By Fayha Shalash – Ramallah
“I was in a miserable state, exhausted, hungry and had nothing to eat, and when I asked for a medical examination, they attacked me again.”
Abdel Mohsen Shalalda, a 32-year-old Palestinian journalist from Hebron (Al-Khalil), was detained in Israel for six months.
Despite his relatively short period of imprisonment, Shalalda still suffers from the consequences of the mistreatment he suffered during his imprisonment.
At dawn on November 7 last year, an Israeli army unit raided Shalalda’s house in the town of Sa’ir, northeast of Hebron. After a thorough search of his house by Israeli occupation forces, the journalist was arrested and escorted into a military vehicle.
Cigarettes in my head
From the moment of his arrest, Shalalda, who worked for a local media company called G Media, was subjected to severe beatings on the chest, head and back.
“The worst thing was that the Israeli soldiers put out their cigarettes in my head. I was in extreme pain and every time I screamed they hit me again,” he told the Palestine Chronicle.
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After more than 36 hours of continuous beating, during which Israeli soldiers took turns to mistreat the young man, Shalalda was transferred to the Etzion prison camp north of Hebron.
Upon his arrival at the detention centre, Shalalda was exhausted and frail from hours of beating. He no longer had the strength to move his limbs and felt as though he had suffered several fractures in his chest.
“I was in a miserable state, exhausted and hungry and had nothing to eat, and when I asked for a medical examination, they attacked me again,” he said.
Without medical care or food, the journalist was taken to Ofer Prison in the central West Bank. During the journey, he was beaten again, although he had still not recovered from the first attack.
Although winter was approaching in one of the coldest prisons, Israeli occupation forces confiscated the prisoners’ blankets and warm clothing and forced them to wear the light uniforms of the Israeli prison administration, which provided no protection from the cold.
Touching moments when journalist Abdel Mohsen Shalalda meets his child, who was born in the occupation prisons ❤️🩹 pic.twitter.com/ntkK8SBqkK
— 🔻 mari 🔻 (@mariresisting) May 8, 2024
During her detention, during which she lacks the most basic necessities, Shalalda was again subjected to interrogations and beatings.
“The interrogation was solely about my journalistic work and when I replied that this was my livelihood, the interrogator accused me of being affiliated with Hamas and of photographing the anti-war marches for Gaza for non-journalistic purposes,” he added.
Shalalda’s detention is not the first, as he has been arrested three times before and attacked several times while carrying out his work.
“When I was released, I learned that my wife had given birth to our child. I had no contact with my family and knew nothing about them. We slept hungry in the extreme cold,” explained the young journalist.
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Daily violations
Shalalda is one of many Palestinian journalists in the West Bank who face countless Israeli attacks every day.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Authority, Israeli occupation forces have arrested 94 Palestinian journalists since the start of the Israeli war against the Gaza Strip last October, 16 of whom are said to be from Gaza.
To date, 50 journalists, including five women, are being held in inhumane conditions. Fifteen of these journalists remain in administrative detention without being charged or brought to trial.
Other forms of abuse of Palestinian journalists in the West Bank by the Israeli occupation army include obstruction of work, harassment, verbal or physical abuse, and the confiscation or destruction of equipment.
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Documented crimes against journalists
The Freedom Committee of the Journalists’ Union stated in its report last June that 84 attacks had been recorded since the aggression on Gaza began last October. In the course of these attacks, Israeli soldiers confiscated journalists’ property and sometimes destroyed it under threat of weapons.
The report pointed out that 50 cases of confiscation of journalists’ mobile phones were monitored and documented, especially at the time of the break-ins and arrests. In addition, about eight laptops were destroyed and eight printing machines were confiscated. In addition, three drones for photography, working cables, a microphone and a protective shield were confiscated and several cameras were destroyed.
The Palestinian Journalists Association’s media and public relations officer, Omar Nazzal, told the Palestine Chronicle that Israel pursues the same criminal policy against journalists in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
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According to Nazzl, this policy stems, on the one hand, from Israel’s hostility towards everything Arab and Palestinian and, on the other hand, from its hostility towards the truth that journalists constantly try to uncover.
“Israel can continue its attacks on the Palestinian Journalists’ Organization because it knows that the world, including the United Nations and international courts, will remain silent and will not hold it accountable in the face of its supporters, who are represented by the forces of evil and colonialism in the world,” Nazzal concluded.
The lives of journalists in the occupied Palestinian territories, whether in the West Bank, occupied Jerusalem or Gaza, are no different from those of other Palestinian citizens. Neither the law that protects them nor their honorable work of uncovering the truth serves them in the face of the brutality of the Israeli occupation.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Fayha’ Shalash is a Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah. She graduated from Birzeit University in 2008 and has worked as a reporter and broadcaster since then. Her articles have appeared in several online publications. She contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
