- By Imran Suleiman
Source: Al Mayadeen English
"He was illegally detained, beaten and brutally killed, so think of his mother: three sons in prison, and her youngest a martyr. Yes, she was in a state of shock."
As their butchery of the Gazan people, though not their spirit, continues, and their resources are drained in the North going back and forth with Hezbollah, the West Bank is being toyed with, terrorized physically and psychologically and made to pay the price for being Palestinian.
"Israel" has detained thousands of innocent people in the West Bank since October 7, held without charge in undisclosed locations and with no connection to the outside world.
Just 60 kilometers from Gaza is the West Bank's largest city, Al-Khalil. Known as the 'Sleeping Lion', its people are famous for their big hearts and hospitality as well as their short tempers and spirit of defiance. It is also home to Areej Abu Snenah, a 26-year-old mother of one and wife of Safwan Abu Snenah, whom she hasn't heard from or spoken to since October 27.
Safwan, a tall and well-built man, is no stranger to being incarcerated without charge. In 2015, a 21-year-old Safwan had his first experience of having his freedom unfairly taken away. Being interested in politics and having a strong desire to contribute positively to his country, Safwan enrolled as a law student in Hebron University, and it wasn't long before the Palestinian Authorities picked him up.
He was held for 2 weeks under investigation before being released. Information and prisoner-sharing between the PLO and the Israelis is the West Bank's worst-kept secret. A large part of "Israel's" vaunted intelligence reputation was down to the Palestinian Authorities being their suppliers, and so it wasn't long before the Israelis turned up at his parent's home.
Safwan was detained alongside two of his brothers, "they attacked the home of my in-laws in the middle of the night, they broke all the windows, the door, and trashed the house before taking them," Areej explains. "Hamdan, Safwan's brother, was sentenced to 12 years on the charges of possessing weapons, of which no evidence was ever found or presented. Hamza, another one of his brothers, was detained and sentenced to 2 years of administrative detention on the charge of throwing stones, again without evidence, and Safwan was sentenced to a year."
His time in prison, Areej explains, was one which had the desired effect on Safwan as far as "Israel" was concerned. Though he did go on to become the lawyer he dreamed of, his interest in politics and the occupation was finished. "He never shared too much about his time in prison, but I know it affected him greatly. If we were walking and there was a checkpoint ahead, Safwan would turn around and find another way. Whenever he did share his time in prison I could see him reliving those experiences."
Areej continues, "They kept him in solitary confinement for 3 months, there was no sunlight, he had no concept of time and the solitude really affected him. The food they gave him was inedible and he lost a lot of weight, he would be blindfolded with his hands and feet tied up for long periods of time, and he would be beaten severely and tortured." It's these beatings Safwan never forgot, which led to his second detainment.
After scenes of October 7 went viral, Safwan reacted by leaving a comment on videos to the effect of "now you feel what we felt, what goes around comes around, may Allah grant us victory." A sense of justice and retribution led to an act of impulse, and the government of the 'only democracy in the Middle East' set about looking for him for criminal social media behavior.
Safwan and Areej had recently moved into a new home, and when the IOF didn't find him at his old address they rang him and told him he had 10 minutes to hand himself in.
"He agreed but told them he needed more time, to make sure that his parents, his wife, and daughter were taken care of, that they had access to money, that he informed his workplace, and all of that couldn't be done in 10 minutes. The Israelis responded by telling him that if he didn't hand himself in they would go to his parent’s house and detain his brothers and his parents. So of course, in less than an hour, Safwan went to the nearest checkpoint in Al-Khalil. I haven't seen him since."
In typical Khalili fashion, Areej deflects any sympathy expressed for her situation, which she directs to her mother-in-law. "I am waiting for my husband, but she isn't just waiting for her son, she's waiting for three of her sons and she's mourning the loss of another one" Areej reveals.
With Hamdan (Safwan's brother) still in prison serving his sentence, Hamza was also re-detained along with Abdul Rahman. At 19 years old, Abdul Rahman was the youngest of the brothers. "He was such a nice boy. He was known for his politeness. He dedicated himself to his studies and had only recently finished high school. He went through a lot during this period, his three brothers being detained, the occupation threatening his father, tensions in the West Bank and the atrocities of Gaza."
Two weeks after Abdul Rahman had been detained, the father of the four sons got a call from the Israeli authorities. "They told him your son shot at our soldiers and ran away. On social media, stories started to circulate that an attack had been carried out in Al-Khalil. His father is an old man who suffers from a heart condition, he went out on the streets looking for places he might be, but the Israelis rang him again and told him to meet them at Gush Etzion checkpoint."
"When he arrived, they showed him pictures of a lifeless Abdul Rahman, who had been murdered by the IOF." Areej went silent for a long period, "We are all in shock. He would always donate food, money, clothes to charity, he had such high ambitions, instead, he was illegally detained, beaten and brutally killed, so think of his mother, three sons in prison, and her youngest a martyr. Yes, she was in a state of shock, but she is brave and strong and resolute and she is proud of every one of them" Areej added in a tone of defiance.
Areej now lives with her parents, waiting for Safwan's return, "I miss him. I miss my life with him. I miss feeling safe with him. I'm always thinking about him, what he is doing now, how he is, what he is eating, what they are doing to him, the state of his mental health; I know that even in his position he is worried about me, his daughter and his parents, and on the other hand the people who are holding him killed his youngest brother."
Her thoughts get the better of her, though just for a moment, before she regains her composure and continues, "I wish we could go back to when we had just moved into our new home, we were so happy and full of optimism about our new life, now I feel fear whenever I think of it. I look at my daughter, I wonder what her future will be like, she misses her father so much. Whenever anyone comes to our door, she gets excited thinking her father is back, and I know Safwan misses her dearly. I just pray that one day he does come back and my daughter is reunited with her father, and I have my husband again."
There's another pause as her mind wanders, before she displays that Palestinian resistance once again, "all I can say is Alhamdullilah for everything."
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