday: “Palestinian prisoners and martyrs are heroes and soldiers in a liberation struggle. The world including the US must understand that this is a national struggle, once there is peace and the issue is resolved then such issues can be dealt with.”