Families of prisoners face the road of humiliation

May 12, 2007

Nablus – Ma'an – Foad Al-Khafash, a researcher in prisoners' affairs writes - The families of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails leave their homes at 3:00am and return at midnight when they go to visit their sons in jail. They only see the prisoner through a thick plastic barrier which distorts the vision, and they talk through a monitored, recorded telephone.

The journey does not take more than two hours in normal circumstances, yet the families will not sleep the night before they visit their sons. They have to prepare for a long and exhausting journey, as they are forced to pass from one bus to another; from one checkpoint to another. They carry some of their son's needs, such as pictures of his child who the prisoner may not yet have seen. They might also take a picture of the grandson of the prisoner, whose son has matured and got married since the incarceration began. They could bring a picture of the prisoner's son in law, because the prisoner's daughter could have got married while her father was in detention, and so on….

The families often call that journey, "the road of humiliation", since they are subjected to different sorts of humiliation, which nobody else can imagine. That is, in the fortunate case the family has the opportunity to visit their sons.

The family has to get a special visit permit from the Israeli intelligence services who feel free to give it or deny it. The Red Cross is informed in advance of those who are permitted to visit, and according to that, family members can pass through Israeli checkpoints along the green line.

These permits are given only to the first-degree relatives; father, mother, son, and spouse. At one period during the Al-Aqsa intifada, the brother was not considered a first class relative, and so would be denied the visit. During the first four years of the intifada, visits were completely forbidden under security pretexts.