I thought about the law of diminishing returns. The newspapers, if they had ever carried the story, would be bored with us by now, (except of course the S W Argus!) we could be of no help to the Palestinians where we were.
We are ordered to clean the room and are moved to one with three cameras in it. Breakfast was 6 yoghurt sachets, the lunchtime couscous has hairs in it, but the bread was fresh and nice.
Prison does not work. Put a few harmless ladies together in a cell for long enough and they will hatch a plan, and we did. On July 8th we were mere visitors, by July 12th we were activists. Moved by the plight of the Palestians, the greater understanding of their lives, the heartlessness of the regime and the collusion of our own governments, we were toughened up and fired with imagination. It would not be humane to let the matter rest, and we will not let it. We are a small part of a page in history, and a little spell in jail has fired us up to be more.
Suddenly Gabrielle is ordered to get her things ready. Things? The poor woman has been wearing the same clothes day and night for 5 days!
This changes the situation for me. Joyce, steady to the end is worried about the bite on her swollen leg, and will come with me, Fiona has to get back to work. D is allowed to stay and represent us at the kangeroo court which will give us no more rights, no more answers, no more justice than we already have, which is zero.
It is agreed that Angelica and D will remain together to see the last bit of the charade though.
We indicate to the guards that we will leave. Suddenly there is movement. Everything up until this moment has been later (meaning never) or in an hour (meaning never) or tomorrow (meaning never), but now we are in the moment and packing to leave; leave the place we never visited.
The final insult is left until we are on the plane at the airport. I ask the steward for our passports. The burly Israeli at the door growls that we cannot have them back until we land in the UK. We end as we began, with Israel wielding influence way beyond its borders.
Thoughts, I am plagued with thoughts.
Why does my government allow me to be held for 5 days without papers, or explanation, or charges?
Why does my country accept Israel as a sovereign state when it has no borders?
Why does the UK and EU give Israel special rights when its Human Rights position is untenable?
Why can Israel sing in the Eurovision Song Contest and take part in UEFA football champioships whilst being an apartheid state?
Why are British police ordered to act on Israeli paranoia and lies and interrogate British citizens before they go to Israel?
Why were the British the last to leave Givon prison?
Why did the British Consul allow our conversations to be recorded?
Why does the British Consul in Israel say that no visitors are allowed to visit the West Bank, when the FCO website says no such thing?
Why does the British Government collude in the inhumane and cruel treatment of the Palestinians?
How can we leave when we have never been?
SWArgus
