THE HEALTHY MAN DOES NOT TORTURE OTHERS – GENERALLY IT IS THE TORTURED WHO TURN INTO TORTURERS”

  

“All the news that “others” deem unfit to print

FEBRUARY 8TH, 2024 THURSDAY EDITION

_________________________ CARL JUNG (1875-1961)

There was a thaw in the weather around town, including Alt Media HQ studios, as slightly warmer temperatures were in the forecast for the next three day or so.  The Alt Media team, mascots included, were hard at work on the production of their stories for this fine Thursday, but there was a mixed bag of news for them as the day progressed.  Little Yozhik the Hedgehog was a tad disappointed when he was told by Commander Pirx that their trip to visit Pirx’s dear friend, ‘Naty’ Morales, in Bolivia would have to wait until spring, due to sickness in the family. Then, the crew learned that our lovable Celtic duo of Rhona and Wilf would arrive by the weekend, as they’ve been reporting for the two to three months from Damascus, Syria.  Finally, the best news of the day was that Alt Media HQ’s man from Palestine, noted independent blogger-journo, The Wandering Samaritan has surfaced again in Hebron, and that he just sent his latest dispatch via e-mail to the studios.  The mascots broke out into whoops of joy upon hearing the excellent news, with Yozh, Krolik the Rabbit, the mischievous black and white cat with the milky-white mustache, Mr. Biggins, his brother, the blue-grey tabby bruiser cat, Yoosh, and Skippy the Chihuahua all breaking out into spontaneous dance.  General Vandou, the English Bull Mastiff said: “My God!  We thought Mr. Samaritan had given up the ghost for sure!”  After a few minutes, acting Editor-in Chief, V, walked slowly into the computer room. Taking note of the crew’s impatience to learn of the contents of the Samaritan’s work, he cautioned everybody present that the contents of the dispatch contained therein will be very difficult to stomach for many, especially the mascots.  Nonetheless, the crew gathered round V and listened intently to his reading of the latest work of the Samaritan.   

The following brief but searing dispatch is the fifteenth in a series of dispatches and reportages by noted independent blogger-journo, The Wandering Samaritan, an exclusive for Alt Media HQ studios.  In this dispatch, The Wandering Samaritan will concentrate his latest effort on the following topic: the exceedingly distressing reports shedding light on the torture of both male and female Palestinian prisoners in the custody of the genocidal Zionist occupational forces in Gaza, including one recent horrific story which actually has been visually documented for the whole world to see.  As he kicks up the sand, dirt and the rocks in the never-ending search of truth and justice for the long suffering Palestinian people, The Wandering Samaritan recognizes that there is still much work to be done.  God willing, may it be so.

“As I look up at a harsh Hebron sky one afternoon, as I came out of hiding after a short time of house arrest by the occupational authorities, who watch our every move around town, I attempt to digest all the information, gleaned from a multiplicity of sources, the horrid conditions of my brothers and sisters who languish in dank and filthy prisons.  Various images of horror surface at regular intervals in my nightmares each night, vivid visions of our men and women hogtied, blindfolded, humiliated in every manner imaginable, their humanity denied them by the monsters of the occupation who discipline and punish their every move.  I am glad, if one can call it that, many good and humane people in the world who know what is actually going on here in this once beautiful part of Palestine now sullied by the boots of the occupiers.  Many articles in the responsible media have emerged recently to attest to Abu Ghraib-like conditions in these stinking hellholes they call prisons, which have quite rightly shocked the sensibilities of people.  Now new investigation details have come to the fore detailing “what has happened to dozens of men taken captive after videos circulated online showing them blindfolded, handcuffed, and stripped to their underwear in the streets of Gaza.”

We have reports, thanks to a Tel Aviv-based +972 magazine report showing “the systematic abuse and torture by Israeli soldiers” of Palestinians.  As the videos and photos clearly show, the men “were lined up in rows, sitting in the street, and later taken away in military trucks to detention camps.”  Testimonies from at least 53 Palestinian men were given to +972 magazine and they tell much about the terrors experienced by these men: “According to these testimonies, Israeli soldiers subjected Palestinian detainees to electric shocks, burned their skin with lighters, spat in their mouths, and deprived them of sleep, food, and access to bathrooms until they defecated on themselves.”  Furthermore, many of my beloved brothers “were tied to a fence for hours, handcuffed, and blindfolded for most of the day.  Some testified to having been beaten all over their bodies and having cigarettes extinguished on their necks and back.  Several people are known to have died as a result of being held in these conditions.”  Nothing I have experienced being detained here in Hebron compares to what my poor brothers have suffered in Gaza, and so I can only imagine what kind of deprivations they have all suffered there.

This report has also stated that the “vast majority of these detainees were civilians and did not belong to the Hamas movement, as Israeli security officials later confirmed.”  In one particularly vivid example, the occupiers would enter a neighborhood and ordered that “all civilians must come down and surrender.”  These “captives” were told that they had been arrested because they “didn’t evacuate to the southern Gaza Strip.”  As described by one resident of this neighborhood, the occupiers then set fire to their homes.  He said: “Our house burned down in front of our eyes.”  All the while the occupiers’ commanders speaking with a megaphone declared: “The Israeli army has arrived.  We destroyed Gaza {City} and Jabalia on your heads.  We occupied Jabalia.  We are occupying all of Gaza. Is that what you want?  Do you want Hamas with you?”  Of course, the occupiers’ incessant propaganda belies the fact that they have nowhere even come close to getting rid of Hamas, for the Resistance Axis has bravely fought tooth and nail against the occupational forces, not even giving an inch in the process. Not only have our poor brothers suffered calamitously during these darkest days of inhuman occupation, but our desperate sisters as well.  At this moment, I cannot even imagine all the indignities suffered by our sisters at the hands of the brutal occupiers, but it is my sworn duty to inform my readers about the truth, no matter how ugly and painful this truth may be.

And so it came to pass that a more complete story emerged late last year of 51 of my sisters, illegally detained by “invading Israeli ground forces during their ground operation in Gaza.”  Among these 51, there was one Lama Khater, a sister from Hebron, who witnessed scandalous abuses of the female prisoners.  According to a statement obtained by the good people at The Palestine Chronicle, Khater mentioned that there were ‘elderly women and children.’  According to her testimony, our sisters were arrested “randomly, mostly from the northern Gaza Strip.”  In addition, the occupiers detained mothers, too, who have been forced to leave their children with passers-by.”  My dear sister Lama told the story of how before arriving at Damon Prison, “the female detainees were left without covers, subjected to humiliating strip searches and forced to sleep on the bare floor.”  According to Lama, the ‘female prisoners from Gaza were treated the worst.’  Among our Gazan sister, “some are in a particularly difficult state; an 80-year-old woman who suffers from Alzheimer’s and a pregnant woman.  Both are subjected to medical negligence.”  A Palestinian lawyer, Hassan al-Abadi, who had collected these testimonies of female abuse in Israeli prisons, was noticeably pained to learn about the trucks carrying cages for our unfortunate sisters.  He said sadly: “This detail particularly hurt me: these women have been transported in animal trucks.  They have been tied, blindfolded and stripped of their head covering, as a way to humiliate them.”  Further, he stated that, when these female prisoners arrived at the prison, “their clothes were stained with blood.  Most of them were also bleeding from their hands, as the plastic chains have been tightly tied around their wrists for days.”  It was interesting for Al-Abadi to contrast the horrendous Israeli treatment of prisoners, both male and female, with the humane treatment of the Israeli hostages by Hamas.

Sometimes, I simply close my eyes and try not think about the deprivation, dispossession and dislocation of my people too much.  Yet, try as I might, I cannot do it.  I remember one image which stands out for me, one image that perfectly sums up at once the cruel barbarism of the occupiers on the one hand, and the serene defiance and determination of our people on the other.  The image in question has been circulated widely on social media webs throughout the world of a lone Palestinian brother being detained and tortured by an occupying soldier who was stupid enough to release this disgusting photo.  Blood “can be seen flowing from the leg of the shackled Palestinian man as the soldier towers over him.”  We now know something more about this unfortunate brother, for his name is “Hamza from Shujaiyya Neighborhood, East Gaza City.”  We also know that, before his arrest, the Israeli military killed his father, his brother’s wife, and his two nephews (infant and a child 2 yo).”  Where the torture of my brother took place has now been determined: “This is a Christian kindergarten and school called “@GazaCollege.”  It is east of Rimal neighborhood but “is in fact on Jala Street near Barbari gas station.”  The name of his torturer is Yosee Gamzoo.  This unforgettable image has come to “summarise nearly five months of Israeli brutality, aggression and disregard for Palestinian lives in Gaza.”                       

As I walk back to the prison I call home, under the ever watchful eye of the surly occupiers, I think back on that shocking image of my brave and defiant brother Hamza, who, after experiencing beatings and torture and losing family members to the murderous occupiers, nevertheless kept his dignity and humanity intact.  For all that, my love and respect for my brother Hamza is boundless.  God willing, I hope to bear the weight of my own dignity and human worth in the face of impending death, should it ever come to that.  In my next dispatch, the sixteenth in the series, I will try to concentrate my efforts on the following topic:  the story of how courageous Jewish draft resisters confront the racist and genocidal Zionist state at great personal cost, only to earn the respect of the entire world.  God willing, until we meet again, this is The Wandering Samaritan sending my greetings to you all at Alt Media HQ studios and to all of my dedicated readers the world over, from the city of Hebron, West Bank, Hebron Governorate, in the State of Palestine.”

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