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Palestinian student 19, sentenced to 16 years in Israeli prison

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network – December 25, 2016

In another example of the lengthy sentencing practices especially targeting Palestinian youth and women in Jerusalem, Shorouq Dwayyat was sentenced to 16 years in Israeli prison by a Jerusalem court on Sunday, 25 December. Dwayyat, 19, from the village of Sur Baher, was also fined 80,000 NIS (approximately $21,000.) She was shot by an Israeli settler and seized by occupation forces on 7 October 2015 in eastern Jerusalem and accused of attempting to stab an Israeli settler. Witnesses reported that she was harassed by the settler prior to the alleged incident.

Dwayyat is a student at Bethlehem University who was studying history and geography. She graduated from high school, achieving a result of 90% in the national secondary Tawjihi examinations in 2015.
Classes at the university were cancelled for two days after her shooting and arrest in October 2015.

Dwayyat was severely injured by the four bullets lodged within her body, unlike the Israeli man she was accused of attempting to stab, who suffered no serious injuries. Following the court’s ruling, the Israeli Interior Ministry stripped the imprisoned Dwayyat of her Jerusalem residency, claiming “breach of trust,” using the case as a mechanism to further the Israeli state policy of attacking Palestinian existence in Jerusalem. Amjad Abu Assab of the Prisoners’ Committee in Jerusalem said that “this is a racist policy… with the aim of killing the spirit of challenge by Jerusalemites and preventing any manifestation of rejection of occupation in the occupied city of Jerusalem.”

She is one of 52 Palestinian women – including 12 minor girls – imprisoned in HaSharon and Damon Israeli prisons and now is serving one of the longest sentences. The longest-held Palestinian woman prisoner, Lena Jarbouni, is serving a 17-year sentence in Israeli prison. The recent trend of particularly elevated sentences include those against Maysoon Musa (15 years), Nurhan Awad (13.5 years) and Israa Jaabis (11 years).

December 25, 2016 - Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , ,

2 Comments »

  1. This is horrible. I try to help by boycotting Israel. Every now and then someone I know asks why; so I explain the evil.

    A common response is “Why boycott Israel when there are so many other problems in the world?”

    I say, “If everyone picked picked one boycott, i.e., singled out one cause, the world would be a much better place.” Their response is always silence.

    I’m a blue collar laborer and a musician, so few people are threatened by my opinions. They expect me to be somewhat eccentric, so they feel safe blowing me off. I’m treated like the court jester, although I’m not a joker. In contrast, a glaring reality that sticks out to me is that people stuck in the middle of some organizational hierarchy don’t feel free to have their own opinions. The pressure to conform is so much that they actually convince themselves that their main-stream opinion is their own. It’s much easier for them to just believe the lies than to hide their dissenting opinions all the time. To me, the most inexplicable fact of this is that too many other low-level blue collar workers, who are about as free to think as it comes in this society, still suck up to the hierarchy and conform to its way of thinking.

    Meanwhile, people fawn over Bana but ignore the people who are in real trouble. My heart just sinks.

    Like

    Matt's avatar Comment by Matt | December 25, 2016 | Reply

    • There’s a lot to be said for the independent character and basic humanity that one can retain as tradesman relative to the feeble apparatchiks.

      Like

      aletho's avatar Comment by aletho | December 25, 2016 | Reply


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