‘Young men in Palestine are the most imprisoned population in the world. Palestinian prisoners might have committed a range of offenses- some were part of the armed resistance, some were part of a non-violent resistance (for example reciting poetry without a permit(?!)), some are children who threw rocks at a wall. Alarm bells ring for me when we get to banned poetry and children in jail. There are some particular issues affecting Palestinian prisoners and their families. Almost all trials are held in military courts, which are often conducted solely in Hebrew and seem to have fairly predetermined outcomes. For some crimes the Israeli army will go and demolish your home in addition to imprisoning you, obviously leaving your family in an impossible situation. Finally, the prisons are all in Israel, where the Palestinian families of prisoners need a special permit to go. This, combined with the sheer numbers of Palestinian people in prison, means that prisoners and prisoners’ families are a significant issue for the Palestinian Authority. There are organisations that provide significant aid to these families, but if your house has been demolished and out of your large family only your 12-year-old daughter has been given a permit to visit her father (true story), then there’s only so much good limited financial help can do.’

[Link to blog two https://oncearoundtheworldandhome.wordpress.com/2018/09/12/life-under-occupation/]

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