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When Palestinian activist Bushra al-Tahil was released from an Israeli prison in exchange for hostages held by Hamas earlier this week, many media reports referred to her as a captive- or worsea terrorist.
This was despite the fact that an Israeli court had not convicted her of a crime, nor charged her, nor presented her with any evidence as to why she had been in prison for over 10 months.
Despite this, in the eyes of the world, al-Tahil says she was made to look guilty.
“They’re just trying to make us criminals,” she told CBC News in an interview in her mother’s living room in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, days after her release.
Palestinian detainees and their advocates say the broad characterization of Palestinians as prisoners is part of a deliberate strategy.
“(The Israeli hostages) who are in Gaza are considered ‘kidnapped’, because they were kidnapped by criminals,” Al-Tahil said. But because she was held in an Israeli prison, she says she became a “prisoner.”
Thousands of ecstatic Israelis celebrated in the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities when Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher were finally released from Gaza last Sunday. Hamas says it will release four more Israeli hostages this Saturday, in exchange for another large group of Palestinian detainees.
The truce between Hamas and Israel began with the first three hostages released from Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. The shaky, temporary truce also sees an increase in humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza.
While there is no doubt that the three women lived through a 470-day nightmare in Gaza, Al-Tahil says her time in an Israeli prison was also grueling. She says she endured months of isolation, harassment and psychological abuse from her captors.
Prisoner’s rights activist
Al-Tahil, 30, has been well known to security officials in Israel and the Palestinian Authority for many years.
A prominent prisoner’s rights advocate in the West Bank with a high social media presence, she has been arrested or detained seven times since she was 18—and was part of a prisoner swap involving Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011.
Al-Tahil says she has only been convicted once of anything – incitement to terrorism. He says it’s a term that can cover anything the Israeli authorities want it to. In that case, she says she gave speeches and posted about resisting the Israeli occupation.
She said her father, who is also incarcerated in an Israeli prison, may be released as part of ongoing detainee/hostage swaps.
The Israeli Ministry of Justice has on the list Bushra al-Tahil as being affiliated with Hamas, but she told CBC News that was untrue.
According to Israel’s controversial administrative detention rules – which are due recently changes Now they only apply to non-Jews—the government is not required to publicly disclose what evidence they have to keep people in prison on security grounds.
Al-Tahil says that in March, Israeli security services showed up at a friend’s apartment where she was staying and “severely beat her” before taking her to prison. In prison, she says male guards subjected her to random searches and repeated intimidation, including issuing her with feminine hygiene products.
“It was a revenge thing,” she said. She claims that Israeli authorities were angered by the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas and that her past activism against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank made her an easy target.
CBC News contacted the Israeli military to get more details about the Al-Tahil case, but was referred to the country’s security service. Several calls and phone messages were not returned.
Administrative detention
Sarit Michaeli, of B’tselem, an Israeli human rights NGO, says the question of who is a prisoner and who is a detainee is “murky”.
“Some (prisoners) are convicted of nothing. Others are convicted of killing dozens of Israelis. But then there is another group of Palestinian prisoners who are convicted in Israeli courts of crimes for which Israelis will never be arrested or charged – for example, offenses related to an offense of incitement or public order,” Michaeli told CBC News.
“Probably the vast majority of prisoners that the Israelis would characterize as ‘terrorists’ have not done anything violent,” she said.
Because Israeli hostages were being held by Hamas and other militant groups, Al-Tahil says guards at her prison told her that other Palestinian women arrested were simply being traded for Israeli hostages.
“Everyone was waiting for the (ceasefire) agreement, because there was no (way) to justify our arrest,” she said.
A prominent Palestinian politician in the West Bank told CBC News that Israel’s tactic of rounding up people ahead of such exchanges is well known.
“We are playing cats and dogs,” said Sabri Saydam, a senior member of the Fatah party, which dominates the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
In the hours after the Gaza ceasefire came into force, Israeli troops opened a new front in the conflict, sending a large military contingent to the west coast The city of Jenin “eradicate terrorism”, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said fast.
Social media photographs On Monday evening, it emerged that dozens of Palestinians were taken into custody by Israeli security forces.
“Initial figures show that those who were rounded up last night and the night before are what exceeds the size of those who will be released,” Saydam said on Tuesday.
Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in a major operation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was intended to “defeat terrorism.” This is a distortion of fears that the paused war in Gaza will continue there.
Among the 90 Palestinians replaced in last weekend’s deal, more than 60 were women, and all but eight were arrested after the October 7 attack.
None of the Palestinians released in the first series over the weekend were convicted of killing Israelis. Among the most serious offenses was a charge of attempted murder against a 15-year-old boy, although he had not been convicted by the time he was released on Monday morning.
If the ceasefire goes according to plan, subsequent detainee/hostage swaps will include people convicted of capital crimes, according to a list released by the Israeli government.
Israeli TV stations report that of the more than 700 Palestinians who could eventually be freed, those convicted of murder could end up with more than 100.
Another 1,000 people captured by Israeli forces in Gaza will also be returned to the territory, but Israeli authorities have not said whether they are suspected of crimes.
The question of equivalence
While many Palestinians see the condition of the detainees as similar to that of captured Israeli hostages, the question of equivalence is polarizing in Israel – and among Jewish groups outside the country, including in Canada.
Honest Reporting Canada, which bills itself as a watchdog on “fair and accurate” media coverage of Israel, has expressed support For Israel’s administrative detention rules, any equivalence of Palestinians in Israeli prisons and hostages is “morally stupendous.”
After the first and only second round of hostage/detainee swaps in November 2023, the American Jewish Committee issued its fact sheet, Stating that the Palestinians held in Israeli prisons “actively chose to commit crimes,” while the only “crime” committed by the Israeli and other foreign hostages was that they were “Jewish or were in Israel.”
On Tuesday, an Arab Israeli member of the Israeli Knesset sparked an online backlash from Jewish Israelis after he announced that he was happy for the release of the Three Female Hostages as well as Palestinian prisoners.
“We are all born free,” wrote Ayman Odeh.
Later on social media platform x, Odeh explained Although, while Jewish Israelis “tend to see primarily Jewish suffering, I see and feel the suffering of both peoples – that is simply the reality, not only of mine, but of all the Arabs who live in this country.”
Bushra al-Tahil says she enjoyed her freedom, spending time with her mother and reading. But he fears that the peace will be short-lived and that, before long, he will be back behind bars.
“We are always worried. Not because we are afraid, but because the situation will never be good.”
