Rattling cages

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Rattling The Cage: Face of Israel in a West Bank courtroom

This was justice as I’d never seen it, as very, very few Israelis have seen it. The judge was an IDF officer in a light-green uniform and knitted kippa. The prosecutor was an IDF officer in a light-green uniform, no kippa. The defendant was a Palestinian in a brown prison jumpsuit. This was last Thursday afternoon in a bungalow that serves as military appeals court on the grounds of Ofer Prison, the towering, concretewalled monstrosity on Route 443 between Modi’in and Jerusalem. Ofer is Israel’s prison in the West Bank for Palestinians. The defendant was Abdallah Abu Rahmah, 39, a high school teacher and organizer of the best known of the “demonstrations against the wall,” the ones that have been taking place for years every Friday afternoon in the village of Bil’in. Here’s justice for Palestinians in military appeals court: Abu Rahmah was due to be released from prison on Thursday after serving nearly a year – but the IDF didn’t want to let him out. The IDF didn’t think his sentence had been long enough and was appealing for a longer one, and meanwhile wanted him kept in prison until the appeal was heard and decided, which would take months and could, by law, take as long as two years. You would think that if a guy’s served his time, he should go free. Not if you’re a Palestinian in Israeli military appeals court. The army prosecutor argued that Abu Rahmah was a “flight risk” even though his defense attorney pointed out that he’d always shown up for questioning and hearings in the past, when he was a free man. The prosecutor argued that if Abu Rahmah were let go, he would return to his criminal activity. “There’s no reason to think that his ideology has changed, that his determination has changed. He expresses no remorse for his actions,” the prosecutor declared. The judge said he hoped to give his decision at the beginning of this week. I asked Gaby Lasky, who represents scores of “anti-wall” protesters in military court, if she expected the judge to keep Abu Rahmah in prison like the prosecution wanted. “Of course,” she said. Monday afternoon the judge’s decision proved her right.

See also:
The Guardian::Israeli military court keeps West Bank protester in jail after end of sentence