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Murder 3
Israelis and spend 27 years in Israeli prison
Terrorist
murderer studied history and political science at Hebrew University while in
prison
Israel has since changed its laws to
deny
terrorist prisoners access to higher
education
by Itamar Marcus and Nan
Jacques Zilberdik
For a released Palestinian terrorist who murdered 3 Israeli soldiers,
the 27 years he spent in Israeli prisons was his ticket to higher education.
Terrorist murderer Hilal Jaradat:
"In prison I studied at the Hebrew
University in the history and political science faculties. I read approximately
6,000 books in prison, and I translated for many of the prisoners."
[Donia Al-Watan, independent
Palestinian news agency, Jan. 26, 2017]
While in prison he also developed an interest in learning foreign
languages:
"I began with Hebrew and English and then I
moved on to many languages such as Russian, Spanish, and French, until I reached
approximately 16 languages."
Jaradat was released by Israel in 2011, as part of the Shalit
prisoner exchange deal brokered between the Israeli government and Hamas. In
that deal, Israel released 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli
soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held hostage by Hamas for more than 5
years.
Another prisoner likewise took advantage of his imprisonment to earn
a B.A. while serving time:
"Prisoner Imad Al-Athamneh is married and a
father of six children, and he earned a high school diploma and a bachelor's
degree in history inside
prison."
[Khabar, independent
Palestinian news agency, Feb. 22, 2017]
Since 2011, Israel has no longer given Palestinian terrorist
prisoners access to higher education. Appeals made by prisoners to
Israel's Supreme Court in 2012 and in 2015 were denied on the grounds that
prisoners do not have a constitutional right to be allowed to study.
Although the Palestinian Authority routinely spreads libels about how Israel mistreats, tortures, and medically
neglects prisoners, Palestinian Media Watch has found that Palestinian
prisoners themselves openly admit that they were well treated by Israel. In
2013, a released Palestinian prisoner described prisoners' life of fun, play and
study in an interview:
"In
the morning we'd exercise from 7:00 until
8:00... Then the guys would get together in
the prison yard and we'd chat, talk, eat, drink, joke and play, etc., throughout
the day. At noon the guys would go to their rooms for
roll-call. Noon roll-call is from 11:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. Roll-call time is time for resting in the rooms. Each
group has a routine inside the rooms: Nap time, reading time, study time. Some
sleep, some read. At 1:30 or 12:30
p.m. they'd take us out to the yard again.
We'd spend [time] with the guys walking, laughing, playing, joking, etc., until
dark. Then back to the rooms. They'd lock us up until 6:00 a.m.,
roll-call time."
[Official PA TV, May 4,
2013]
See additional important interviews below in which Palestinian
terrorist prisoners describe daily routine in Israeli prison.
The following are longer excerpts of the articles describing
the terrorists' academic achievements in prison:
"The occupation authorities released
prisoner Imad Muhammad Al-Athamneh, 45, this evening, Wednesday [Feb. 22, 2017],
after he served his sentence of 14 years... It should be noted that prisoner
Imad Al-Athamneh is married and a father of six children, and he earned a high
school diploma and a bachelor's degree in history inside
prison."
[Khabar, independent
Palestinian news agency, Feb. 22, 2017]
Headline: "Jaradat: I read 6,000 books and
learned 16 languages in prison"
"His eyes, which
shine with passion and ambition, wait for the relief of returning to the beloved
city of Jenin, which he left dozens of years ago when he decided to take revenge
for the poisoning of the schools in 1985, and was imprisoned by the Israeli
occupation on charges of killing 3 Israeli soldiers.
He glances at the
various Hebrew websites, and when we asked him about his life he said: 'My name
is Hilal Jaradat from Jenin in the West Bank. I served 27 years in the Israeli
occupation's prisons after I killed 3 Israeli soldiers in 1985.'
Prisoner Jaradat
spoke with [the independent Palestinian news agency] Donia Al-Watan and said:
'The stabbing operation came as a result of events that took place in Jenin, and
particularly the poisoning of the schools. Therefore I killed the 3 Israeli
soldiers next to the Megiddo Prison (PMW has been unable to verify these details
-Ed.).'
Jaradat remembered
details of that day: 'I got up at 7:00 a.m. and went to Haifa. Suddenly its [the
bus'] route changed, I planned my operation (i.e., terror attack), and stopped
next to the Megiddo Prison. I waited for soldiers to arrive at the stop, and
indeed soldiers arrived. I carried out the stabbing operation, and in it I used
a knife.'
He remembered and
said: 'After I stabbed the soldiers, [Israeli] border police forces arrived from
Wadi Al-Lajjun and I surrendered after I was unable to use the weapon I had
taken from one of the soldiers...
After the stage of
investigation, which lasted for three months, I was tried in the Nazareth court
and sentenced to 3 life sentences. That was in 1985.' ...
He continued to
talk while glancing at the laptop computer and his translations, and said: 'I
entered the Jenin Prison, and through my membership in the Fatah organization I
began to study. One of the prisoners guided me to take an interest in languages,
and particularly the Hebrew language, since this is a very important issue and
few people take interest in it, and the Western media needs to get to know the
Palestinian and what is being written and spoken about in
Palestine.'
He continued: 'Our
battle against the enemy is a battle of knowledge, and therefore I began to
teach and study. I began with Hebrew and English and then I moved on to many
languages such as Russian, Spanish, and French, until I reached approximately 16
languages.'
He added: 'In
prison I studied at the Hebrew University in the history and political science
faculties. I read approximately 6,000 books in prison, and I translated for many
of the prisoners.'"
[Donia Al-Watan, independent
Palestinian news agency, Jan. 26, 2017]
Hilal Jaradat - Palestinian terrorist who murdered 3
Israeli soldiers in 1985 and was sentenced to 3 life sentences. He was released
in the Shalit prisoner exchange deal in 2011. PMW has been unable to verify the
details of his crime.
Examples of statements by PA officials and prisoners regarding
their studies while serving time and other prison
conditions:
Prisoners' Affairs Commission Director confirms Palestinian
prisoners get degrees in prison
"Prisoners and Released [Prisoners']
Affairs Commission director Issa Karake said today, Wednesday [Nov. 26, 2014],
that the results of the matriculation exams taken by the prisoners, who are
subject to the regulations of the matriculation exams for 2014, were ready, and
would be announced next Sunday. In a statement to the press, Karake said that
631 prisoners had taken the exams, of whom 407 had passed, while the number of
prisoners who had failed to complete certain materials came to 224... In
addition, he noted that, for the first time since 2009, the prisoners were able
to take the matriculation exams, after the occupation had stopped the prisoners'
high-school and university studies in the prisons. Karake said that special
study committees trained by the prisoners had supervised the exams, according to
the curriculum and guidelines established by the Ministry of Education, and that
this was greatly appreciated by the prisoners."
[WAFA, official PA news agency,
Nov. 26, 2014]
PA Minister admits that transferred prisoners were treated well by
Israel
Headline: "103 prisoners were transferred
to Rimon after Shatah was flooded"
"103 prisoners from the Shatah prison
arrived at the Israeli Rimon prison after rainwater flooded their cells.
Minister of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake told [official PA news agency] Wafa
yesterday that the prisoners were in good condition when they arrived at the
Rimon prison, after rains had flooded their cells in the Shatah
prison."
[Official PA daily,
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 10, 2013]
Released Palestinian prisoner describes prisoners' life of fun,
play and study
Released prisoner Muhammad
Hilal: "The worst thing about Israeli
prison is the torturous ride inside 'the Posta' (i.e., transport vehicle)...
when a man is driven to court or to the hospital or on any ride outside the
prison... We prisoners call this 'ride of torment,' not 'the Posta' and not 'the
ride.' This is beyond imagination. No matter how much I talk about it it's hard
to convey the suffering. The prisoners sit on a metal chair, made entirely of
metal, there's nothing but metal inside it... "
PA TV host: "Describe a
day in your life in prison. You served 10 years."
Released prisoner
Muhammad Hilal: "In the morning we'd exercise from 7:00 until 8:00...
Then the guys would get together in the prison yard and we'd chat, talk, eat,
drink, joke and play, etc., throughout the day. At noon the guys would go to
their rooms for roll-call. Noon roll-call is from 11:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.
Roll-call time is time for resting in the rooms. Each group has a routine inside
the rooms: Nap time, reading time, study time. Some sleep, some read. At 1:30 or
12:30 p.m. they'd take us out to the yard again. We'd spend [time] with the guys
walking, laughing, playing, joking, etc., until dark. Then back to the rooms.
They'd lock us up until 6:00 a.m., roll-call time."
[Official PA TV, May 4,
2013]
Family of terrorist laments about
having to remove shoes during security check
PA TV
reporter: "Let's talk about the [prison] visits - how you suffered...
the difficulties you encountered during this long period of contacting [your
brother] Osama. The permits and harassments to prisoners' families are well
known when they want to visit [relatives in prison]. What happened to
you?"
Brother of released murderer Osama
Abu Hananeh: "Of course, visiting was very difficult... The methods of
inspection, the prison management's behavior towards us. Of course all these
things are hard. The visit was exhausting when we went through the [security]
check. They would even pass our shoes through a machine."
PA TV
reporter: "What difficulties did you encounter when you went to visit
your sons? Were there any transportation problems in reaching the
prisons?"
Mother of released murderer Ahmad Abd Al-Aziz
Qadura: "No, by Allah, nothing. Thank Allah, we would visit them and go
home."
[Official PA TV, Oct. 30,
2013]
Note: The guests on the show are relatives of Osama Abu Hananeh and
Ahmad Abd Al-Aziz Qadura. Hananeh, Qadura and two others murdered Motti Biton
and wounded his wife Molly near Jenin in October 1992. They were serving life
time in prison, but were released in October 2013 as part of 104 terrorists
Israel agreed to release, which was the PA's precondition for renewing
negotiations.
Red Cross spokeswoman: Israel never prevented Red Cross from
visiting Palestinian prisoners
PA TV's morning broadcast Good Morning, Red Cross spokeswoman
Nadia Debsi was interviewed about the role of the Red Cross in times of crisis
and conflict.
PA TV
host: "[The Red Cross] visits the
prisoners in the occupation's prisons (i.e., Israeli prisons). However, when
they [Israel] prevent Red Cross teams from visiting prisoners, what is your
position on this? Do you make it public? We haven't heard. In the past, we
heard clearly and explicitly that a Red Cross lawyer was prevented from visiting
prisoners as part of the [Israeli]attack that they [the prisoners]
face..."
Red Cross spokeswoman:
"To make things clear, as far as I know, no Red Cross visits have
been prevented. I've received no word at all that [Israel] ever prevented us
[from visiting]."
Host:
"Are the prison gates open to you at all times?"
Red Cross spokeswoman:
"We have an agreement with the Israeli side just as we have an
agreement with the Palestinian side concerning prison visits. That is, there is
an agreement between the [Israel] Prison Service and the Red Cross... Red Cross
representatives of course visit everyone held in Israeli prisons, and we return
to visit these prisons, especially people currently in solitary confinement. We
visit them every two months, and especially the places where they hold young
people. For example, the Ofer Prison. We visit [those places] more frequently
because young people are there, and [because of] the special protection given to
young people and minors in detention."
[Official Palestinian Authority
TV, Oct. 26, 2011]
Palestinian prisoners make list of demands to improve prison
conditions: "Restore satellite TV channels"
The PA daily printed a list of demands made by Palestinian prisoners on
hunger strike. In contrast to PA allegations that Israel abuses and poisons
prisoners, the list makes no mention of any such abuse against prisoners. The
demands are all related to normal prison routine, including prison luxuries such
as demanding "satellite TV channels":
Headline: "List of demands of the prisoners
on hunger strike"
"Yesterday the Prisoners' Club published
the demands of the prisoners who are holding a hunger strike in the
Israeli prisons. Among the demands:
- To end the policy of solitary
confinement, in which about 20 prisoners are being held.
- To end the policy of strip searches.
- To allow prisoners from Gaza visits by
family members, because they have been forbidden to visit since 2007.
- To allow all family members to visit the
prisoner.
- To allow children [of the prisoners] to
continue regular visits after they reach the age of 16.
- To allow a prisoner to visit his prisoner
wife.
- To allow Arab prisoners to make telephone
calls to their families and to send their families video clips.
- To restore satellite TV channels.
- To improve the visiting conditions for
families: to remove the glass partition, to permit children to enter
during the visit, to end the policy of humiliating and degrading searches of
family members.
- To free psychiatric prisoners and those
suffering from incurable illnesses.
- To provide treatment for prisoners who
are ill, including surgery, provision of auxiliary equipment, and quick
diagnosis of illnesses, and to allow the approved list of doctors to enter the
prison easily.
- To end the policy of collective
punishment and the imposition of fines on prisoners.
- To re-allow studies, including
matriculation examinations, university registration, and to bring in
books.
- To end the policy of handcuffing the
prisoner's hands and legs during a meeting with family or his lawyer.
- To stop carrying out daily searches in
the cells and destroying them.
- To improve conditions in the vehicles for
transporting prisoners, especially those transporting [prisoners who are]
ill.
- To release the prisoners in
administrative detention.
- To allow children to embrace their
mothers and fathers.
- To remove the glass [partition] with the
net behind it during a visit.
- To improve the food, in terms of both
quantity and quality.
- To put prisoners [from the same family],
together in the same prison, to make it easier for the family during a
visit.
- To allow prisoners who are related to
each other, such as a husband and wife, to be in prisons close by each
other, to make visiting easier.
- To end the humiliating searches of family
members and to allow them to take water for drinking on the bus for
visitors."
[Official PA daily,
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 3, 2011]
Released Palestinian prisoner says prisoners "lack nothing" in
Israeli prisons
An interview on PA TV with a former Palestinian prisoner on the very
day he was released contradicts the PA libels claiming torture:
PA TV host: "What can you tell us about the younger people? Just
today you were released from Megiddo prison."
Released prisoner: "The situation
of the younger people in Megiddo is good. They lack nothing. Their situation is
good."
Host: "How can it be that they lack nothing?"
Prisoner: "They lack
nothing. Their situation is really fine, good."
Host: "They lack nothing? Not even freedom?"
Prisoner: "No. Freedom - yes. Allah willing, there will be
freedom."
Host: "How long were you in prison?"
Prisoner: "Two
years."
Host: "And you say that they lack nothing?"
Prisoner: "I
don't know."
[Official PA TV, June 24,
2010]
Note: The Red Cross visits Palestinian prisoners regularly and has
neither documented nor accused Israel of any of these recurring PA
accusations.
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