Four Days in Palestine: My Time with Bassem Tamimi by Miko Peled

My own daughter is one year younger than Ahed. I would lose my mind, I think to myself — but I never lived under military rule, under occupation, so I don’t know how to keep my composure when facing this sort of thing. After about an hour I see the camera crews starting to come out.

Journalist Mariam Barghouti fills me in on what happened. The judge refused to release Ahed and she must remain in prison until the trial. The reason the judge cited was that Ahed refuses to cooperate and pleads her right to remain silent — that makes her a danger, the judge said. And, as though things are not bad enough, her trial date is on her 17th birthday, January 31. Her mother, Nariman, is being held as well and her trial date is a week later, February 6. As I get this update and try to keep my head from exploding, Bassem is still inside giving interviews.

Twenty minutes later I see Bassem through the chicken wire. He comes out looking exactly as any father would look. Are there words to describe this feeling? I am at a loss for words again as we rush back to the car and drive off. His phone rings nonstop and he gives interview after interview — in Arabic, in English, then in Arabic again:

How do I feel? My wife and my daughter are being held by my enemy!”

The Times of Israel calls for an interview. This is a radical Zionist rag. They ask Bassem about Ahlam Tamimi and her husband Nizar. The two are relatives of Bassem, and have served many years in Israeli military jails. Ahlam was involved in the bombing of Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, which was located on a street corner I know well and often frequented. It is also across the street from the residence of the Israeli prime minister. Nizar was involved in the killing of a settler from the settlement Bet-El, which sits near Ramallah. They were both released from prison as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal.

How was Ahed influenced by her aunt Ahlam?” the reporter asked.

“Well,” Bassem replied, “both Ahlam and Ahed were influenced by the occupation and their want for freedom.”

“But Ahlam’s actions resulted in the killing of 17 Israelis – what do you say to that?”

“Israeli forces killed more than twenty of my family members, arrested and tortured me, shot my son and now they are holding my wife and daughter, what do you say to that?”

The reporter admitted he had no reply.

We kept driving, and fifteen minutes later the reporter called again: “We decided not to print the interview.”

That evening it was very cold and we stayed up late talking at Bassem’s house. Bassem’s three boys were home also. In the morning I could tell that the boys had been up late. When they got up they showed me videos of what transpired in the village while we were sleeping. Army jeeps screeching, engaged in what they call “clashes” with youth from the village. The army has a practice of entering villages late in the night, knowing this will disrupt people’s sleep, not to mention life. “There were no arrests,” the boys told us.

The Palestinian Authority has decided to take Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the case of Ahed’s arrest, so Bassem and I go to the office of Abu Jihad Al-Aloul, deputy leader of the Fateh party, to discuss this. We step in to Abu-Jihad’s office, Bassem introduces me, and we all chat for a while. Abu-Jihad reaffirms that the PA intends to take Ahed’s case to ICC and asks Bassem to return on Sunday to talk more. This was Thursday.

It’s late Thursday night when I leave on my return to Jerusalem. The road is dark except for the soft lights of Palestinian villages and the glaring lights of the Israeli colonies. I arrive at Ni’ilin checkpoint — a quick hello to the security people who man it and I am back in the sphere of the colonizer, driving along route 443, also known as Apartheid Road, passing by Ofer prison again but from the other side, where the road is paved and clean.

Source Article from https://uprootedpalestinians.wordpress.com/2018/02/04/four-days-in-palestine-my-time-with-bassem-tamimi-by-miko-peled/

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