Middle East Post

Salah is one of thousands of Palestinians who was imprisoned and sentenced for seven years in prison without any real proof. Salah is twenty years old Franco Palestinian who was raised in Jerusalem. Since the beginning of his life he was affected by the Israeli occupation and was always ambitious to bring liberty for his country and people.

He graduated from College Des Frères in Jerusalem and wanted to continue his education in Bethlehem University but he was imprisoned before finishing his education. This young man became a victim of the Israeli police and intelligence policy which is to send young Palestinians to prison in order to prevent them from becoming true educated leaders.

The Israeli law treated Salah as a threat which should be dealt with in any way without considering his future or even the international law that insists on respecting the human dignity and rights. Since Salah lives in Jerusalem, he does not hold the Palestinian nationality like thousands of other Palestinians who live in Jerusalem. The Israeli law prevents Jerusalemite Palestinians from holding a real passport or nationality and gives them Travel Documents stating them as Jordanians.

Although Salah holds a French nationality, France did not interfere officially to liberate him from the Israeli prisons. According to the International law imprisoning someone must be based on true facts that he or she participated directly or indirectly in hostilities on another state. Even the law which deals with unlawful combatants states the same conditions. No proof was found in Salah’s case and he was found guilty on the basis of “secret” Israeli intelligence information which has no base.

Salah had to live a life full of humiliation, injustice, occupation, and blackmailing only because he showed an interest in Politics and worked to teach his friends and fellows about the importance of building a Palestinian state and regaining our right as Palestinians to rule ourselves. Even before he was imprisoned, Salah was always arrested by Israeli policemen and they used to threaten him every time they arrested him that one day they will put him in prison for a long period.

Israel accused Salah and another two young Palestinians of preparing and thinking of a plan to assassinate Obadiah Yousef who is an extreme Jewish religious leader. Although Salah was tortured and investigated for three years, he did not confess of being involved in such a plan and no true material proof was found. The result was that the Israeli intelligence blackmailed Salah and obliged him to confess in order to sentence him to prison. Salah was told that if he does not confess, he will be sentenced for more than seven years and that the Israeli law which is built on the basis of the old English colonial law allows Israel to do so.
Salah now spends his youth days in prison and found no justice given to him only because his faith implied on him to be a Palestinian. Not only Salah, but thousands of other Palestinian prisons were imprisoned on the same basis of Israel’s strategy to make precautious actions which costs young Palestinians their lives.

Gilad Shalit who is a Franco Israeli soldier who was kidnapped while he was taking part in an attack on Gaza, found real support from France and President Sarkouzi to try to get him out of Gaza.
The difference between Gilad and Salah is that the former was a soldier fighting in a battle and the latter was simply an ambitious Palestinian student who wanted his people rights back. The result is that Gilad gains support because he is an Israel, but Salah founds no support because he is simply….a Palestinian.

It is easy to feel sympathy with Salah and the other Palestinian prisoners while reading about them but after a few minutes we move on with our lives. The truth is that these young Palestinians are suffering every moment in Israeli prisons because they have lost their liberty. They spend days…Months…and years in small rooms while someone is controlling their liberty and life only because they demand their right in giving them their lands and rights back.

Palestinian Prisoners and Refugees abu, east, france, hamouri, khalil, middle, Palestinian, post, prisoner, Salah, zayyad, ziad