By Mustafa Al-Haj
Jneid Prison — Palestinian prisoners chose to sacrifice their freedom in their quest to fulfil the Palestinian dream. Such hope added fuel to the burning fires of the Intifada.
Dialogue, understanding and mutual effort to ensure a secure life for both peoples were the basic elements in the negotiations.
Palestinian prisoners in particular were filled with optimism since they have always been an influential and vital part of Palestinian society. Despite all the suffering and torment prisoners have undergone, they were the first to embrace peace and the Oslo accords. Such an achievement was considered the first step toward freedom and getting rid of occupation.
Palestinian prisoners were hoping their efforts and participation in the Intifada — the underlying force which drove the Oslo accords — would be rewarded by giving them the chance, along with their fellow Palestinians, to build a new Palestine.
Everyone saw the level to which prisoners supported peace, whether by coordinating with the Palestinian activists outside prison to organise mass demonstrations in support of peace, or in other steps taken by the Palestinian political leadership.
The prisoners' hopes were always strengthened by the statements of the Palestinian negotiators, who repeatedly said the issue of prisoners would always be a top priority.
These were castles in the air. The Declaration of Principles, which we have wholly supported, does not even include the word "prisoners". It was declared to be a big mistake by those responsible for the omission, and we were told that our rights would not be forgotten in the Cairo negotiations.
We patiently waited for these negotiations, after the Oslo accords had ignored the hell prisoners were enduring in Israeli prisons. The negotiating team almost daily stated that no future agreement would be signed unless all prisoners were released according to a timetable.
Shortly after the signing of the Cairo Agreement, word spread that not even 50% of the prisoners were to be released. The most frustrating and troubling item was article five, which transformed prisoners into a confidence-building tool for the two parties. Article five stated that some sort of prisoner release was important "for the creation of a supporting and generally positive atmosphere during the signing of the agreement. It is also necessary for building trust and good offices."
It was left to the Israeli legal system to decide when the prisoners would be released, who should be released and who not. The Israelis, of course, chose to release those Palestinians who were arrested inside the "green line" for not having work permits. The Palestinian political prisoners who were sentenced to long-term imprisonment were not among those to be released. Although those are the ones who deserve to be put on top of the priority list, they were yet again neglected and continue to endure Israeli torture and humiliation.
The details of this story have been enough to make the Palestinian leadership lose its credibility in the eyes of wide sectors of the Palestinian people.
Despite all this, we prisoners remain hopeful that the traditional negotiating policy will soon change and that we will be given our rights.
[Reprinted, slightly abridged, from Jerusalem Times. Jneid Prison is in the occupied West Bank.]