[Needtoknow] Fwd: [RalphNader2004] Huwaida Arraf arrested

[Owen Broadhurst]

----Original Message Follows----
From: Lchankar at aol.com
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 00:37:32 EDT

Folks:

Pass this widely and act NOW.

Huwaida Arraf has been released, however, Nael Suwaydi has not. Please read
Huwaida's letter at bottom and contact the info. given immediately.


================================
Letter from Huwaida:

Thank you for the calls and the emails. I am embarassed to have taken
up your time with my case when there are so many other Palestinians
that need your help. The officer filling out my release papers
commented that I "must have many friends all over the world."

I was put under arrest today for "obstructing the work of soldiers"
and though I didn't go to prison, I'd like to ask a few minutes of
your time to tell you about what happened today, and the larger
prison that all Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
are in.

I arrived at the Huwwara checkpoint at around 12:30pm with a newly
arrived American volunteer, Rick; we were on our way to Nablus. The
queue was long, at least 70 people, and it didn't look like the three
Israeli soldiers that were manning the checkpoint were letting
anybody through. A few of the Palestinian men, who had already been
at the checkpoint for over an hour, seeing my companion was an
international, advised us to walk around the checkpoint to avoid what
would surely be another 3-hour wait, at least; "If you have an
American passport, you'll pass, no problem."

Though we were in a hurry to get Rick to the ISM training in Nablus,
there was no question that we'd refuse to take advantage of the
racist system that would allow an American into Nablus, but require a
resident of Nablus or a surrounding village to wait for hours, to be
checked by Israeli soldiers and then given a verdict of whether
he/she could go home, to work, or to school. So we waited. Soldiers
make Palestinians stand in a female line and a male line and so our
Palestinian friends, who were trying to save us time, urged us to at
least get into the shorter female line. We did. A half an hour later
a soldier came over and let a handful of women pass. I was one of the
ones singled out to pass. Rick came with me. When we approched the
soldier that was to check our IDs, we noticed a family, a man, woman
and two children who were standing aside. Apparently the soldiers did
not want to let the man through (he had a British passport) and his
wife, a Palestinian from Nablus, was refusing to leave without him.
They were also refusing to turn back. The soldiers kept asking of the
Brit, his "hawiyya" - ID, insinuating that he had a Palestinian ID
(in addition to the passport) and was just refusing to show it. I
then noticed two yound Palestinian men, in their early twenties,
crouching up against the cinder blocks that form the checkpoint,
their hands tied behind their backs. An old woman was pleading with
the Israeli soldiers, her son (one of the young men), was sick and
had back problems and was on his way to Rafeedia Hospital in Nablus.
She was trying to show the soldier her son's papers and x-rays, but
he wasn't interested. "His back! His back!" she cried, but the
soldier only yelled at her to go away. I interfered to ask the
soldier why he was yelling at the old woman and holding the young
men. He said he wasn't interested. I learned from the two men, Rashed
and Ramsy that they had been held for 3 hours by that point (since
about 9:30am) and the soldiers had confiscated their ID cards. They
weren't told why. I got on the phone with HaMoked, an Israeli human
rights organization in Jerusalem that often turns in complaints of
abuses to the Military District Coordinating Office, and gave them
the names of the young men. Rick and I decided that we would stay by
Ramsy and Rashed until HaMoked was able to get back to us. Ramsy
stood up to show us that his cuffs were on way too
tight. It looked like he was losing circulation. I pleaded with one
of the soldiers to loosen his cuffs, Rick pointing out that the boy
could be seriously hurt. The soldier screamed at Ramsy to kneel "or
else." Another soldier, calling himself a beast, said "I want to kill
him today."

The soldiers told me to leave the area, as I was in a closed military
zone.

A young man, named Nael, came through, asked the soldier if he could
pass because he got word that his father passed away last night and
he wanted to visit him before he was buried. The soldier told him to
shut up and get back in line. When Nael persisted, the soldier called
him a "son of a b*tch" and began pushing him. Nael stood his ground
and the pushing got very rough. Another soldier ran over screaming
and put his M16 to Nael's head. They grabbed Nael and pulled him
away, one soldier still screaming and threatening to shoot. Rick and
I followed and whipped out our cameras, "Hey, hey, calm down. Calm
down!" Nael was also put in cuffs and told that he would be arrested
and that he "would be seeing a jail cell and not [his] father."
Another call to HaMoked.

The soldiers kept telling me to leave the area, as I was in a closed
military zone and preventing them from doing their job -- really
annoying them. I refused, telling them that there was no way I was
going to leave these guys when it was obvious the soldiers were being
very abusive, and even if they considered serving the occupation as
their "job" there was no reason not to treat the people as human
beings. This whole time they did not let any one through the
checkpoint, though every once in a while a soldier would get on the
loud speaker and yell at the Palestinians to form straight lines and
to stand behind the plastic barricades or else the checkpoint would
be closed for the rest of the day.

By 3:30pm, more pushing, yelling, loosing and tightening of cuffs,
Ramsy (the sick one) was released. One of the soldiers kept saying to
us in English, "I want to kill him today." I asked why he couldn't
realize that we're all human beings like he was. He replied, "I'm not
a human being, I'm a beast. I'm a beast, OK, and I want to kill him."
He came up behind Rashed, grabbed arms and tightened his plastic
cuffs until they couldn't be tightened any more. When I protested, he
yanked Rashed away and threw him behind an area of cinder blocks
telling him to kneel so that he was out of sight. Rashed tried to
stand up a few times, "my hands, my hands!" Another call to HaMoked.
Nael, still cuffed, ordered from a young boy vendor, three colas, for
me, Rick and himself. He urged me to leave, assuring me that he would
be OK.

It didn't seem like any of what we were saying was getting through to
any of the soldiers who kept treating the people like they were less
than human, denying entry to into Nablus to a new bride and her
husband going to visit family, a husband and father, trying to enter
with his family (the soldiers only let the wife and kids go) and a
half dozen others, as people were ordered to approach one by one, one
every 10 minutes or so. The self-described "beast" confiscated two
bikes and one trolley - things that Palestinians trying to make a
living in an economy with a 70% unemployment rate, use to transport
the bags and luggage of other travelers for a small charge (as
Palestinians often have to walk distances, owners of trolleys, bikes,
and donkeys offer rides or transport of heavy bags for a nominal fee.)

A young boy came up to me to tell me that Rashed had been released. I
guess I had had my back turned, and at first didn't believe it. But
Rashed came up to the front of the line to wave and confirm that he
was let go. I went up to him, "are you going to try the other way
around? Take care." He smiled, "thanks." Only Nael was left until
the "beast" ran after a Palestinian man who was given to pass, and
for no reason, tied his hands up and pushed him down behind some
cinder blocks, where Rashed was only minutes before. By now the
soldiers were getting pretty annoyed with me (perhaps because the
HaMoked calls were working) and a police jeep pulled up. By 4:30 I
was taken away. Rick was given the option to leave and it seemed
best, though I was worried about him traveling alone on his second
day.

I was released at about 11pm from Ariel (settlement) police station.
An anonymous friend (a veteran from the first Intifada who had spent
11 years in jail for actively organizing the popular resistance) made
the 40km drive in the dark on the windy settler road to pick me up.
Rick made it back OK. HaMoked rang to check up on me. Nael was not
released.

If you can, please call or write to inquire about Nael Suwaydi from
Abu Dis, arrested at Huwarra checkpoint on June 18, 2003 for daring
to come from Abu Dis to Nablus, without permission, to pay respects
to his father. I never did give Nael my condolences.

Tel: + (972) 36 080 339
Fax: +(972) 36 080 343

Israeli Minister of Defence, Shaul Mofaz: sar at mod.gov.il  (email may work
best if rewritten instead of copy and paste!)

Israeli Foreign Minister, Silvan Shalom: sar at mofa.gov.il
(email may work best if rewritten instead of copy and paste!)

Contact the Israeli Embassy in your country:
http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/israel1.htm

In solidarity & struggle,
Huwaida

I apologize if any of this in incoherent. I'm a little tired.







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