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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://english.palinfo.com/articles/2018/11/28/Four-decades-in-prison-for-seeking-a-free-Palestine">https://english.palinfo.com/articles/2018/11/28/Four-decades-in-prison-for-seeking-a-free-Palestine</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Four decades in prison for seeking a
free Palestine</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">By Ahmed Abu Artema -
November 28, 2018<br>
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<article id="ltrFullPageDiv"> Nael al-Barghouthi, a
Palestinian from the West Bank village of Kobar, has spent
nearly four decades in Israeli prisons. In 2009, he broke
the Guinness World Record for the world’s longest-serving
political prisoner.<b><i> (in occupied Palestine - there
are many political prisoners held by the US that have
been kept in cages and in some cases in solitary
confinement for much longer)</i></b><br>
<p>
Israeli occupation forces initially detained Barghouthi
in April 1978, but he was released in a 2011 prisoner
exchange deal before being rearrested three years later.</p>
<p>
After being freed in 2011, Barghouthi tried to return to
a normal life - but he had missed an entire generation.
The simple lifestyle that he knew decades earlier had
changed; many of his loved ones were dead, and the
buildings and fields he remembered as a child had been
consumed by urban development.</p>
<p>
<strong>Deep roots<br>
</strong>While he was out of prison, Barghouthi married
his longtime sweetheart, Eman Nafe, who herself had
spent 10 years in Israeli prison.</p>
<p>
He spent much of his time around olive trees, which
relieved his nostalgia and showed the importance of deep
roots in the face of time. These trees were the heritage
of his forefathers - the identity of Palestine that
Barghouthi loved and fought for, and the reason he spent
so much of his life in the darkness of prison.</p>
<p>
In his few years of freedom, Barghouthi worked in olive
groves, watering, trimming and picking the harvest. The
occupation gave him little time to enjoy his peace: he
was arrested again in the summer of 2014 and sentenced
to 30 months in prison for under flimsy charges of
violating the terms of his release. Just as he was due
to be freed, an Israeli military tribunal issued an
order reinstating his life sentence, plus an additional
18 years.</p>
<p>
Barghouthi’s story, and his suffering over all these
decades, raises many questions. Where does one find the
strength to spend almost all of one's life in prison?</p>
<p>
Four decades is a long time to live in pain, sadness,
oppression and deprivation. How many people were born
during that time, and how many passed away? How many
moments of joy, sadness, reunion and separation? How
many warm nights with family and friends were missed?
How many opportunities and experiences were lost?</p>
<p>
<strong>Full of hope<br>
</strong>All of these things were happening in a world
that was so close, yet so distant. Barghouthi was barred
from the world, seeing only darkness and hearing only
chains.</p>
<p>
He and I spoke by phone after his release in 2011. A
direct meeting was out of the question, due to the
separation between Gaza and the West Bank. When we
spoke, I didn't hear the voice of a broken person
destroyed by years of suffering. His voice was vibrant
and strong, full of hope and positive energy. </p>
<p>
He talked about the inevitability of freedom for
Palestine. He told me about his personal plans for work
and starting a family. I wondered about the source of
this hope that defeated oppression, and I realized that
his deep belief in the cause for which he was imprisoned
was stronger than his concerns over losing all those
years of his life.</p>
<p>
Barghouthi's rearrest violated the terms of the prisoner
exchange deal brokered by Egypt in 2011, which
stipulated that those released could not be rearrested
and retried on old charges. This violation highlights
the politicization of Israel's judiciary, a tool in the
government's hand to levy political pressure against
Palestinians without any legal basis.</p>
<p>
And Barghouthi is not alone: According to prisoners’
rights group Addameer, as of September, there were more
than 5,600 Palestinian political prisoners, hundreds of
whom were serving life sentences. Dozens of women and
hundreds of children were among those detained.</p>
<p>
<strong>A high price<br>
</strong>Israel commits clear violations of
international humanitarian law in its treatment of
Palestinian prisoners, from denying them adequate
medical care, to forcing mothers to give birth while
handcuffed to hospital beds. There is also physical and
psychological torture during interrogations, deprivation
of visitation rights, solitary confinement and
administrative detention without charges.</p>
<p>
These violations show Israel's confidence that the
international community will not take action, laying the
groundwork for additional violations against Palestinian
prisoners.</p>
<p>
As we call for justice for our prisoners, we cannot
forget the central problem of the occupation. It is
difficult to imagine obtaining justice for prisoners
when the very foundation of Israel as a state comprises
a flagrant violation of international humanitarian laws
and norms.</p>
<p>
Barghouthi's punishment for seeking the freedom of his
people, in addition to the suffering of all his fellow
prisoners, reminds the world of the occupation’s
devastating impact. Nations established on the ruins of
other people's rights cannot become normal states.
Foundations built on injustice and hegemony will always
provoke resistance among those who love freedom. They
will always choose revolution and confrontation, even if
it costs them everything.</p>
<p>
<em>- Ahmed Abu Artema is a Palestinian journalist and
peace activist. Born in Rafah in 1984, he is a refugee
from Al Ramla village. His article appeared in the
Middle East Eye.<br>
</em></p>
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