Unable to stop a prisoner swap between Palestinian Resistance groups and Israel, Tel Aviv’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir used his power for something else entirely.
According to The Times of Israel, Ben-Gvir instructed the head of Israel’s Prison Service on Friday to prevent prisoners from showing any signs of joy and celebration.
Indeed, freed Palestinian prisoners conveyed to journalists, as soon as they were released in the town of Beitunia, near Ramallah, in the West Bank, that the Israeli prison administration had humiliated them until the last minute, denying them food, water or the ability to use the toilet.
It was a sharp contrast between the way Palestinian fighters with Al-Qassam Brigades treated Israeli prisoners. The scene at the Rafah Crossing showed Palestinian Resistance fighters carrying elderly Israeli hostages, gently guiding a child to the Red Cross vehicle and exchanging friendly words with some of the hostages.
Israel releases 39 Palestinian women and children detainees as part of the temporary ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
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— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) November 24, 2023
One of the Palestinian children released in Beitunia conveyed a horror scene in an interview with Guevara al-Budayri, Al-Jazeera’s correspondent in the West Bank.
When al-Budayri asked him if the Israeli prison administration had to sign them papers prior to their release, the boy said: “No, but they threatened us that if there are people waiting for us outside or if we celebrate, we will be imprisoned again.”
The irony is that the boy was speaking while being carried by hundreds of Palestinians who came to celebrate his release and the release of 38 other Palestinian prisoners.
Former prisoner Malak Suliman finally hugs her mother after being released from Israeli prisons.
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— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) November 24, 2023
So, it seems that another Israeli intimidation strategy has failed. While Israel can indeed confine Palestinians, they cannot control their sense of joy when they meet their families, or control the celebrations of millions of Palestinians, who despite their collective grief, are still able to treasure a moment of freedom, however symbolic, or fleeting.
Below are some of these scenes as they transpired across the West Bank.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
