Sawsan Shaheen
Posted on | November 5, 2008 | No Comments
(with her sister Reema Shaheen)
Law student and former political detainee
All of my family, we are active in the Fatah party. We are under occupation. There are settlements on our land. We must have our land, and a special situation with Jerusalem. It belongs to the Palestinians, to Muslims, because of Al-Aqsa Mosque. We cannot see our families inside Jerusalem.
Are you willing to share Jerusalem?
Of course. East Jerusalem must be for the Arab people and West Jerusalem must be for the Israeli people for the peace of the two nations.
Reema, you’ve had two brothers in prison for years.
Hassam, the eldest, he’s chairman of the Fatah Youth Organization in Jerusalem. Many people believe in his ideas, but Israelis think he is dangerous. He made peace camps with Israelis and invited Jewish people to our home. He just asked for our rights and freedom. He did peace demonstrations when the Israelis took land from people in Bethlehem and Nablus. You should not deal with peace demonstrators violently, like they are terrorists.
We cannot visit our brothers. We cannot know how they feel, or if they take medicine when they are ill. We cannot celebrate with them our special days.
Have your brothers done anything that is violent?
No. One of them used to work at the Non-Violence Studies Center. He organized and attended many peace camps with the Israelis and invited many Jewish people here to our home. We didn’t do anything against Israel, we just asked for the Palestinian freedom. Going to peace demonstrations is not violence; you can’t deal with demonstrators like you deal with terrorists.
Sawsan, you too were in prison.
(Translated by Reema) For one month, Al-Maskobiya in Jerusalem. They put me in a room alone. No one can live in this room, not even an animal. It was very bad, without water, food, anything. The Israelis used many things against me. They treated me like an animal, didn’t respect me, hit me with their hands.
They used an electric chair eight times. The chair has wires to my hands, my ankles, my heart. They said it tells if I am lying. I answered I didn’t do anything against Israel, but they didn’t believe me. After a month I was taken to court and the judge believed I tell the truth. He made the investigation stop.
I see a scar on your wrist.
They put handcuffs on me to try to force me to say something. They said my father died and was in another room, and I must tell them what I did against Israel or I would not see my father before they took him away.
What do you think of Israelis now?
Many Israelis have a good heart, but also there are many Israelis who have a bad heart. One soldier, his name was Maximus, he treated me in a good way. I saw his tears when the Shabak took me to the investigation. When they arrested me, I was afraid, and had bad feelings, but when I saw his tears, I started to forgive and feel better. The big side of forgiveness started after I was free, especially when I watch Oprah Winfrey programs.
How many young women like you are in Israeli jails?
There are many Palestinian women instead the Israeli prisons. And yet, the Palestinian women they have arrested still have space for forgiveness in their hearts. Our problem is not with the Israeli nation. Our problem is with the occupation, with the soldiers who arrested us, and with the Shabak who interrogated us inhumanely. We are not against the Jewish religion or the Jewish people; we believe that most of them believe in peace.
How do you support your mother?
I tell her to be patient and not to shed tears because we don’t have our brothers with us. I remind her that there are around 11,000 Palestinian people inside the prison, and that this has happened to many families. She believes that the sunrise of peace will come one day, and all of those prisoners will take their freedom one day.
What is love?
The problem is not how to give love but how to help other people love you, how to help them feel the same love you have for them. I hope all people in the world share the day when my brothers are free. When I was in the prison room, I wrote on the wall, “This is a small space, we cannot feel free now, but I will meet you outside the prison.”
Sawsan, you have a special message for Oprah.
I would like to invite her to come to Palestine and listen to the Palestinian people. I say thanks for Oprah because she gives her heart for millions of people. I say thanks because in her program, she makes peace. She makes so many people feel good because she discusses ideas. I hope that Oprah can hear my message and accept my invitation. I want her to know that there are Palestinian people who love Oprah Winfrey.
Arrested in July 2006, Shaheen was held without charges for one month, including time in isolation at Al-Maskobiya prison. A law student at Al Quds University, Shaheen has two brothers among the more than 11,000 political detainees. Hussam, the oldest, was president of the Fatah Youth Organization. Shaheen’s sister Reema formerly worked with drug addicts in Jerusalem, but was denied a permit for the checkpoint.
