Resistance and Efforts for Peace

Israel Abducts, Tortures Wives Of Palestinian Resistance Fighters

IslamOnline and News Agencies
Palestine Chronicle
February 10, 2003

RAMALLAH - Israeli occupation forces have recently started a heavy abduction campaign among the wives of the Palestinian resistance fighters and the women affiliated to Islamic groups in Palestinian universities.

The aim of the abduction is to dampen the determination of the abducted fighters or to get information from the women about the places where wanted fighters might be hiding.

Palestinian sources, which closely monitor the situation of the abducted Palestinians, told Quds Press on Friday, February 7, that: “These arrests have been accompanied by aggressive physical assaults and rape attempts, which is an unprecedented dangerous move.”

The sources gave examples to what happens to the resistance fighters’ wives and said that the occupation forces abducted Fatma Abou Fara from Sourif, in solitary confinement in Beit Ibl, which is 2 meters long and 1.5 meters wide.

A young man entered in her cell and then Fatma started to scream, angering nearby prisoners who started to protest in anger. This led the occupation forces to open the cell and bring out the man who spent 10 minutes inside.

In another incident, the sources said that the wife of Falah Nada, a resistance fighter, was taken away from her seven children and dragged to prison cells where she was tortured to force her husband to confess to fabricated crimes.

The sources said that Falah’s wife is tortured in front of him and he is blackmailed by the occupation forces that they will continue torturing his wife until he admits and that they will not release her unless they take a confession from him.

The sources said that Asma Hamed, wife of wanted Palestinian fighter Ibrahim Hamed, was taken away from her two children Ali and Salma and dragged to prison where they torture her to force her to give information about the whereabouts of her husband and they threaten that she will be sent to Jordan because she doesn’t possess an Israeli identity.

Ibtihal Youssef, from the village of Kharbatha Bani Hareth, student of the Al Quds University was subjected to a violent and humiliating interrogation. In addition Amany Saeed, from the village of Al Yamoun, and student in the same university was also transferred to the administrative detention.

Meanwhile, the occupation forces are now implementing a new policy of abducting the relatives of fighters to prevent bomb operations which target Israelis and this is after the failure of the house demolition policy from deterring such operations.

Two days ago, the occupation forces abducted the brother of a Palestinian fighter from Tulkarem in the West bank. The fighter had in the past carried out a resistance operation against Israeli targets which led to the death of four Israelis.

Meanwhile, sources in the Israeli army said that early Wednesday, February 5, the brothers of martyr Ala Hilal Al Sabah, who carried out the Al Khudeira operation were arrested. The operation was adopted by Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Jihad Islamic movement.

Ala’s father said that a number of soldiers surrounded his house which lies in the Nabatat area and started destroying its gate. After forcefully entering, they trapped several members of his family in a small room for several hours during which they combed the house and caused a lot of destruction.

He added that the forces dragged his two sons Thaer, 22, and Kifah, 19 to the rooftop and interrogated them and then took them to an unidentified location.

Al Sabah asked humanitarian agencies to put pressure on the occupation forces to release his sons, especially that Kifah was going on Thursday with his mother to perform Hajj.