Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Yesterday, Heide and I went to Tubas with Jameel. It's where his family lives. Before going we went to tour the Salah Kalafh Center. It was build in 1942 by the British during the British Mandate, when Palestine was a British colony. In 1948, (the Nakba year), the Iraqi and Jordanian armies used it as a horse stable. In 1967(the naksa) after the six-day war, Israel began occupying all of Palestine. The building became an Israeli police station. Then, in 1982, it became a prison. The Israeli military jailed a total of 200,000 prisoners in the time it was a prison.
We first saw the kitchen (no photos - nothing special) Then we went into the dining hall. It has a painting on the wall. The IDF forced a Palestinian to paint a mural on the wall so that they would have a pleasant place to eat. That man has now died, but his son comes to touch up the photo each year.
This is the first door where they would take prisoners. At this point, they would be required to undress and put on a prison uniform. They were also given a number.
Next they would be taken through another door and asked what their number was. They had been given the number in Hebrew and most didn't understand Hebrew. If they couldn't say the number, the soldiers would smash their heads against a brick in the wall. They would continue to do this until they said the correct number. (Hopefully, someone else remembered.)
This is the clinic. The doctor would say that he was there to help them medically, but actually the information was used against them in interrogations.
There were several of these stools. Four prisoners would be forced to sit on each one. (It's big enough for one person - maybe two). They would have to sit there in the sun or cold or whatever until the soldiers said they could move somewhere else.
You can see the outline of boxes on the walls here. These were cells - not really big enough for a person. Behind the windows were the interrogation rooms. So, someone in the cell would hear the screams of those being interrogated. If it was hot outside in the cells, when they brought them in the interrogation rooms, it would be very cold there. If the weather was cold, they would make the interrogation rooms very hot.
This is a cell where they would keep 15 to 25 people for days. It's too small for everyone to lie down so they would sleep in shifts. There would be a bucket in the corner, but then the Red Cross forced them to provide a bathroom. The bathroom was at the end of the hall, but prisoners were only given 90 seconds to go. If they took longer, they were beaten.
This is an isolation cell. You can see there is a hole at the bottom. There is another cell on the other side of the wall. Prisoners in isolation could speak to each other through that hole. Then the interrogator would use that against them.
These interrogations are still done, but not at this prison. After the Oslo accords in 1994. the Palestinian Authority took possession of the place. They have made it into a place of recreation There is a soccer field and they are planning to build a pool. Anyone can go camping on the grounds for free as long as you contact them ahead of time and leave the space as you found it.
Yesterday, Heide and I went to Tubas with Jameel. It's where his family lives. Before going we went to tour the Salah Kalafh Center. It was build in 1942 by the British during the British Mandate, when Palestine was a British colony. In 1948, (the Nakba year), the Iraqi and Jordanian armies used it as a horse stable. In 1967(the naksa) after the six-day war, Israel began occupying all of Palestine. The building became an Israeli police station. Then, in 1982, it became a prison. The Israeli military jailed a total of 200,000 prisoners in the time it was a prison.
We first saw the kitchen (no photos - nothing special) Then we went into the dining hall. It has a painting on the wall. The IDF forced a Palestinian to paint a mural on the wall so that they would have a pleasant place to eat. That man has now died, but his son comes to touch up the photo each year.
This is the first door where they would take prisoners. At this point, they would be required to undress and put on a prison uniform. They were also given a number.
Next they would be taken through another door and asked what their number was. They had been given the number in Hebrew and most didn't understand Hebrew. If they couldn't say the number, the soldiers would smash their heads against a brick in the wall. They would continue to do this until they said the correct number. (Hopefully, someone else remembered.)
This is the clinic. The doctor would say that he was there to help them medically, but actually the information was used against them in interrogations.
There were several of these stools. Four prisoners would be forced to sit on each one. (It's big enough for one person - maybe two). They would have to sit there in the sun or cold or whatever until the soldiers said they could move somewhere else.
You can see the outline of boxes on the walls here. These were cells - not really big enough for a person. Behind the windows were the interrogation rooms. So, someone in the cell would hear the screams of those being interrogated. If it was hot outside in the cells, when they brought them in the interrogation rooms, it would be very cold there. If the weather was cold, they would make the interrogation rooms very hot.
This is a cell where they would keep 15 to 25 people for days. It's too small for everyone to lie down so they would sleep in shifts. There would be a bucket in the corner, but then the Red Cross forced them to provide a bathroom. The bathroom was at the end of the hall, but prisoners were only given 90 seconds to go. If they took longer, they were beaten.
These interrogations are still done, but not at this prison. After the Oslo accords in 1994. the Palestinian Authority took possession of the place. They have made it into a place of recreation There is a soccer field and they are planning to build a pool. Anyone can go camping on the grounds for free as long as you contact them ahead of time and leave the space as you found it.
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