“When I was in school, I wanted to be something big. I wanted to help our people,” said Ahmad Salaymeh, 14, from his home in East Jerusalem. He’s now reassessing his plans, which once included getting a higher degree.
“I wanted to be someone educated. Not someone who works in mechanics. But what God wills happens.”
Ahmad is the youngest of the 240 Palestinian women and children released from Israeli prisons as part of a hostage-prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel back in November. The prisoner-hostage swap came after two months of war in Gaza, after the militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 people hostage.
In May 2023 Ahmad was arrested along with his cousins and younger brother and accused of throwing stones at a bus of Israeli settlers, an allegation he denies. He was placed under house arrest before eventually going to Damon Prison in July and given additional charges of terrorism, resistance against soldiers, and attacking settlers.
(map of Damon Prison, Ellie Leith)
Just over three months after his release, the effects of his imprisonment on his life are stark.
He has not been allowed to re-enroll in his school in occupied East Jerusalem under orders from Israel’s Ministry of Education.
We’ve contacted the Ministry of Education about the decision and they’ve said “Pupils who are released prisoners will not learn within the educational system and will be regularly accompanied by a probationary officer."
There are up to 51 Palestinian children who could potentially be affected by this decision as residents of East Jerusalem, where many schools are under the direct authority of the Israeli Ministry of Education.
“They want to prevent them from getting an education,” said Ahmad’s father, Nawaf Saleymeh, in a passionate TikTok he recorded just after finding out about the decision. “The question we should ask ourselves is where will we send our children after today?”
“Many of the released children actually stop going to school because they think that, okay, I would be rearrested,” said Tala Nasir, an attorney at prisoner rights organization Addameer, adding that many of them don’t want to be stuck grades behind their peers. “It affects their educational life. It affects their psychological matter because they are children.”
Palestinians in Israeli Prisons
Prison is often an intergenerational experience for Palestinians. United Nations data shows that one out of every five Palestinian men have been imprisoned by Israel.
And since Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory began in 1967, one million Palestinians have been held in military detention centers, including tens of thousands of children, according to the UN.
Each year, between 500-700 Palestinian children are prosecuted in Israeli military courts. The most common charge for boys under the age of 18 is stone throwing.
Many are never formally charged and are detained under a policy called administrative detention, which allows Israel to arrest Palestinians without charge or trial indefinitely.
Evidence for these cases is often kept in a “secret file,” meaning detainees don’t know what they’re accused of, and their attorneys can’t defend them. And once they do enter a courtroom, rights attorneys say there is no due process for Palestinians.
Israel's military says administrative detention is necessary for security and is only used when authorities have reliable information about a threat
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In the occupied Palestinian territories, there are two court systems. One is the civil system, which applies exclusively to Israelis and some Palestinians from Jerusalem. And the second is the military law system, which applies to the Palestinians from the West Bank and some from Jerusalem.
“The military courts lack the fair trial guarantees. There is actually no due process in these courts,” said Tala.
The conviction rate in Israeli military courts is 99%, according to watchdog Military Court Watch. The Israeli Military says when an administrative arrest warrant is issued, a review is carried out by the military court.
Since Oct. 7, the number of Palestinians going through this system and being placed in Israeli prisons has risen exponentially, from around 5,200 to over 9,000 prisoners today.
Nearly 80% of those arrests have been administrative detentions.
The Israeli military told us the increase in administrative arrests is reflective of “the sharp increase of terror attacks in the region.”
Human rights groups have said these mass detentions aim to sow fear in younger Palestinians to deter them from opposing Israel.
Inside Israeli Prisons
Aside from a rise in the number of prisoners, several detainees have told the News Movement that there was a sudden shift in prison conditions and treatment after October 7.
Four released prisoners have given similar testimonies about what followed in the immediate aftermath: guards entered their cells, took all personal belongings and removed televisions and radios.
One prisoner, Izz al Din Al Sudani, 17, who was imprisoned in Megiddo Prison with charges of “harming the security of the area,” described guards spraying him and other prisoners with tear gas, beating them, and letting rabid dogs loose on them.
“Some people were put into solitary confinement. When they came out, they were injured, some of them could not stand upright,” Izz al Din said.
A female detainee from Damon prison, Walaa Tanji, 26, said guards beat her and that female prisoners in Damon were threatened with rape.
All prisoners said food rations were reduced.
We’ve reached out to the Israeli Prison Service about these specific allegations, but have yet to hear back. However, Israel has maintained that all prisoners have been held in accordance with the law.
Izz al Din and Ahmad both said that from Oct. 7 onwards, all contact with the outside world ceased. They had no idea what was happening beyond the walls of the prison.
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Lawyers and parents of prisoners were unable to reach detainees.
Then, on Nov. 22, Israel and Hamas reached a temporary ceasefire and announced a hostage prisoner swap.
Over 100 women and children hostages taken from Israel during Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and children prisoners.
While 14-year-old Ahmad was happy to see his family, his release weighed on him.
"When I was freed from prison and I knew there was a war and martyrs, I was upset and didn't feel that I was happy because I left...but to know that 20,000 people were martyred in Gaza so I could go home, I was upset. Why would they die for me to go home?
Post Release
Since the prisoner release, at least three Palestinian teens released in the hostage/prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel have been re-arrested, The News Movement has previously reported.
Others say they're scared of that happening to them.
“The fear that we can be taken again is starting to creep up again,” said Walaa, who says she has not been able to move around freely, as she is afraid she’ll be arrested again at a checkpoint.
After a previous prisoner-hostage swap in 2011, 1,027 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli custody were exchanged for the release of one Israeli soldier. By 2014, over 50 of those prisoners were rearrested.
This lingering fear of re-arrest is something 14-year-old Ahmad is also facing.
“He sat at home for almost two months, and he was scared to leave the house,” said Nawaf, Ahmad's father. “At night he would hear soldiers walking outside, and he started to wear his clothes to sleep and would say if they will arrest me I want to be dressed and ready.”
“I think after the war they will gather all the freed prisoners and rearrest them. That is what it means to live under an occupation, there is no sense of safety,” said Ahmad.
“I’m praying for the best, but I believe they will take us again after the war.”