Abu Dis

Prisoner Stories: Zafer Abdel Jawad al-Rimawi

Rima Merriman Abu Dis, Palestine 26 October 2004


Zafer’s first interrogation period at the Moskoubieh (Russian Compound in Jerusalem) lasted for 65 days, during which time he was tortured and kept naked in a one meter by one meter holding cell. His father learned through Zafer’s lawyer that Zafer had to be taken to a recovery room, where he stayed for three weeks due to the severity of the torture. A year and a half ago, Israeli intelligence officers, Riyad and Iyas, came looking for his brother Muneef. They ransacked the house and now periodically show up to look for him. Muneef remains on the run. 

Strange birds above Abu Dis

Abu Dis 17 April 2002

It is a disturbing indication of my acclimation to the militarization of everyday life here that when a group of Apache helicopters began bearing down overhead in a closed village where no one is allowed to be on the streets, what first came to my mind were Lauri Anderson lyrics and second, whether there are batteries in my camera.