It's the latest peculiarity in a region already full of contradictions: Palestinian youths, who speak openly of their hatred for Israel, willingly putting themselves into Israeli custody because life in jail is seen as being better than life at home. Call it teen angst gone awry in a conflict zone.
"It's a real phenomenon," said Jacob Dallal, a spokesman for the Israeli army. He said soldiers had seen dozens of cases like Mohammed's, coming from both Nablus and nearby Jenin. "It's sort of a backhanded compliment to the [Israeli army] and the prison service. It passes from word of mouth that the conditions are not so bad in Israeli jails."
The first few nights after his arrest -- he was held with five others in a tiny cell just outside the Hawara checkpoint where he had been arrested -- were a gruelling disappointment for Mohammed. But 12 days later, he got the break he was hoping for: a transfer to Ofer prison, an Israeli jail for Palestinian prisoners just outside Ramallah.
Conditions in Ofer, the site of large-scale prisoners' riots late last year, have come under attack from human-rights groups alleging the torture and mistreatment of detainees. But Mohammed, as his classmates had promised him, had a different experience.
Prison life was a welcome break from the numbing routine of days sitting in school, evenings helping his father at the family's tailoring business and nights broken by gunfire. It was also a respite from his cramped family home where six people live in two small rooms, and from his father's insistence that the Western-dressed teenager abide by a strict interpretation of Islam.
"Ofer was like paradise. You could go to the toilet whenever you wanted, and we had a good time playing football and table tennis in the big courtyard. I started reading good books in there," he said, his hair short and gelled, and a hint of future stubble ringing his thin face. With a shy glance at his father, he added, "And I could stay up as late as I wanted."
Mohammed was pleased to get a seven-month sentence. He was crestfallen when his father, Qasim, paid a $250 bond to get him released early. "I was disappointed. My classmate who was sitting next to me went to jail two days before me and he's still there," he said jealously, suffering his father's glare. "In prison, there's digital television. You can watch everything. Out here, there's nothing."
Take the case of Mahmoud Kharaz:
"My son is in jail because he has a big brain and is very intelligent. He thought about it a long time and realized the only way out of his economic and mental crisis was in prison," Ms. Tabbouq said. Ironically, another reason Mahmoud wanted to go back to jail was to concentrate on his studies. His 17-year-old sister, Yusra, said that her brother, who was good in school, had spoken longingly of prison ever since he was released the first time.
"He couldn't stand the guys from the refugee camps who were always carrying weapons. He felt like he was suffocating. He told me, 'I can't achieve in school with this chaotic environment around me.' " Her brother is now applying to take his high-school exams from behind bars, Yusra added. Mr. Kharaz, Mohammed's father, said that while he hoped his son wouldn't try to get jailed again, it was possible as long as life in Nablus continued to worsen. "If the situation continues the way it is, everybody will be doing it," he said. "Young and old."
There's more. Read the whole article here. I cannot imagine a more flawed political platform than kill the Jews at all costs.
No comments:
Post a Comment