How Israel treats Palestinian detainees
Israel often detains Palestinians and keeps them in custody for several days or weeks without meeting a lawyer.
Last week I wrote here about the arrest of two young Palestinians, sons of my friend M. from the West Bank city of Ramallah. M. told me that Israeli special forces burst twice into the family home within the space of two days. The first night they dragged his son Ahmed out of his bed. Two nights later, they returned and took his brother Yasser. The two boys were each arrested by the troops, and each time the family was herded into one room and told to wait there for the soldiers to leave. Almost three weeks have passed since these arrests, and the family still has no news about the brothers' situation.
Their father and I go way back. He and his family fled the Gaza Strip and took refuge in Ramallah when Hamas took control in 2007 because, as a journalist, he was considered an enemy. I don’t know why the two sons were detained. I knew them as children when I covered the Gaza Strip for Israeli media outlets. I find it hard to believe they are suspected of membership in a terror organization. On the other hand, I also find it hard to believe they were arrested for no reason. However, all attempts to find out what has happened to them and what exactly they are suspected of have been so far unsuccessful.
