Hana Shalabi and the international indifference to the arbitrary arrest of women and children in Palestine

Hana Shalabi has entered her 41st day of her hunger strike and thus far her sacrifice has been met with silence from the world, save, the regular activists, and journalists who never aspired to write for the New York Times.

Yesterday, Palestinian journalist, Linah Alsaafin interviewed Zahra Shalabi the sister of Hana Shalabi in her home. It’s a heart wrenching, anger inducing, and most of all, frustrating read–knowing that the international community allows Israel to incarcerate whomever they want, whenever they want, regardless of sex or age:

“On February 16, at 2:30am, Zahra woke up to the sound of unusual noises outside the house. At first, she thought it was a few stray dogs, but then came the unmistakable rumble of an Israeli army jeep. Hana woke up in a frenzy, gasping “The Israelis, the Israelis!” She confusedly thought that the occupation soldiers had come for her brother Ammar, who spent two weeks in prison after the Palestinian Authority arrested him in 2009 on the baseless accusation of weapon possession. The thought of getting rearrested did not cross her mind until the Israeli commander called her name.

“She began jumping around like a caged bird,” Zahra says. “She was panicking, and kept repeating over and over again that she was not going to go with the soldiers because she didn’t do anything.”
The soldiers raided the house, making the inhabitants sit on the floor. One soldier grabbed Hana, who tried to push him away. He began beating her. Another unit went upstairs to her brother Ammar’s house, and scared the children by charging in with police dogs.”
Read the rest of the interview, here.

Reading details of her arrest doesn’t make me angry at Israel, it makes me angry at the United States, the international community, the toothless Arab League which acts in complete accordance with U.S. policy in the region.  Angry at the sham feminist groups around the world that always offer words of colonial solidarity with oppressed women in countries that the U.S. doesn’t like. Yet these women can’t bring themselves to contest the arrest of a woman without charge, without trial and without any semblance of justice.  What Israel is saying to the Palestinians and to the world at large with these arbitrary arrests, is that Israel knows no moral bounds. And, that it can act as horrifically as it wants knowing full well that it has diplomatic cover from the U.S. at the UNSC, and, American welfare secured through the U.S. Congress.

Hana is not the only woman on hunger strike in an Israeli prison. Amani Al-Khandakji, age 27, has been on hunger strike for 7 days, she is being held for opening a Facebook page in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners.  But, there are reports that when Amani was arrested, Israeli soldiers told her father her arrest was meant to pressure her brother, also a prisoner, from writing articles documenting the abuse of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.  Imagine the outrage if Iran had arrested Amani instead of Israel.

And the horror does not end with the illegal arrest of Palestinian women, Israel is in a category by itself when it comes to arresting children.  A new report by Save the Children, titled, Impact of Child Detention: Occupied Palestinian Territory 2012 (PDF), details Israel’s systematic targeting of Palestinian children: 

“Since the commencement of the second Palestinian uprising in 2000, the Israeli military forces have arrested and detained over 8000, Palestinian children many of which are as young as 12 years old.  These children are interrogated, arrested and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system. Cases of ill-treatment, torture and physical and verbal harassment during detention, although alarming, are frequently reported.

Usually children are arrested at night or in the early morning. Blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs they often are forcibly taken, either to Israeli prisons or settlements within the West Bank for interrogations. These interviews, almost always take place without the child’s lawyer or parents present.”  Access the report, here.