This is a bit of a metapost, prompted by a comment from skidmarx over on Liberal Conspiracy. He said (#161) that I – or possibly he means HP more generally – has run ‘numerous posts on Shalit, and none on the nameless thousands of Palestinians you care nothing about in Israeli jails.’ Now in fact, earlier up that thread (#52), I had told the post’s author, Matt Hill, that I would quite like to read more from him about Palestinian prisoners.
I’d have been interested to read more about the Palestinian prisoners. Some of them seem to have been terrorists whose release has clearly upset bereaved relatives and others – but it would be interesting to hear more about some of the others.
I have posted previously about the shortcomings of (some) pro-Palestinian advocacy, and many recent posts here have demonstrated these problems all too vividly. But, although I didn’t particularly care for his article, I thought Matt demonstrated a more nuanced approach than, say, Ben White, expressing some sympathy for Israel’s point of view, particularly in the comments – eg 31, 32, 83, 87. So I thought Matt might just have something interesting to say about Palestinian prisoners which wouldn’t glorify terrorism or gloss over Israel’s security concerns.
Skidmarx implied that I should post about Palestinian prisoners in Israel to balance out the two brief posts I’ve done about Shalit. I have in fact considered this topic before, but not followed it up. Maybe this was partly down to wimpiness – feeling unsure that how the post would go down – but that wasn’t the only reason. I only began to take an interest in the region when I became aware of (what seemed to me) a bias against Israel in the media, trade unions etc. So wouldn’t it be odd if I ended up adding to the number of pieces criticising Israel?
But at the same time, I think it should be possible to raise any topic here. And I have in fact blogged about one Palestinian prisoner in Israel, though Skidmarx doesn’t have much time for him (#161). I have read about concerns surrounding child prisoners, administrative detention and allegations of torture. I’ve also been trying to find some examples of Palestinian prisoners, included in the Shalit swap, who perhaps shouldn’t have been in prison, or, if not as blameless as Mahmoud who describes his experiences here, who have been in some way hard done by at least – someone to contrast with Ahlam Tamimi. But I’ve found it difficult to find details of the less notorious prisoners.
When thinking about prisoners in Israel, it’s hard not to remember what has been happening to prisoners in Syria, Gaza and indeed today’s Libya. However I don’t want to brush aside concerns about Israel’s treatment of prisoners, a campaigning issue for many Israelis, as well as for Palestinians.
