Exam time at Birzeit

The image above of an empty classroom was used by Birzeit students in a letter writing campaign during the exam period of the last few weeks to let the prisoners - who were painfully aware they were missing exams - know they were not forgotten by the students still at the university. The Arabic printed below the picture on the cards read: Zumala'una fi al-mu'takalaat: hunna makanukum at-taabeea'ee... nahnu nantatheeru owdatakum! which translates approximately as: "Our colleagues in prison: This is where you truly belong... We await your return!

Several hundred letters were written, and on 28 June 1996, I delivered the ones for the students in Ramallah's Muqata. The students were on a high because of the successful court hearing last Wednesday, Peter Dickie, from the Jerusalem Times, had turned up with an article he had written about them that came out today and I had a couple hundred letters to hand over to them.

The picture above left shows the students sorting the letters into piles for each prisoner. Above right (from left to right), Adeeb, Fakhri and Wa'el (not a student but even he got one) stand outside their cell and smile at a letter.

Here are some excerpts from the letters written to the prisoners:

"While you are in the prison of the Authority, your memory does not leave us, even if we do not know you personally. My dear brother: 'la buda lil laylee anjali/ walla buda lil qaidi anyankassar' ('As the night will be eclipsed by the day, so the chain will be broken.')"

"We hope to God that you are in good health and god-willing, you will be released soon."

"While we sit our final exams, your memory is in our thoughts: this is where you truly belong - in the classroom and not in the prison. We greet you and grasp your hands."

Solidarity is powerful. If you want to write a letter to the prisoners, click here and I'll give it to them next time I visit them. Despite jokes about getting them the Internet inside the prison, I guess that you'll have to wait til they get released before they reply. I won't disable this link if they all get released, I'll just add a sentence or a link here: (the latest news) to let you know their status. You can still write and let them know you read about their experience which they'd also appreciate. The guys feel pretty isolated in this situation.

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