Fahd Yassin, 27, has deadpan humor: “It took me eight years to get my license”, slips this engineer, a discreet laugh relaxing his face to the airs of a teenager. “I have been arrested three times by the Israeli occupation: first for 9 months, then 19 months and the last time, thank God, it was just a small visit, 9 days! “ To this are added “Ten arrests, maybe more than thirty interrogations” with the Palestinian Authority. “For eight weeks, I went to the police station every Saturday. I arrived at 8 o’clock and I remained in interrogation until three or four in the afternoon “, loose this young Palestinian from the north of the West Bank.
The engineer recounts the humiliation of these comings and goings between Palestinian and Israeli jails – “Barely a month outside and presto! we put you back behind bars, you suffocate! “ – legal costs, lost semesters and the bitterness of being seen as an enemy by one’s own government. ” And all this for what ? We are not talking about big accusations, carrying weapons or attacks! “, he is indignant. Fahd says he confined himself to associative activities on campus and “Visits to families of prisoners and martyrs” : “Our goal was to awaken the students. “ He was then part of the Islamists, but not linked to Hamas. This is enough to annoy the Palestinian Authority, which has been fighting the Islamist movement since it seized power by force in Gaza in 2007, after being ousted from the government despite its victory in the legislative elections.
“No one has confidence in the Palestinian project anymore. Young people will not demonstrate, even against annexation. “
Palestinian universities have always been one of the breeding grounds for the struggle against Israel. Today they “Are somewhat the only remaining space where political mobilization can develop”, summarizes Inès Abdel Razek, director of advocacy at the Palestinian Institute of Public Diplomacy. The campuses are thus the target of both Israelis and Ramallah authorities, who fear losing control. “Since the beginning of the year, 90 students from Birzeit University, near Ramallah, have been arrested, around 60 in Nablus. And almost every day there are arrests at the university [Al-Qods] to Abou Dis ”, recaps Hadeel Shatara, of the Palestinian prisoner defense network Samidoun.
You have 67.06% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
