Following the denial of the Lib Dem's democratic right to put a motion on Veolia and Palestine at the Brent Council meeting on Monday there was an event that should make Brent's Labour councillors think again.
The
Palestinian footballer and human rights campaigner Mahmoud Sarsak
brought greetings from 'the people of Gaza under siege and Gazan
prisoners and Jordanian prisoners in Israeli jails' when he spoke to an
attentive audience at the Willesden Green Pakistan Community Centre..
Mahmoud, whose hunger strike
attracted international attention, said that the illegal occupiers of
Palestine wanted to oppress and discredit any Palestinian talent in any
field. Israel wanted persuade people that it was a cultured place in
contrast to Palestine. Palestinians wanted to share their culture with
other nations as a way of supporting their humanitarian cause.
He
described the Israeli strategy as one of imprisonment, exile and
ultimately death. Following his arrest on July 22nd 2009 when, replete
with the necessary pass, he was crossing Israeli land to the West Bank
to take up a place in a local football team, he was imprisoned.
Mahmoud described the prison as:
A graveyard for the living where they kill people's dreams
He was placed in tiny cell and interrogated for
45 days and allowed very little sleep. Tortured both physically and
psychologically he had been tied by arms and legs to a chair and
subjected to 15 hours uninterrupted interrogation. One technique was to
expose prisoners to extreme cold via an open refrigerator. He described
how some prisoners fainted were then revived and returned to the
freezing conditions, others made seriously ill were taken to hospital
and after recovery returned for further interrogation.
Another
technique was what Mahmoud referred to as 'the banana' after the shape
made when hands were tied to legs and and the prisoner left for hours.
All this was an attempt to get prisoners to confess to what they hadn't
done in order to justify the arrests to the international authorities.He
said that he had been subject to other tortures but 'these were too
ugly to speak about in a public meeting'.
Speaking
calmly and with dignity, Mahmoud said. 'They tried to get me to confess
but I hadn't done anything'. The detention by Israeli intelligence had
taken place under 'illegal fighter' laws of the Israeli Justice system
aimed at Lebanese and Hezbollah fighters which were not recognised
internationally.
Mahmoud
said that bizarrely the Israeli authorities wanted to convince people
that he was not Palestinian and not a footballer - but a Lebanese
fighter.
Pausing
and surveying the hushed audience Mahmoud said, 'When you go to jail
you are exposed to human suffering you would never imagine'.
He
described how he had witnessed the interrogation and intimidation of 14
or 15 year old children which was clearly against international law. He
said:
Children should be protected and enjoy childhood and an education. For Palestinian children it is a different story.
Remarking
that children are resilient and would survive to have a future, Mahmoud
said that older prisoners were neglected, became ill and were slowly
dying. It was very painful to watch helplessly as your brothers slowly
died, deprived of the painkillers that would have been available outside
jail.
Mahmoud movingly described the death of his
cellmate of 9 months from stomach cancer. He had called the doctor
repeatedly but each time the doctor had said it was just 'stomach
ache'. After his death the Israeli media had said it was a case of
suicide. A case of kidney disease had been refused admission to hospital
and there was currently the case of a prisoner with abdominal cancer
that was worrying Mahmoud because it appeared that the international
community would not do anything to help the victim:
Mahmoud said:
Outside jail you hear stories...inside you see
them. You are treated as a number. You have no right to a family or
care. No right to socialise. Some prisoners have been in solitary
confinement for 11 or 14 years without ever talking to another human
being.
After seeing
this with my own eyes I had to do something myself. Not just sit - I had
to act. This is where the story of my hunger strike began.
When
I started comparing my freedom outside with my life inside jail I had
to decide whether to live in jail without dignity and probably die or
die with dignity. I decided I had no choice but to go on hunger strike,
especially when denied the truth.
I nearly lost my health but nothing compared (after his release) with getting my freedom and seeing my mother again.
Despite
what the international community knew about Israel's abuse of human
rights, including bombing football stadia in Gaza in 2009 and 2012, its
apartheid against its own citizens and restrictions on who Palestinian
teams can play, Uefa had 'rewarded' Israel with the right to hold the
Under 21s event, Mahmoud told the audience.
He had
taken part in the campaign to 'Show Israel the Red Card' to stop Israel
holding the Under 21 finals, as a footballer and a humanitarian, using
many strategies and trying to explain the history behind the issue.
Since the 1917 Balfour Declaration Palestine has been bleeding. The UK
and USA have helped Israel extend their state on Palestinian land and
'denied us our freedom, culture and heritage'.
Israel
was trying to kill hope amongst the young and talented but this will not
work - hope can never be killed. Mahmoud said 'the world has
forgotten not just me but 5,000 prisoners' and cited the example of
Norway's actions as one that other countries should follow.
As chair of the meeting I thanked Mahmoud saying:
As
long as there are courageous, empathetic and insightful people like you
to testify, hope will never be killed. I hope your message will be
heard not just in this small community centre but throughout the world.
We are privileged to have heard you speak this evening.
