Several hundred people gather in the central square of Ramallah, the West Bank’s administrative capital, to protest, as they do almost every day, against Israel’s attacks on Gaza. After celebrating the afternoon prayer on the asphalt, a man is lifted onto his shoulders. He takes the microphone and begins to address those present, who respond unanimously: “Allah is great!” This man is Jamal al Taweel, 60, a former mayor, member of Hamas and long-term prisoner in Israel. Although he belongs to the Islamic Resistance Movement, he calls on the various armed factions of the Palestinian movements, whether Islamist or secular, to unite in common struggle. Two days after his slander, Israeli soldiers arrested Al Taweel, who is back behind bars. His wife, two sons and daughter were also detained for a few days. According to Israeli figures, there are 1,100 people arrested by Israel in the West Bank from October 7 to November 19 who are accused of belonging to Hamas.
Others who took part in the march in Ramallah on October 31 received warnings and threats from Israel’s intelligence services on their cell phones. This country is waging a covert war that goes beyond military operations and clashes with Palestinians and has left nearly 200 dead in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the current war began on October 7, where more than 2,700 people have also been detained. The number of Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons has risen from 5,300 to around 8,000 in recent weeks. In addition, there are a thousand Gazans whose whereabouts are unknown, who had permits to work in Israel, and who were driven out of Gaza by the war. These are figures that Qadura Fares, the minister responsible for prisoners of the Palestinian Authority (PNA), gave in an interview with EL PAÍS last Friday. From this group has emerged a list of 300 women and minors, 150 of whom hope to benefit from the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas announced on Wednesday in exchange for 50 Israeli hostages.
“Many have nothing to do with Hamas and face administrative detention,” Fares said, referring to the cases in which Israel neither files charges nor holds trials. “The war is not just being fought in Gaza,” comments the 61-year-old minister, referring to the current deployment of the Israeli army. In the West Bank too, Fares continued, they are aiming for the “biggest revenge action”.
According to neighbors, the Israeli army left a pamphlet in Tulkarem looking for collaborators.
Jamal al Taweel, former mayor of the town of Al Bireh near Ramallah, is described by a former cellmate as a prisoner with charisma, respected by the others and a good political speaker. “He was a good cook and played chess and dominoes well. “I never managed to beat him,” adds the same source who met him in Israel’s Rimon prison. Hamas has gained popularity on Palestinian streets after its armed wing, the Ezedin al-Qassam Brigades, carried out an attack on October 7 that killed around 1,200 people in Israel. One example is the green flags of the Islamic Resistance Movement that fly at demonstrations like the one in Ramallah, where Al Taweel took the lead.
Same phone number
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The Israeli telephone number from which the messages were sent to the protest participants in Ramallah was always the same, according to cases confirmed by this newspaper. They are warned that they are playing with fire with the new legislation enacted as a result of the current conflict.
This is the text that is sent to everyone, along with a photo of the demonstration in which his face can be seen surrounded by a red circle, as EL PAÍS was able to verify: “We saw you at the demonstrations in support of the terrorist group Hamas.” . Could you have chosen to become a member of the Islamic State? For your information: On October 27, 2023, the Israeli army takes command in Judea and Samaria [como denomina Israel a Cisjordania] issued an order increasing the penalties for these crimes. Be careful!!”. One of the recipients of the message is convinced that the Israeli secret services are using facial recognition programs and are using social networks and media to spread these allegations.
“Today we live in a world without privacy,” emphasizes Fares, who has been responsible for the issue of Palestinian prisoners for three decades but was not officially recognized as a minister in the field until last August. To get to his home in the town of Silwad, one has to cross stretches of road under constant surveillance by Israeli security forces cameras, a common practice in the West Bank. This, together with the new technological breeding ground of social networks, forms the environment in which investigations, accusations and arrests are carried out. However, Fares added, this does not prevent Israel from continuing to rely on the role that its collaborators have traditionally played on the Palestinian side.
In the West Bank under Israeli occupation, military attacks have multiplied, especially at night, in places where Israel sees Palestinian resistance – for them terrorism – as more established, such as the Jenin, Balata or Tulkarem refugee camps. Sometimes ground attacks are supported by air strikes such as drones, as in the case that killed six people in the Tulkarem field this Wednesday. In other cases, it is the special forces who carry out operations in broad daylight in a camouflaged vehicle, such as on November 6 in this city, when they shot down four Palestinians, including leaders of Hamas and Fatah, who were accused of belonging to one Accused of being a terrorist cell.
Qadura Fares, who served in Israeli prisons as a member of Fatah from 1980 to 1994, believes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is only seeking calm for his country and has no intention of tackling the conflict head-on with the Palestinians for a final solution. The minister understands that the Israeli president’s plan is to weaken the ANP and destabilize the Palestinians internally. “We see it in the arrests, the humiliations at checkpoints, the attacks on houses, the fields, the blockades of roads… We are exposed to the message of the most extreme Israelis,” he adds, describing how the war in Turkey is experienced in the West Bank.
Condition of the streets of the Tulkarem refugee camp (West Bank) after the attacks of an Israeli army raid on Álvaro García on November 7th
The Israeli army also uses these operations to leave messages and warnings to neighbors who want to cooperate and share information. One of the pamphlets begins, “Dear neighbors, terrorism has destroyed the country,” and goes on to accuse the militants of using homes and institutional headquarters to store explosives and weapons. “Do not remain idle and report,” concludes the message signed by a certain Captain Ismail from the Tulkarem camp, along with a telephone number. The neighbors assume that this Ismail is one of those in charge of the area from the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service.
This Friday afternoon, on the first day of the war’s ceasefire and in the midst of the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, two men were executed in Tulkarem, hanging from an electricity pole and having their bodies trampled on. According to some videos of the victims on the street, they were two collaborators who put Israel on the trail of liquidating the four resistance fighters in this city on November 6th.
Armed weapons unit
In statements to EL PAÍS before his arrest, Jamal al Taweel stressed the need for the various Palestinian factions to remain united to confront Israel. Moments before, as he was being carried on his shoulders, dozens of people around him shouted slogans and slogans in support of Hamas. Taweel loudly referred to the “massacres” against Israel, not only in Gaza these days, but also those that have been taking place for 75 years. In view of this, he called for a common front consisting of the armed wings of the Islamists of Hamas and Islamic Jihad as well as the secularists of Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
“Anyone who can exert influence must be in prison, he must not remain among the people,” Bushra Taweel, the Hamas member’s daughter, commented on her father’s arrest in written messages. This special envoy attempted to arrange an interview with her when she suddenly stopped responding. Hours later, he confirmed that Bushra had been arrested along with the rest of the family members. After a few days they were released except for their father. Also in a message this Monday, Bushra noted that imprisoning members of Israel was a way of putting “pressure” on the Palestinians it wants to keep behind bars, such as her father.
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