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Featured by Palestine News Network
‘The moments of my release from Hasharon detention facility, and heading back home to Balata refugee camp, in Nablus, were the most touching moments in my life”, Abeer Nada, 19, said after she was released from Hasharon detention facility.
At her parents home, Abeer was received by dozens of residents, neighbors and relatives, who came to congratulate her for her release after three years in Israeli prisons.
She sat there at her parents’ home, and remembered that hard moments when she was arrested, forced out of her home while she was still in her pajamas, and was taken to Huwwara military camp.
“The shouts of my father and his attempts to bar the soldiers from arresting me remained in my head”, Abeer said.
Abeer spent three days in very bad conditions in Huwwara militarty camp before she was transferred for interrogation at Al Ramleh detention facility.
“The weeks I spent at Al Ramleh detention facility were very hard, psychological pressure, dogs, insults and lack of sleep”, she said, “They spit in our faces, do not allow us to sleep and bar us from our visitation rights”.
Three weeks before she was released, Abeer was transferred to Hasharon detention facility, where she faced harsh conditions and continuous insults along with three other female detainees.
“They attacked us, hit us, and insulted us for twenty-one days”, Abeer stated, “They struck us on our heads, faces and chest”.
During her detention period, Abeer was barred from her visitation rights for two months, and was forced to pay 450 New Israeli shekels fine after objecting to the bad treatment and living conditions.
Abeer did not surrender, behind bars she continued her study and obtained her Tawjihi certificate, marking her last educational year as a schoolgirl.
The hardest moments she faced while she was detained, are when her mother died after a short sickness, but the rest of the detainees confronted her, and took care of her. Prison administration allowed her to call her family once after her mother died.
Abeer also complained that the soldiers are forcing the detainees to undress during body searches, in addition to the violations and abuse carried against them.
“Treatment is very bad, they force us to undress while searching us, and food is of a very bad quality”, she said, “The administration also confiscated out electric tools during the hunger strike”.
Also, Abeer added that the detainees complain from the lack of media attention for them and their suffering in Israeli detention facilities.
Talking about the activities the detainees conduct to spend their longs days, Abeer said that they play some sorts of sport, and conduct religious and educational sessions, which also include attempts to learn foreign languages.
The first thing Abeer did after she was released, was heading to the graveyard in Balata refugee camp, and praying beside the grave of her mother.
“Its true it is nice to be free at last, but I missed my mother very much the moment I stepped in our home, I still remember her last words when I was taken away by the soldiers” Abeer stated, “I ‘I still remember the words she said during interviews with local radio stations, holding Israel responsible for any harm which might occur to me in detention.
There are approximately 120 female detainees in Hasharon detention facility, among them child detainees, schools and university students, in addition to four other detainees who are imprisoned in Al Ramleh detention center.
