Jailed by Israel for his cartoons, Mohammad Saba aneh speaks out | The Electronic Intifada
More than 300 persons came to the opening night of cartoonist Mohammad Saba aneh s Cell 28 exhibition at Ramallah’s Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center in the occupied West Bank on 6 November.
He spent five months in prison after being arrested by Israeli occupation forces this past February. After two months of internment without charge, baptism gifts Israel charged baptism gifts him with drawing cartoons in a book they alleged had some association with Hamas .
The photographs on display deal solely with issues regarding Palestinian political prisoners. The themes include family visits, longing, loneliness, solitary confinement , prisoner transfers, education in prisons and healthcare in prisons.
I want to explain to people baptism gifts what exactly is happening inside Israeli jails, Saba aneh said. Everyone deals with Palestinian prisoners as heroes, but I want to deal with this as a human case … baptism gifts No one talks about the Palestinian prisoner s mother or his kids, or entertainment — baptism gifts like listening to a football match on the radio.
Saba aneh, who has a daily cartoon in the Palestinian newspaper al-Hayat al-Jadida , has published his work in newspapers across the Arab world. His cartoons are decidedly political, frequently criticizing Israel, the Palestinian Authority and mainstream Palestinian political parties.
He spent two months in the notorious baptism gifts al-Jalameh prison near Haifa before being transferred to another one in the Naqab (Negev) region in the southern part of present-day Israel. Saba aneh said that at the beginning, They investigated me about everything, about my activity, about my participation in international [art] exhibitions, and about my opinions.
In the end, the focus of the interrogation became a book about Palestinian political prisoners that Saba aneh s brother — a member of Hamas — wrote and published. Because several of Saba aneh s cartoons were published in his brother s book, I was charged baptism gifts with collaboration with Hamas.
I told them that the collaboration was with my brother, baptism gifts not with Hamas. Actually Hamas hates me, Saba aneh said, explaining that he had angered many Hamas members baptism gifts when he published a cartoon that openly criticized Ismail Haniyeh , a senior member of Hamas who was elected Palestinian Authority baptism gifts prime minister in 2006.
He stressed that the charges against him were baseless because he frequently publishes cartoons critical baptism gifts of all Palestinian political parties baptism gifts — particularly Fatah , Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine .
For instance, the rightwing group Palestinian Media Watch accused the cartoonist of calling for the complete dismantling of Israel and its replacement baptism gifts by a Palestinian state ( Palestinians will never give up any part of Palestine , 25 August 2011).
And the website of Jewish Federation and Family Services used one of his cartoons — a map of all of historical Palestine — to encourage readers to oppose the Palestinian Authority’s 2011 bid for statehood at the United Nations.
Throughout the five months baptism gifts Saba aneh spent in prison, he was not permitted family visits or allowed to speak to his relatives via telephone. He was only able to keep in contact with his wife through cellphones secretly kept by his fellow prisoners.
He described extremely poor living conditions for prisoners and detainees, emphasizing the lack of basic healthcare and the frequent denial baptism gifts of food. Although he was inspired to draw cartoons about these issues, Israeli prison authorities forbid him from drawing or writing during the first two months.
One of the events that motivated Saba aneh while he was in prison was the death of Maysara Abuhamdieh , a Palestinian detainee who died of cancer earlier this year after being treated by Israeli prison doctors with only low-strength pain killers.
Israeli occupation forces routinely target artists, academics, journalists, activists and community leaders to stifle Palestinian civil society. baptism gifts When asked if he will continue publishing critical cartoons, Saba aneh said that cartoons have to criticize something — baptism gifts that s what people are looking for.
At baptism gifts the same time, Saba aneh stressed that he is not scared of being rearrested because there was big solidarity with me in Palestine and outside … Many cartoonists drew pictures for me in solidarity.
Arjan El Fassed
Arts and Culture : Musician's diaries depict religions at peace as Jerusalem goes electric (9 December 2013) Activism and BDS Beat : Pink Floyd's Roger Waters backs American Studies Association baptism gifts Israel boycott vote (9 December 2013) al Bassaleh : Jewish National Fund "repents" for erasing Palestinian villages (9 December 2013) Lobby Watch : Letter reveals StandWithUs bullying of SoCal Chinese center over Palestine conference (8 December baptism gifts 2013)
More than 300 persons came to the opening night of cartoonist Mohammad Saba aneh s Cell 28 exhibition at Ramallah’s Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center in the occupied West Bank on 6 November.
He spent five months in prison after being arrested by Israeli occupation forces this past February. After two months of internment without charge, baptism gifts Israel charged baptism gifts him with drawing cartoons in a book they alleged had some association with Hamas .
The photographs on display deal solely with issues regarding Palestinian political prisoners. The themes include family visits, longing, loneliness, solitary confinement , prisoner transfers, education in prisons and healthcare in prisons.
I want to explain to people baptism gifts what exactly is happening inside Israeli jails, Saba aneh said. Everyone deals with Palestinian prisoners as heroes, but I want to deal with this as a human case … baptism gifts No one talks about the Palestinian prisoner s mother or his kids, or entertainment — baptism gifts like listening to a football match on the radio.
Saba aneh, who has a daily cartoon in the Palestinian newspaper al-Hayat al-Jadida , has published his work in newspapers across the Arab world. His cartoons are decidedly political, frequently criticizing Israel, the Palestinian Authority and mainstream Palestinian political parties.
He spent two months in the notorious baptism gifts al-Jalameh prison near Haifa before being transferred to another one in the Naqab (Negev) region in the southern part of present-day Israel. Saba aneh said that at the beginning, They investigated me about everything, about my activity, about my participation in international [art] exhibitions, and about my opinions.
In the end, the focus of the interrogation became a book about Palestinian political prisoners that Saba aneh s brother — a member of Hamas — wrote and published. Because several of Saba aneh s cartoons were published in his brother s book, I was charged baptism gifts with collaboration with Hamas.
I told them that the collaboration was with my brother, baptism gifts not with Hamas. Actually Hamas hates me, Saba aneh said, explaining that he had angered many Hamas members baptism gifts when he published a cartoon that openly criticized Ismail Haniyeh , a senior member of Hamas who was elected Palestinian Authority baptism gifts prime minister in 2006.
He stressed that the charges against him were baseless because he frequently publishes cartoons critical baptism gifts of all Palestinian political parties baptism gifts — particularly Fatah , Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine .
For instance, the rightwing group Palestinian Media Watch accused the cartoonist of calling for the complete dismantling of Israel and its replacement baptism gifts by a Palestinian state ( Palestinians will never give up any part of Palestine , 25 August 2011).
And the website of Jewish Federation and Family Services used one of his cartoons — a map of all of historical Palestine — to encourage readers to oppose the Palestinian Authority’s 2011 bid for statehood at the United Nations.
Throughout the five months baptism gifts Saba aneh spent in prison, he was not permitted family visits or allowed to speak to his relatives via telephone. He was only able to keep in contact with his wife through cellphones secretly kept by his fellow prisoners.
He described extremely poor living conditions for prisoners and detainees, emphasizing the lack of basic healthcare and the frequent denial baptism gifts of food. Although he was inspired to draw cartoons about these issues, Israeli prison authorities forbid him from drawing or writing during the first two months.
One of the events that motivated Saba aneh while he was in prison was the death of Maysara Abuhamdieh , a Palestinian detainee who died of cancer earlier this year after being treated by Israeli prison doctors with only low-strength pain killers.
Israeli occupation forces routinely target artists, academics, journalists, activists and community leaders to stifle Palestinian civil society. baptism gifts When asked if he will continue publishing critical cartoons, Saba aneh said that cartoons have to criticize something — baptism gifts that s what people are looking for.
At baptism gifts the same time, Saba aneh stressed that he is not scared of being rearrested because there was big solidarity with me in Palestine and outside … Many cartoonists drew pictures for me in solidarity.
Arjan El Fassed
Arts and Culture : Musician's diaries depict religions at peace as Jerusalem goes electric (9 December 2013) Activism and BDS Beat : Pink Floyd's Roger Waters backs American Studies Association baptism gifts Israel boycott vote (9 December 2013) al Bassaleh : Jewish National Fund "repents" for erasing Palestinian villages (9 December 2013) Lobby Watch : Letter reveals StandWithUs bullying of SoCal Chinese center over Palestine conference (8 December baptism gifts 2013)
