Ayman Ghrayeb: Israel silencing witnesses in Jordan Valley

Ayman Ghrayeb is a prominent Palestinian activist, who documents West Bank human rights violations committed by settlers and Israeli authorities. He was detained on November 17, while visiting the al-Fasayil community, in the Jordan valley.

Decision on Ayman Ghrayeb will be made in six days

Initially, Ghrayeb was unlawfully detained by the colonial settlement’s security guards, and several hours later, by Israeli occupation soldiers. They confiscated his phone and camera. He was then forcibly disappeared (enforced disappearance) for two days before his lawyers were given any information about his whereabouts.

During this time, Ghrayeb had been covertly held at the Samra military base in the Jordan Valley. He was kept outdoors and exposed to the elements, was handcuffed and denied any food. Ghrayeb was beaten so badly that he required hospitalisation twice within two days. He has not been charged with anything so far.

Ghrayeb’s detention was extended by 144 hours, on November 25, for the Military Prosecutor’s Office to consider whether to issue an administrative detention order. This would mean his detention would be indefinite, without charge or trial, and based on secret evidence that not even his lawyer sees.

Ayman Ghrayeb—’a clear case of political persecution’

Jonathan Pollak is an activist and Ghrayeb’s friend. He believes Ghrayeb’s arrest is a clear case of political persecution, because the occupation has not yet chosen to prosecute him, refusing to reveal the exact reasons for the arrest, except that he is suspected of ‘incitement’.

Pollak told the Canary:

I can tell you that Ayman’s entire political activity is above board. ‘Incitement’ is a bucket term that Israel uses for anything opposing its occupation, that calls for any action against it. There is nothing in his social media posts which could be deemed as such.

The Israeli regime controls every aspect of Palestinian lives in the West Bank, through the use of Military Orders. Those who do not follow these orders — even children — are tried and prosecuted in military courts. Palestinian political engagement is treated as an unlawful act. According to Military Order 101: any gathering, public or private, of more than 10 people discussing a political subject is punishable by up to 10 years.

‘The West Bank is under a military dictatorship’

Pollak says:

When that is the law, there is no surprise that activism like that of the kind Ayman is involved in leads to detention. We’re not talking about a democracy. Israel is not a democracy. The West Bank is under a military dictatorship.

Israeli occupation authorities have refused to reveal any information. But Ghrayeb spoke with his lawyer before his interview on Sunday, November 23. He told her that he had been beaten so badly by the colonial Israeli soldiers guarding him, that he required hospitalisation twice. Ghrayeb was in perfect health when he went into detention, but there are now growing concerns for his wellbeing.

As Pollak puts it:

A person being hospitalised twice in a period of less than a week does not indicate good health, but instead points to abuse and perhaps even torture. We know of the abuse he suffered in the first three days, but have no way to find out the details.

Jordan Valley activists often suffer abuse and humiliation

This is a culmination of several years of ‘Israeli’ abuse and humiliation against Ghrayeb. Ghrayeb is regularly stopped, detained, and physically abused at checkpoints by the ‘Israeli’ authorities. He has also been arrested several times in the past few years, only to be released without charge.

The Jordan Valley makes up almost 30 percent of the territory, and runs along the eastern side of the occupied West Bank, bordering Jordan. It has fertile soil and abundant underground water resources — which are being drilled and pumped away by ‘Israeli’ water companies. Palestinians are not allowed to access the water, although it is on their land. The Jordan Valley is also the only direct land crossing between the West Bank and Jordan external to Israel. This makes it essential to the sovereignty of a future Palestinian state.

But since 1967, the occupation has been attempting to ethnically cleanse and gradually annex this area. In 2019, Netanyahu announced he would be the one to do this if he won the election.

In the Jordan Valley, as with the rest of the West Bank, Palestinians endure daily violent attacks by ‘Israeli’ settlers. They are funded by the Israeli occupation government and aided and protected by its army.

Ethnically cleansing the Jordan Valley

Pollak said:

This is a matter of policy, a policy of ethnic cleansing. Nowhere is this more visible than the Jordan Valley, where dozens and dozens of communities have been displaced in the past two years.

Al-Fasayil, as with other West Bank communities, faces constant threats by violent Israeli settlers, demanding they leave their land.

Ghrayeb’s detention is not only part of the occupation’s ethnic cleansing policy of the Jordan Valley, but also its intensified targeting of Palestinian grassroots activists.

In the Jordan Valley, where entire communities are being pushed out to clear space for settlement expansion, grassroots activists such as Ghrayeb represent one of the few protections Palestinians have. They not only support threatened communities, but expose land seizures, settler violence, and forced displacement. This makes it harder for the occupation to act without scrutiny.

Displacement is accelerating rapidly in the region, and activists provide communities with visibility, documentation, and international attention. They also strengthen community resilience and protection. Despite facing arrest, abuse and attempts to silence him, those like Ayman Ghrayeb also fuel the collective resistance of those Palestinian communities resisting oppression and forced displacement — a resistance that is alive in every Palestinian West Bank community that refuses to be erased.

Featured image via the Canary