When the Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was introduced on January 15, Ghassan Alyeean says his first feeling was reduction that the mass killing of his countrymen would possibly lastly finish.
Like everybody within the occupied West Financial institution, Alyeean was wanting ahead to celebrating the liberty of 90 Palestinian prisoners who had been to be launched within the coming days in trade for 3 Israeli captives as a part of the ceasefire deal.
However the subsequent day – January 16, three days earlier than the ceasefire took impact – Israeli troopers raided Alyeean’s dwelling in Bethlehem and kidnapped his 22-year-old son, Adam, who was supposed to take a seat college exams within the coming days.
“They took him for no motive,” Alyeean, 60, informed Al Jazeera over the telephone. “There was no solution to defend him or my household.
“We’re not saboteurs,” he stated, which means they weren’t resisting or inflicting unrest.
Because the announcement of the Gaza ceasefire, Israel has arrested no less than 95 Palestinians in raids and at checkpoints for no clear causes throughout the West Financial institution, in line with Jenna Abu Hasna, a researcher with Addameer, a Palestinian civil society organisation monitoring arrests and detentions within the occupied territory.
A lot of them had been arrested within the few days across the onset of the ceasefire which took impact on January 19.
The mass incarceration of Palestinians is only one function of Israel’s unlawful occupation of the West Financial institution, which additionally includes increasing unlawful Israeli settlements and the mass killing, injuring and dispossession of civilians, in line with rights teams and prisoners’ households.
“The state of affairs we live via is absolutely troublesome proper now. We’re handled as slaves … and even lower than slaves,” stated Alyeean, from his dwelling.
Instrument of repression
Since Israel captured and occupied East Jerusalem, the West Financial institution and Gaza through the 1967 Arab-Israeli Battle, Israel has imprisoned some 800,000 Palestinians throughout the occupied territory, according to the UN and B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organisation.
“[Mass incarceration] is a part of the apartheid regime,” Sharon Parnes, spokesperson for B’Tselem, informed Al Jazeera.
“It’s a part of making an attempt to make Palestinian life depressing with a purpose to make them need to go away,” he added.
Abuhasna from Addameer additionally stated Israel has a monitor file of rearresting dozens – generally a whole lot – of Palestinians who’ve been launched in “captive offers”. Typically this occurs straight after a deal is actioned, generally months and even years later.
She referenced the captive deal for the return of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been captured by Hamas throughout a cross-border raid and introduced again to Gaza in 2005.
5 years later, Shalit was lastly launched in trade for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, together with Yahya Sinwar who helped orchestrate the October 7 assaults and who Israel killed in Gaza in October final yr.
Three years later, Israel raided homes and rearrested dozens of Palestinians who had been launched within the Shalit deal for no apparent motive.
Moreover, Israel has arrested and rearrested hundreds of people in the West Financial institution because it struck a captive take care of Hamas throughout a short lived ceasefire between the 2 combatants in November 2023, stated Abuhasna.
“The tactic of detaining Palestinians, even throughout an settlement or when a prisoner trade is happening is nothing new,” she informed Al Jazeera.
“[The Israeli] occupation continues to detain Palestinians throughout the identical day when prisoners are launched and generally days or years after as a result of that’s what an occupation does: It violates worldwide legislation,” she added.
A revolving door
Regardless of the latest arrests, many Palestinian households have been in a position to welcome loved ones back home after the newest captive trade on January 20.
Mohamed Amro, a 55-year-old father of seven who lives in Hebron, stated he was lastly reunited together with his 23-year-old daughter, Janin, who had been kidnapped in the midst of the evening from the household’s dwelling throughout an Israeli raid on December 3, 2023 – lower than two months after the beginning of the struggle on Gaza.
He nonetheless remembers the occasions of that harrowing evening, which have turn out to be a standard expertise for a lot of Palestinians dwelling below occupation within the West Financial institution.
“The occupation troopers broke down the door and stormed in after which kidnapped her from her mattress,” Amro informed Al Jazeera.
Janin was held in administrative detention, a course of inherited from the UK’s colonial mandate in Palestine which lasted from 1920 till 1948. Throughout that point, the UK usually jailed Palestinian critics and resistance fighters with out motive and with out trial and on secret expenses.
When Israel gained statehood after expelling Palestinians from their land in 1948 – an occasion known as the Nakba, or “disaster” – it built-in this course of with a purpose to attempt Palestinians in navy courts moderately than civilian courts the place Israelis are tried.
Amro stated his daughter nonetheless doesn’t know of any expenses introduced towards her and says she was subjected to excessive mistreatment in jail. “From the day she was taken till the day she was launched, Janin slept and wakened on the chilly flooring each evening. Her room was additionally actually freezing … and he or she was continuously scared,” he stated.
Threats and intimidation
Amro was one in all a whole lot of individuals ready out within the chilly for about 10 hours in Beitounia, West Financial institution till Palestinian prisoners from the captive exchange had been launched.
The prisoners had been imagined to be launched round 4pm (14:00 GMT) within the late afternoon on January 19, however this was delayed till 2am (00:00 GMT) the following morning. When he lastly noticed Janin stagger out, he instantly noticed that she had misplaced appreciable weight and had darkish luggage below her eyes from sleep deprivation.
Amro rapidly took his daughter dwelling, so she may relaxation and eventually get a great evening’s sleep after spending greater than a yr in jail.
“She was traumatised,” Amro informed Al Jazeera. “She wasn’t in a position to totally clarify how they handled her in jail.”
The following day, Israeli troopers banged on Amro’s door and warned him to not have a celebration or have a good time Janin’s launch, or else they might arrest her once more.
He promised he wouldn’t, however he stays terrified that Israeli troopers will raid his dwelling once more to arrest Janin or one in all his different youngsters.
A part of dwelling below occupation, he defined, is realising that your family members may be arrested at any time for no apparent motive.
“There’s a variety of concern proper now due to the escalating state of affairs within the West Financial institution,” he stated, in resignation.
“Day by day, the occupation [army] arrests 30 to 40 and even 50 new prisoners.”
