Case of the Year:Independence Day and Farouk Abu-Hassan

 When the first Palestinian soldier entered the homeland, people praised the Palestinian Authority, hoping to forget the years of depression and suffering that they lived under the Israeli Occupation. People had hopes and ambitions to build their own state of democracy and respect of human rights. Yet this dream soon turned into a nightmare.

The biggest surprise was to have Palestinian prisons with Palestinians imprisoned by fellow Palestinians. And the astonishing thing was to have freedom fighters who struggled for freedom and independence for years imprisoned by other Palestinians.

 

The existing reality for Palestinians has become a strange environment for its own people.  This is the case of a normal Palestinian citizen, Farouk Abu-Hassan (born in 1954) who was imprisoned by Israel for 13 years, then after the coming of the Palestinian Authority, he was (and is still) imprisoned and tortured by the Palestinian security services. His only “mistake” was a letter that he, and some other Palestinian prisoners (Subhi al-Baba, Hasan al-Fakhouri, Assem Hassouneh and Hasan Shahin – who was also arrested by the PA for more than three years with no specific charge) wrote in 1981 to President Sadat of Egypt from their prison in Asqalan (Ashkelon), expressing their concern regarding the Palestinian rights, and saluting his peace initiative. Their letter was published in the Egyptian al-Musawar weekly magazine at that time.

 

Farouk Abu-Hassan from Gaza city is married with three children, and he worked as a clerical employee in the postal service for the period 1987 to 1994 (until he was arrested). On 8 November 1994 he was told by telephone to go to the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) headed by Colonel Mousa Arafat. He went three times that day, but every time he was told that the Colonel was not there and he had to come back. But late that night, Lieutenant Abdallah Abu-Abdeh came to his house with a security force and took Farouk with them…and he hasn’t come back since.

 

His wife Zaheera, a teacher in a local school told the PHRMG:

 

"I tried several times to meet with Colonel Arafat the following few days in order just to know the charge my husband was arrested for, but with no success. At last they allowed me to see him, after some days, under heavy guards. But he told me that they didn’t ask him anything, not even his name. On 18 January 1995 they started interrogating him, so they prevented me from visiting him for three months. I didn’t know what to do or where to go or what to tell my children about their father who is imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority for no clear reason.

 

"They let me visit him after that, and he looked very tired and depressed, probably as a result of torture, because he wasn’t allowed to say anything during the visit. But he told me that his charge was his support (by a letter) of President Sadat of Egypt 13 years ago praising his peace initiative. I tried to meet President Arafat during that time, and I wrote to him explaining the issue. It was no use. I hired a lawyer to defend my husband (his name was Fayez Ziadeh), but this lawyer came to me after some time and told me that he is not handling the case any more because the Military Intelligence Service, the MIS, is not cooperating with him.

 

“On 22 November 1996, my husband called me from prison. He told me that he needed to see me urgently. I went to see him, and there was another man with him, called Adel Hamadeh, who worked for the MIS. This person, Adel, said if we paid the intelligence service (MIS) 8,500 Jordanian dinars, Farouk would be released in 10 days, because there was nothing against him. We didn’t have that sum of money, but I managed to collect it from different sources, and gave the money to Adel Hamadeh, but my husband wasn’t released. Moreover, they prevented me from visiting him after that for 18 months. I asked Adel Hamadeh about the sum of money he took, but he said that he gave it to the MIS. Then, another individual from Force 17 Security Service called Ali Baker said that my husband was innocent, and he would be released if we paid 4,000 Jordanian dinars, but I refused.

 

 “I tried again to meet with President Arafat. I wrote to him and to the Attorney General Khaled al-Qidrah, but with no reply. During this period my husband suffered from some heart problems, and he was taken to several medical centres for treatment. We didn’t know whether he was still alive or not. They allowed us to visit him on the first day of Eid el-Fiter (a Muslim feast) in 1998, so his two sisters went to see him. And my husband is still imprisoned in Gaza with no specific charge or trial.” _________________________________________________

From Inside Israel:

A letter to President Sadat

From the Central Committee of the Palestinian National Movement for Peace

 

We have received the following letter from the Central Committee of the Palestinian National Movement for Peace in ‘Asqalan (Ashkelon) Prison inside Israel addressed to President Sadat saluting him on his remarkable role that he played for the Palestinian cause. We consider this as a historical document from those fighters for justice and peace. Following is the actual letter:

 

Mr. President Mohammad Anwar Al-Sadat

With much respect and appreciation we in the Central Committee of the Palestinian National Movement for Peace would like to mention the following facts for you, to help you fulfill your responsibilities in which we trust.

 

We have written to you, Mr. President, after you made your historic breakthrough for peace in November 1977, saluting and supporting your great initiative, with a list of signatures, which you have mentioned before the Egyptian Parliament. After that, we suffered a lot inside the detention prison, and we were accused of all kinds of charges.

 

Moreover, we established this national movement for peace whose main aim is to gather support for your peace initiative, and whose members are long time fighters for Palestine. We kept in contact with you informing you of all the details of our movement.

 

We consider you, Mr. President as the real fighter for peace and freedom, and you exercise that on the ground  through the great march of peace that you lead. We in the central committee are very proud of this peace process, and we declared that in our interview with the American TV “ABC.”

  

Allow us, Mr. President, to put in front of you, our major political principles that totally agree with your political approach:

 

1.       We believe completely in the peaceful approach of President Sadat, in all its aspects.

2.       The Palestinian National Movement for Peace reflects the Palestinian civilized peaceful trend.

3.       Our movement refuses wars and violence, and our movement acts against them.

4.       We believe that working for a comprehensive peace in the region will put an end to the conflict between the two peoples (the Palestinians and the Israelis).

5.       We believe in the method of negotiation and discussion in order to reach an agreement between the two peoples. We consider this as the perfect way to solve problems.

6.       Our movement demands the complete Israeli withdrawal from all the Arab lands to the borders of 1967, and the establishing of an Independent Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza Strip including East Jerusalem.

7.       Both States (Israel & Palestine) should recognize the existence of each other, and have natural relations between them.

8.       Our movement refuses any sort of guardianship or subordination. We consider the Palestinian people as part of the Arab world, and we believe in Arab unity.

 

We ask you, Mr. President to look at these principles and to make them part of your responsibilities. And we trust that you will continue to work hard for those great goals.

We salute you and the Egyptian government, and the people of Egypt for their continuous support of our cause. Greetings to you, and to the heroes of our nation, the true peace-makers, who will build a prosperous future for our nation.

 

With much respect and appreciation,

On behalf of the Central Committee of the Palestinian National Movement for Peace:

 

Farouk Mohammad Salameh Abu-Hassan

Subhi Mohammad Salem Al-Baba

Hasan Ahmad Abdel-Razzak Al-Fakhouri

Assem Shehadeh Yacoub Hassouneh

Hasan Ahmad Husein Shaheen

 

‘Asqalan Prison, 10/4/1981