Humus, aftershave and administrative detention
One of Addameer’s directors regularly comes into the office to work and eat humus with us. He’s around 67 years old. I first met him at the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem when I first arrived from the airport. He drove me from the hotel to Ramallah on my first day in the Occupied Territories.
The other day at lunch there was another round of story telling and a lot of laughter. Somebody translated the story for me which related to mother’s day or Valentine’s day last year. The director had completely forgotten about it until somebody from the office reminded him late in the day just before he was going home to his wife. He dashed out and got her what he thought was a bottle of perfume but which in fact turned out to be aftershave – we could only speculate what his wife thought about this.
One of Addameer’s directors regularly comes into the office to work and eat humus with us. He’s around 67 years old. I first met him at the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem when I first arrived from the airport. He drove me from the hotel to Ramallah on my first day in the Occupied Territories.
The other day at lunch there was another round of story telling and a lot of laughter. Somebody translated the story for me which related to mother’s day or Valentine’s day last year. The director had completely forgotten about it until somebody from the office reminded him late in the day just before he was going home to his wife. He dashed out and got her what he thought was a bottle of perfume but which in fact turned out to be aftershave – we could only speculate what his wife thought about this.
In 2004 the director, a well known human rights, social and political activist, was detained at Qalandia checkpoint outside Jerusalem. He was taken into custody and interrogated.
His interrogation focused on his work; who works in the organization; who funds the organization; does the organization provide financial support to detainees and their families; and is he a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine?
The military commander for the Occupied Territories issued him with a 6 month administrative detention order for “posing a threat to security of the region”. No further details were provided.
At the review hearing before a military court, the judge claimed that the secret evidence against the director included his participation in activities clearly threatening the security of the territory, and activities that were not limited to his work in a human rights organization. Neither the director or his lawyer were permitted to know what this secret evidence was.
The director appealed this decision to the military appeals court. The appeal was dismissed on the grounds that the secret evidence covered activities stretching back over a long period of time. The arbitrary nature of administrative detention is apparent from the fact that the director had already been interrogated by the Israeli intelligence service 12 months before and released after only a few hours – strange if he was such a threat to security.
It is not uncommon for Palestinians to be detained for months and even years without charge, for no more than being a human rights activist or being an active participant in political and social life in the Occupied Territories.
Since 1967 over 700,000 Palestinians have been detained, including all the males who work in this office.
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