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CHAPTER
10: IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE INTIFADA IN OCCUPIED PALESTINE
I had left Melbourne
for Tel aviv on the 22nd of October 1987, for my first visit to my native
country in 20 years. My old mother was at the airport and we travelled to her
home by taxi. She insisted that I should stay at her place assuring me that she
had reached an agreement with her husband to let me stay at her place for the
duration of my visit, and I obliged.
Combined with physical exercises on the nearby beach I began a very busy
schedule of phone calls, meetings, etc. My first contact was Yael Lotan, who
together with my mother was at the airport for the welcome. The literary editor
of a zionist daily she would write every now and again articles critical of the
government's policies. Only later would I really know her, and until then I had
placed unduly hopes on and too many expectations of her. We began our contact
by corresponding during the campaign for Vanunu, as she was the chairperson for
the Israeli committee for Vanunu.
However, as it turned out, the only bright spot about her was her former
marriage to an African-American. But that was her only anti-zionist act. All
the rest about her was loyal zionism, or even fanatical zionism.
The one Israeli I was
really looking forward to meet was Udi Adiv. I saw him as an Israeli who dared
to challenge the zionist apartheid regime of Israel by actually volunteering to
fight shoulder to shoulder with the Arab people of Palestine, the main victims
of that regime.He was arrested by the zionist Gestapo upon his return from
Syria in 1974. He was convicted and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment, but
released after 12 years on condition that he will not be involved in politics
for the rest of the term. A committed Marxist-Leninist he had believed in a
socialist revolution in the Middle East. Now, upon meeting him for the first
time, we exchanged views and became friends. He helped me to get in touch with
Lea Tzemel, the Israeli lawyer in Jeusalem whose legal practice was based on
the defence of Palestinian prisoners.
Since my name was
still on the list of members of the Israel Bar, i.e. I was still considered a
qualified lawyer in Israel, I had no trouble restarting practice as a lawyer in
Israel. However, the Israel Bar Association demanded of me some $2000 as a
backlog of dues. I appealed and eventually won and my debt was cancelled. Yet
the most formidable hurdle was still in front of me, namely, the need to update
and renew my knowledge of the law in Israel after 20 years of legal abstinence
and actual absence from the country. There were, of course, many other hurdles
in front of me, such as my politics and no financial or social backing, but I
remained optimistic.
I had a friendly
meeting with Lea Tzemel at her home in Jerusalem. At that early stage of our
acquaintance I fully trusted her both as a comrade and as a colleague. I therefore accepted her recommendation to
work for a certain lawyer (who she said was a good friend of hers). However,
only after a few months work at that lawyer's office I would discover that he
was a fanatical zionist. He was actually a senior member of a fanatically
zionist political party. Also, I would discover to my horror that Tzemel
actually considered me not as a comrade but as a competitor lawyer, albeit I
was only at the early stages of relearning my trade, and was looking forward to
her as a teacher as well as a comrade. At the beginnig I was working for her
for no pay at all. Thus, for example, during the months of December 1987 and
January 1988 - later to be known as the first days oof the intifada - there had
been a sudden increase in mass arrests, which required of me to rather
frequently appear before Magistrate's Courts on behalf of Palestinian
detainees, and we had also plenty of visits to the zionist military prisons.
However, I was rewarded personally because it allowed me direct contact with
the heroic sons of Palestine.
After 7- 8 months work
for Tzemel and for the fanatically zionist lawyer friend of hers I considered
myself ready to practice as an independent lawyer. Also, I had to find my own
residence because my stepfather had been pressing my old mother to get rid of
me as I won't obey his orders. So I
moved out to a rented flat in Ashkelon, some 30km north of Gaza, and I began
work for detainees in Gaza prisons and concentration camp (Ansar 2). As the
intifada intensified the Ashkelon bus to Gaza would terminate no further than
the Erez Checkpoint for fear of attacks, and I would get off there and then
look for a lift to the centre of Gaza.
At the beginning I would halt an Arab taxi and then pay my share along
with the other passengers. Soon I would discover that my share was higher than
that of the rest of the passengers, and I would soon figure out the reason too.
An Arab passenger would invariably greet the occupants, saying "salam
aleicom"(peace be with you) to which he would get a reply, "aleicom
-e-salam" ,from all the occupantts.. Whereas myself, like most other
Israelis, would not greet anybody at all, and just tender my fares. When I
discovered my backwardness and corrected it by greeting all the occupants of
the taxi I felt wonderful, and I was rewarded too, by having my fares cut by
half...
Interesting to note
that all my friends, Israelis and Arabs, have warned me not to venture alone in
Gaza. In zionist occupied Gaza Israelis would get lifts from zionist military
vehicles, but I detested the use of services of the zionist occupation army. By
contrast, I enjoyed the mingling with the Palestinians wherever I happened to
be. As a result, because I considered the ordinary Palestinian folk as my
friends, every trip of mine to Gaza would turn into a political meeting during
which we would debate issues and encourage each other with optimistic
statements.
My first appearance
before a zionist military court in Gaza was on appeal regarding deportation
orders. There were about half a dozen of us, Israeli defence lawyers, sitting
opposite the military prosecution desk. My turn to speak was towards the end of
the opening of that appeal case. I began by referring to UN Security Council
resolution, which only a day earlier condemned the zionist state for ordering
the deportations which were the subject of the appeal. I reminded the tribunal
that both its words and its actions are under close scrutiny of world public
opinion. I then went on to describe the deportation orders, and the notorious
Emergency Regulations (1945) under which they were issued, as illegal by
international law. In conclusion I demanded that the military tribunal declare
the deportation orders as null and void. As soon as I finished I was approached
by a local Arab lawyer with a happy face to shake hands and to thank me. From
then on we would become close friends, and he asked me to take over some of his
defence cases in cooperation with him.
A great deal of my
work was the tracing of Palestinian detainees, as the zionist military
deliberately kept the prisoners' relatives in the dark saying that the missing
person(s) whereabouts is unknown to them. So I would spend many hours checking
the lists of prisoners in Gaza prison and in Ansar 2 to locate the missing
people. After locating the missing person in prison I would talk to and listen
to him (with the help of a translator) and then proceed with legal or
administrative action to get him released. For their part, the zionist military
authorities did all they could to make life difficult not only for the
detainees but also for the the lawyers representing them. On every step, at any
stage, I would be confronted with obstructions. Obstructions which were illegal
not only by international law but also by Israel's own laws. Yet the zionist
rulers never hesitated to trample and violate the law in their ruthless pursuit
of zionist ambitions. Anyway, it became
too difficult for me to continue my work in Gaza, and I was looking for
alternatives.
As I was winding up my
work in Gaza I got a phone call from WOFPP (Women for Women Political
Prisoners), an Israeli peace organisation dedicated to help Palestinian women
political prisoners. They asked me to do volunteer work for them, and I
agreed.
The first case I would
look after for WOFPP was of a 17-year-old girl from Gaza by the name Jawaher.
By then she had been in prison for a few months, and no date was fixed for her
trial. Yael Oren, an Israeli woman fluent in Arabic, and opposed to the zionist
policies of oppression against the Arabs of Palestine, who was the founder of
WOFPP, met me outside the Ramleh Prison gate. As time went on, and I got to
know Yael, I came to admire her for her fearless devotion to the political
prisoners who were Palestinian women. However, when I met her first then
outside Ramleh prison I did not know anything about her except for her
belonging to WOFPP. She then introduced me to the case of Jawaher and helped me
handle the case. Following that introduction we continued to work on many other
cases in Hasharon prison, where most of the Palestinian women prisoners had
been incarcerated. Even after my return to Australia I continued to promote
WOFPP's work as much as I could.
Sometime in the middle
of 1989 I have reached the conclusion that I should return to Australia. My
numerous attempts to find anti-zionist allies in Israel's society proved
fruitless. Without such allies there wouldn’t and there couldn't be any way for
me to function effectively, or even to survive in the zionist state.
Udi Adiv and his wife,
Lea Leshem, were preparing to leave for England to study there. My daughter,
with whom I have been corresponding all the time was still incarcerated in the
same looni bin, and her monster mother was happy to keep her there
indefinitely.
I was also in contact
with Thea in England, and I have posted out to her many press -cuttings-photos
about the heroic intifada in occupied Palestine. She thanked me for the many photos
and said she organised an exhibition in her hometown about the intifada based
on the photos.
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