Ofer - Remand Extension, Women

Translation: Marganit W.

Can you get acquitted here? A Palestinian asked me in Hebrew in the yard. When he saw my jaw drop, he added, but this is a court of law, isn’t it?

The attorneys’ strike continues; they protest the fact that the court officials won’t confer with them. The prosecutors claim they are too busy.

The attorneys reported only for hearings of remand extensions.

At the entrance I met the husband of Abir Hamidat from Tsurif who has been in custody since 16.11.15. Only at the end of the day, at 16:30, did we hear from another detainee that Abir’s hearing had been cancelled and she had not been brought to the court. Her husband waited the entire time and nobody bothered to tell him about it. My own attempts to find out when her next hearing will take place were in vain.

Again, we witness that a Palestinian’s’ time is of no consequence, and so is the chance of a husband to see his wife.

I spent hours talking to Nader, the husband of Tamara Abu Sabiha. Tamara is 27 years old and has 4 children; the youngest is 18 months old. They live in the village of Yatta.

Nader told me about his wife’s medical problems: pains in her leg and back. As long as he was unemployed they could not afford to go to the doctor. Now he started working and is able to send his wife to see a doctor in Hebron.

She was arrested near the Cave of the Patriarchs, and the claim is that she had a kitchen knife in her bag.

She has been detained since 21.11.15.

Her husband reports that during the first interrogation she was told that if she admits that she had intentions to do something, she would be released. She trusted the interrogator and said what he told her to say. Hours later another interrogator told her she was under detention, and she was transferred to the Jalame interrogation center. Today she is held at Damon Prison.

Her hearing was set for 24.2.16.

As always, the conversations I have in the yard are at least as important as the hearings. Two women from Ramallah, who remembered me from Khalida Jarrar’s trial, spoke to me about the awful conditions of Asraa Jarabis (the woman whose car caught fire on the way from Azariya to Jerusalem). Her body is severely burned, a couple of fingers had to be amputated. Instead of being in hospital she is in Sharon Prison.

Another Palestinian greeted me with “Oh, Woman of Peace”. I corrected him: “I am a political activist; there is no point talking about peace. Israel was never interested in peace”. He was visibly surprised, “For the first time I meet an Israeli woman who admits that Israel has never been interested in peace.”

Cold comfort.