February 22, 2010
If you have a loved one who has died, you know where his body is, and if he a prisoner, you can follow his news and visit him, but if you have a missing son, you must wait. Wait and wait without the promise of his return or well-being.
Waiting is the reality of hundreds of Palestinian families who have lost loved ones to decades of disappearances, and they still await the return of their sons. They have no way of knowing if their sons are alive or dead, prisoners or martyrs – families forced to wait without the reprieve of mourning or celebration.
The Alnwaty family from Gaza lost their son Moataz December 29, 1982. One year later, Zafer, Moataz’s brother, discovered important information about the disappearance of his brother. Zafer said, "I met a young man who emerged from an Israeli jail, he told me he saw my brother, Moataz, in an underground prison located in the Haifa district, specifically in the Atlit area. The prisoner implied [the involvement of Israeli intelligence agency] "Mossad" and advised me [not to ask anymore] questions about Moataz because of the fear that we might meet the same fate."
Mother of Moataz Alnwaty
Zafer added, "[After all my] questions and research, I learned that there are processes for brainwashing conducted inside the prisons to recruit young Palestinians to work with Mossad, and if my brother is released from prison, he will be a different person."
The Alnwaty case is not an isolated incident. Mohammed Issa Hussein Abo Qonema has been missing from Gaza since July 1969. His family long considered him dead until testimony of a prisoner in Jordan surfaced, explaining that Mohammed was in poor health, still held in a secret Israeli jail.
Moataz's brother holding his picture (his mother is shown holding those pictures above)
Seriously puzzling
Saied Al-Bitar, a Palestinian director who lost his brother to disappearance in 1971, has raised the issue of missing persons within his films and plays. He portrayed the issue most prominently in "Pictures in the Heart," aired on Palestine TV. "Pictures of the Heart" shed light on disappearances through information collected from relatives of the missing and through interviews with human rights activists and researchers specializing in forced disappearances and prison detainment.
Al-Bitar with his mother
About the program, Al-Bitar said:
"Through the work in program we found that there are secret Israeli military prisons, which include hospitals that use disappeared persons for spare parts. Of course, no one knows anything about [these prisons], and … [even if] dozens of people are lost in one day in the same way and have many similar characteristics, [no one notices]. All of them are lost without a trace, not leaving behind one picture or book or message about the person… It is difficult to judge if these [disappearances] were a [the work of a] single cell or if a third party has been recruited to concealed these [operations]. This is a very serious puzzle, and Israel is to blame here [if only because] Israel is the state and the power behind the state at the time of these disappearances."
Secret prisons
Nashat Wahidi, a researcher on Palestinian prisoners found during his studies and research that of the 70+ buildings touted as Israeli police stations built during the British Mandate in the 1930s, several serve as secret prisons.
Wahidi said: "The most important secret prisons, '1391’… is located in the vicinity of the West Bank, a concrete building resembling an Israeli police station. It is surrounded by trees, high walls and is bordered by control towers. The Israeli military presence guarding the building is extensive, yet it looks like any police station built by the British".
Israeli recognition
Israeli Attorney-General Shai Nitsan said in his appearance before the United Nations Committee Against Torture in 2006 that Israel has ceased use of prison '1391.’ After Nitsan’s testimony about '1391,’ there is little reason to believe other secret prisons are not located elsewhere in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot reported in July 2007 on Palestinian and Arab prisoners still held in Israeli jails under false names and detained under secretive and mysterious circumstances. Several international organizations have expressed their concerns that Israel has been rewarded for its use of secret prisons by other countries, specifically the United States shortly after the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
Evidence is mounting about the existence of Israel’s Guantanamo Bay-style prisons, and the ball is now in the court of fact-finding committees and human rights organizations to push for the indictments, sanctions, and international rulings that might bring justice to families of the missing and put an end to secret detention.
Photos: Mariam Hamed
