The hudna began in the prisons
AMOS HAREL
Ha'aretz, 11 July 2003
The leaders of the Fatah prisoners in Israel sent dozens of terrorists on suicide missions and shooting attacks on both sides of the Green Line. But in talks with Haaretz this week, the leaders all proclaimed unwavering support for the cease-fire agreement known as the hudna.
Perhaps surprisingly, they also sent out a message of reconciliation with Israel and expressed hope that the present moves will eventually lead to a peace agreement.
In fact, the hudna was born in the prison cells. "The prisoners are today the real leadership of the Palestinian people. The hudna process began among the veteran prisoners," a senior activist said. The agreement was drafted inside the prisons, transferred to the Palestinian organizations outside and then debated in Cairo for more than six months, with intervals.
"We realized the Hezbollah and other Palestinian organizations will not spring us, and it was no use waiting until they abduct soldiers. The Hamas and Jihad prisoners worked hard to convince their leadership. Every war must end with a political move. We wanted to be part of this move," he said.
The imprisoned Palestinian leaders call for a release en masse of Palestinian prisoners, but realize this process may take years. They have faith in the Palestinian Authority's ability to keep its obligations. Meanwhile, they say, they are giving the Israeli and Palestinian leadership a respite to solve their problems, but there will not be any real progress and ultimately no peace, without the release of prisoners.
The prisoners' release is critical to the Palestinian public and Israel's decision not to release any murderers is unacceptable. "What business is it of yours if my hands are bloody?" asks one leader. "It's natural to have casualties in a war. You detained 6,000 Palestinians because of your victims, but how many soldiers are in custody for all the Palestinians who have been killed? Nobody is paying for the killed Palestinians, except the Hebron border policemen who have been detained. Can you really say most of our casualties are terrorists? Look at the Shehadeh operation (in Gaza in July 2002). You killed 17 civilians in an attempt to assassinate one wanted man."
The prisoners are very much aware of their position, behind bars as well as outside. "I am more important in my neighborhood than Abu Mazen, and he (pointing to a friend) - his word goes further in his camp than (Mohammed) Dahlan's," a senior activist says.
They have confidence in the Palestinian prime minister, but say Israel's conduct is humiliating him. "What are you offering him? Three hundred and fifty people, half of whom were picked up as illegal residents and half who are to be released in two months anyway. Any village mukhtar could achieve that," says a prisoners' leader.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is respected as the "symbol of the struggle," but the prisoners' true leader is prisoner Marwan Barghouti. "We have eyes for Marwan only. He is the only political leader who had a commitment to the intifada, who was not afraid to be involved himself. The others mostly made promises and disappeared," he says.
Another activist says the prisoners' contact with Barghouti was maintained all the time, until he was placed in isolation recently.
"When Marwan speaks, he is listened to. Only his letter from prison persuaded the Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades to sign the hudna," says the prisoner.
They explain the continued terrorist attacks of Fatah activists in the West Bank as a reaction to Israel's mass arrests. "Zabidi (the Tanzim leader in Jenin) does not believe in the hudna because no one can guarantee his and his people's safety. As long as his activists cannot go home peacefully, because they fear the IDF will kill them, they will not lay down their arms," he says.
The prisoners are not surprised by the continued violence in Rafah either. There it is intended to prevent the IDF from destroying the tunnels, by which the clans make a living through smuggling.
The terrorist attack on Monday in Kfar Yavetz? "That was someone working alone," an activist says.
Each prison has a joint leadership representing all the organizations. The chairman comes from the organization which has the most prisoners. "The prison is the most democratic place in the Palestinian Authority," a prisoners' leader says.
The prisoners' leaderships communicate among themselves as well as with the activists outside. "You've spent millions on scrambling devices to jam our cell phone communications, yet here we are talking to you," he says.
The prisoners' leaders follow every political development in Israel and can quote statements even from a documentary on the undercover Israeli commandos broadcast on television last week. Some of them have served previous prison sentences in Israel and speak fluent Hebrew. Recently the prison atmosphere has become tense and the Israeli authorities are cutting down on exercise in the yard and even on the food rations. Family visits are extremely rare.
Some prisoners predict a big hunger strike soon, due to the poor conditions and the stalling of prisoners' release. Barghouti has been on a hunger strike since the beginning of the month.
Asked if they regard the intifada as a success, a leader replies: "We both lost. We heard your chief of staff, Ya'alon, say you won. Is losing 816 Israelis and 3,000 Palestinians a victory?"