Palestinian fishermen say IDF arrests, abuses them
Fishermen say navy vessels chase their boats, make them swim over naked for interrogation, then bring them back to sea where they have to swim back to their boats. IDF: Boats sailing in forbidden area, suspected of arms smuggling
Israeli Human Rights group B'Tselem says IDF navy soldiers are arresting Palestinian fishermen off the coast of Gaza, making them swim over to the military's vessels on which they are taken to Ashdod for interrogation. Then, they say, the soldiers return them to middle of sea where they took them from.
The IDF in response says that the boats are sailing in forbidden areas through which terror groups smuggle arms and says that suspects are given their full rights
Amin Hasuna, 23, says that last month he and his brother were arrested by a navy vessel while fishing out at sea. Two additional Palestinian fishing boats were also stopped with theirs. The soldiers then ordered the three supervising fishermen from the three boats to undress and swim towards the Israeli vessel.
"Some two hours we set sail, we started pulling in the nets and then the Israeli boat came near us, it was a few dozen feet away and we didn't manage to run away in time," said Hasuna. "They started shooting and yelling through the speakers: 'Hands in the air.' Half an hour after we raised our hands the soldier told us to row into sea and it was very difficult. The whole time we were with our hands in the air, as the soldiers' ordered.
"When we were four km (two and a half miles) from the beach, the soldiers told us to stop, asked the supervisors to undress and swim. I saw my brother and the other two supervisors freezing from the cold, the waters were frozen. One of them didn't want to go down but the soldiers threatened to shoot and kill him."
I felt like we were going to die
After the three supervisors boarded the Israeli ship, the soldiers then instructed Hasuna and the two other remaining fishermen to also undress and swim over.
"We remained only in our underpants. The cold was terrible, I felt like we were about to die. When we got to the ship the soldier lowered a ladder and we climbed up. On the ship were ten soldiers, one of them tied my hands and blindfolded me. I stood there long minutes naked and shaking, until one of the soldiers brought a small blanket and covered my shoulders. My chest and legs were not covered, all this for an hour until the boat got to the Ashdod port.
In Ashdod the fishermen were questioned by two men in civilian dress said Hasuna: "They asked me my personal details, asked about fishermen I know and asked if we come across Palestinian naval police. The questioning only took a few minutes, but we were held up at the station and only in the evening the Israeli ship took us back to where we left the boat, in the sea opposite Rafah. When we got there they ordered us to undress and swim back naked. We got to the boat, and three of the fishermen couldn't find their clothes, which apparently flew out to sea. They had to remain in their underwear.
According to Hasuna they made it back to shore at around 10:30 pm, 12 hours after the ordeal began. "The joints in my arms and legs hurt for five days, my shoulders too," he said, adding that he will continue to fish because it is his livelihood. But the work, he says, is wrought with fear.
We run because we're humiliated
Maslem Abu Shluf also reports a similar incident. He says he was sailing some two km west of the Rafah port. "Suddenly we saw two Israeli ships chasing us. We started to run but some 200 meters (0.12 miles) before the port, we were stopped," he says.
Abu Shluf added that the fishermen run "because the soldiers humiliate us."
According to Abu Shluf, he and a second fisherman stopped fleeing after the soldier's fired in the direction of their boat. "They made us row 30km (18.5 miles) into the ocean. Then one of the soldiers verified the identity of the fisherman who was with me, and he recognized him so he left him alone. Me he told to turn off my engine and undress and then jump into the water." Abu Shluf says it took him 30 minutes to reach the IDF vessel, where he says he was given a military issued shirt and pants.
"But what could it have helped? I was shivering, it was the coldest time of the winter," he said, adding that then his hands were tied and he was blindfolded.
"After we arrived in Ashdod they let me heat up by an air-conditioner and a doctor examined me, but not thoroughly, just so that if anyone ever asks me, I'll say I was tested. Abu Shluf said the interegator asked him about the boat, if there were any arms on it, if he knows the people who come to the new mosque in his neighborhood in Rafah. "The soldiers then took me to the Erez crossing point, lucky for me that there was a storm and they didn't throw me out to sea, like they do with the other fisherman.
IDF: Area forbidden for entry of fishing boats
B'Tselem claims that the fishermen all say that their boats were not in the no-go areas in the north and south of Gaza's water's.
The IDF said in response to the claims: "In all of these incidents the Palestinian boats in question were stopped in the waters bordering on Egypt's territorial waters, where it is forbidden for any vessels to enter other than military ones. The suspects who were on the boats were brought in for questioning as they were suspected of smuggling arms into Gaza, posing a threat to the security of the citizens of Israel. The IDF, as is clear from the testimonies, made sure that the suspects received medical attention, food and water. Additional claims made in some of the testimonies will be further investigated.
"The IDF has been forced to deal with a very tangible threat that terror groups are using the sea off Gaza for smuggling arms. To illustrate, over the course of the past year several such smuggling attempts were thwarted in that area," said military officials, stressing however that despite the difficult situation, the IDF is making the utmost effort to minimize the damage to Palestinian fishing.
B'Tselem said in response: "It is the right and duty of Israel to defend the lives of its citizens from attacks from Gaza, however the informal ban on fishing constitutes an unacceptable collective punishment. This is part of the pressure Israel is placing on the residents of Gaza since the abduction of Gilad Shalit."
