‘Less than slaves’: The Palestinians detained by Israel despite ceasefire

Ghassan Alyeean says his initial reaction to the announcement of the Gaza ceasefire agreement on January 15 was relief that his countrymen’s systematic killings might finally end.

Alyeean was anticipating the release of 90 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for three Israeli captives as part of the ceasefire agreement, just like everyone else in the occupied West Bank.

However, Israeli soldiers descended on Alyeean’s Bethlehem home the following day, January 16, three days before the ceasefire was in effect, and abducted his 22-year-old son Adam. He was scheduled to take university exams in the coming days.

“They took him for no reason,” Alyeean, 60, told Al Jazeera over the phone. He or my family could not be saved, he said.

“We are not saboteurs,” he said, meaning they were not resisting or causing unrest.

According to Jenna Abu Hasna, a researcher with Addameer, a Palestinian civil society organization monitoring arrests and detentions in the occupied territory, Israel has detained at least 95 Palestinians in raids and at checkpoints across the West Bank without giving a damn, since the announcement of the Gaza ceasefire.

Many of them were detained within the week before the ceasefire, which started on January 19th, arrived.

Rights groups and prisoners’ families claim that Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank includes more illegal Israeli settlements, mass killings, injuries, and dispossession of civilians.

“We are currently dealing with a really challenging situation. We are treated as slaves … or even less than slaves,” said Alyeean, from his home.

Tool of repression

Since Israel captured and occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Israel has imprisoned some 800,000 Palestinians across the occupied territory, according to the UN and B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organisation.

“[Mass incarceration] is part of the apartheid regime,” Sharon Parnes, spokesperson for B’Tselem, told Al Jazeera.

He continued, “It is part of trying to make Palestinian life miserable so that they want to leave.”

Addameer’s Abuhasna added that Israel has a track record of repressing Palestinians who have been released under “captive deals” in the past.   Sometimes this occurs right away after a deal is finalized, sometimes months or even years later.

She made reference to the captive arrangement that led to the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit’s return after being taken prisoner by Hamas during a cross-border raid and brought back to Gaza in 2005.

In exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including Yahya Sinwar, who was a part of the October 7 attacks and who Israel killed in Gaza in October of last year, Shalit was finally released five years later.

Hundreds of Palestinians who had been released under the Shalit deal were raided and rearrested by Israel three years later.

In addition, according to Abuhasna, Israel has detained and rearrested hundreds of people in the West Bank since it entered a captivity agreement with Hamas during a tense period of negotiations in November 2023.

“The tactic of detaining Palestinians, even during an agreement or when a prisoner exchange is occurring is nothing new,” she told Al Jazeera.

She continued, adding, “As an occupation continues to hold Palestinians on the same day as prisoners are released and occasionally days or years later because it violates international law,” she continued.

A revolving door

Following the most recent captivity exchange on January 20, many Palestinian families have been able to welcome loved ones back home.

Mohamed Amro, a 55-year-old father of seven who lives in Hebron, said he was finally reunited with his 23-year-old daughter, Janin, who had been abducted in the middle of the night from the family’s home during an Israeli raid on December 3, 2023 – less than two months after the start of the war on Gaza.

He recalls the terrifying night’s events, which have become a regular occurrence for many Palestinians living in the West Bank.

According to Amro, the occupation soldiers stormed into the home, then abducted her from her bed.

Janin was held in administrative detention from 1920 until 1948, a process that was inherited from the United Kingdom’s colonial rule in Palestine. In that time, the UK frequently imprisoned Palestinian opposition fighters without justification, without trial, and on covert charges.

After expeling Palestinians from their land in 1948, Israel integrated this process into military courts rather than civilian courts where Israelis are tried in. This process is known as the Nakba, or “catastrophe.”

Amro claims that his daughter was abused in prison and that she is still unaware of any charges being brought against her. Janin slept and awoke every night on the cold floor from the moment she was taken until she was released. Her room was also really freezing … and she was constantly scared,” he said.

Threats and intimidation

Before the release of the Palestinian prisoners from the captive exchange, Amro was one of the hundreds of people in Beitounia, West Bank, for about ten hours.

The prisoners were supposed to be released around 4pm (14:00 GMT) in the late afternoon on January 19, but this was delayed until 2am (00:00 GMT) the next morning. When Janin staggered out, he saw her have lost a lot of weight and had dark bags under her eyes as a result of sleep deprivation.

After serving more than a year in prison, Amro quickly took his daughter home so she could rest and finally get a rest.

“She was traumatised,” Amro told Al Jazeera. She was unable to fully describe how she was being held in prison. ”

The next day, Israeli soldiers banged on Amro’s door and warned him not to have a party or celebrate Janin’s release, or else they would arrest her again.

He said he wouldn’t, but he still fears that Israeli soldiers will storm his home once more to arrest Janin or one of his other children.

Part of living under occupation, he explained, is realising that your loved ones can be arrested at any time for no obvious reason.

“There is a lot of fear right now because of the escalating situation in the West Bank,” he said, in resignation.

Source: Aljazeera