In occupied Palestine, the new year began with the murder of 23-year-old Abdul-Rahman Baseem in Megiddo prison. Baseem was the seventh Palestinian prisoner assassinated since the beginning of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. His death became the latest in a campaign of torture, humiliation and murder by the Zionist prison system.
This campaign has been exposed by prisoners released during the November 2023 prisoner exchange and sadistic videos released on social media by personnel within the so-called Israeli Defence Force (IDF) themselves. A child prisoner who was released in November described how resistance fighter Thaer Abu Assab was beaten to death by 19 prison guards on his wing.
Since 7 October, Palestinian prisoners have been subject to collective punishment. They have had electricity cut off, electronic equipment including radios confiscated, blankets and clothes taken away; prisoners have been set on by muzzled dogs and beaten with batons and rifles; handcuffed prisoners have been urinated on and female prisoners threatened with rape. In Ofer prison in the West Bank detainees were served rotten meat leading to an outbreak of food poisoning. Videos posted by IDF troops have shown numerous sadistic methods of torture. Palestinian prisoners have been forced to hold the Israeli flag and sing the Israeli national anthem, stripped, blindfolded and forced to listen to loud music on repeat.
No justice under occupation
40% of male Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have been arrested at some point. Since 7 October, the number of Palestinians in Zionist prisons has risen to over 7,000. Nearly 2,900 of these are administrative detainees, interned without charge or trial based on secret evidence. This follows almost daily military raids, incursions and arbitrary arrests by the IDF across the West Bank.
Mass arrests and deadly raids are nothing new. Arrested Palestinians in the occupied West Bank face trials in military courts whilst illegal Israeli settlers are tried in civilian courts. Zionist military courts boast a 99% conviction rate.
Israel has been accused of coercing vulnerable Palestinians, particularly children, into becoming paid informants in order to identify ‘troublemakers’ within their communities. This tactic, coupled with the escalation of arrests and torture of Palestinian prisoners exposes the real purpose of the occupation’s ‘justice’ system – to disrupt the Palestinian resistance, prevent political mobilisation, remove Palestinian political leaders, and terrorise the Palestinians into submission. This was clearly demonstrated by the murder in prison on 23 October of Hamas leader Sheikh Omar Hamza Daraghmeh and the detention on 26 December of Khalida Jarrar, an elected representative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
The significance of Palestinian prisoners
The struggle to free political prisoners is a unifying force for all sections of Palestinian society, from the radical intelligentsia, to followers of the Islamic resistance, to the class-conscious sections of the Palestinian working class. One of the motivations for Operation Al-Aqsa Flood was to exchange Israelis taken into Gaza for all Palestinian prisoners.
The unified resistance in Gaza has clearly stated that once aggression against Gaza stops, they will consider an ‘all-for-all’ swap of prisoners. This would provide an opportunity for leaders and activists, such as PFLP Secretary-General Ahmad Sa’adat to return to their communities where they will be able to organise. Sa’adat has been detained since 2002, first by the Palestinian Authority (exposing its complicity in the occupation) and then by the Zionist state.
Israeli prisons – profit for multinationals
Israel’s repressive state apparatus, in addition to being a means to control Palestinian communities and isolate or kill their political leaders, is also a profitable investment.
British multinational security company G4S, the third largest employer in the world, was closely involved with the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) until 2016, providing surveillance technologies such as ankle monitors and scanning machines, as well as security for the apartheid wall and checkpoints. During a mass hunger strike in 2012 by over 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, 13 Palestinian human rights organisations called for a campaign against G4S. Since then, the #StopG4S movement has won significant victories and in 2016 G4S ceased operations with the IPS, allowing an Israeli Equity Fund to buy all of the shares of its Israeli branch.
Computer hardware company Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is also complicit in Israel’s prison system. HPE has been providing servers, data storage and data security services for the IPS since 2015. In 2020, HPE was awarded an IPS contract to provide computer and communication maintenance for the year 2021-2022. In February 2023, it was contracted to provide continued maintenance until February 2024. Investment management company Vanguard Group Inc owns over 22% of shares in HPE through subsidiaries, while Blackrock, through its US, British, and Irish branches, also appears as a shareholder.
Motorola Solutions is another corporation profiting from Israel’s prison-industrial complex.
A US-based company, Motorola Solutions operates in over 100 countries. Between 2016 and 2019, it emerged as a monopoly within the surveillance industry, spending over $1.8bn to acquire various surveillance companies. Its net profit for the year to September 2023 was $1.7bn. Since 2007, Motorola Solutions has provided communication services to the IPS, particularly Ofer prison. It provides tactical technologies to the Israeli police and communication systems to Israel’s security services. Similarly to HPE, investment groups such as Vanguard and Blackrock hold Motorola shares.
Incarceration – a global struggle
The same companies that profit from the incarceration of Palestinians profit from the incarceration of working class people all over the world. Motorola Solutions provides technology to the US Customs and Border Protection that is responsible for the militarisation of the US-Mexico border. Between 2016 and 2020 $101.4m worth of contracts were entered into for this purpose.
Solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners of Zionist occupation must involve a campaign against these companies that profit from the torture and incarceration of Palestinians. Any movement that claims to stand against imperialism and racism must demand freedom for Palestinian prisoners.
Kotsai Sigauke
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 298 February/March 2024
