Hostage, prisoner or detainee? In the latest Israel-Hamas exchange, it’s not always clear

When Palestinian activist Bushra Al-Tahil was released from an Israeli prison in exchange for hostages held by Hamas earlier this week, many media reports referred to her as a prisoner — or worse, a terrorist.

This was despite the fact that no Israeli court had convicted her of a crime, nor charged her, nor presented her with any evidence about why she was incarcerated for more than 10 months.

Nonetheless, in the eyes of the world, Al-Tahil says she was made to look guilty.

“They are only trying to make us criminals,” she told CBC News in an interview in her mother’s living room in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, a few days after her release. 

Palestinian detainees and their advocates say the broad characterization of Palestinians as prisoners is part of a deliberate strategy.

“The [Israeli hostages] that are in Gaza are considered ‘kidnapped,’ because criminals kidnapped them,” Al-Tahil said. But because she was held in an Israeli prison, she says she became “a prisoner.”

Thousands of ecstatic Israelis celebrated in the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities when Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher were finally released from Gaza this past Sunday. Hamas says it will release four more Israeli hostages this coming Saturday, in exchange for another large group of Palestinian detainees.

While there’s no doubt the three women lived through a 470-day nightmare in Gaza, Al-Tahil says her time in an Israeli jail was also arduous. She says she endured months of isolation, mistreatment and psychological abuse from her captors.

Prisoners’ rights activist

Al-Tahil, 30, has been well known to security officials in Israel and the Palestinian Authority for many years.

A prominent prisoners’ rights advocate in the West Bank with a high-profile social media presence, she has been arrested or detained seven times since she was 18 — and was part of a prisoner exchange involving Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit back in 2011.

Al-Tahil says only once was she ever convicted of anything — incitement to terrorism. She says it’s a catch-all term that can cover anything Israeli authorities want it to. In that case, she says she was giving speeches and making posts about resisting Israel’s occupation.

She said her father, who is also incarcerated in an Israeli prison, may be released as part of the ongoing detainee/hostage swaps.

Israel’s justice ministry has listed Bushra Al-Tahil as being affiliated with Hamas, but she told CBC News that’s untrue.

Under Israel’s controversial administrative detention rules — which because of recent changes now apply only to non-Jews — the government is not required to publicly reveal what evidence it has to hold people in prison on security grounds.

Al-Tahil says that in March, Israeli security services showed up at a friend’s apartment where she had been staying and “severely beat her” before taking her to prison. In jail, she says she was subjected to random searches and repeated intimidation by the male guards, including over the issuing of feminine hygiene items. 

“It was a matter of revenge,” she said. She argues Israeli authorities were angry about the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas and that her past activism against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank made her an easy target.

CBC News contacted the Israeli military to get more details on Al-Tahil’s case, but was referred to the country’s security service. Several calls and phone messages were not returned.

Administrative detention

Sarit Michaeli, of B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights NGO, says the question of who is a prisoner and who is a detainee is “murky.”

“Some [prisoners] have been convicted of nothing. Others have been convicted of killing dozens of Israelis. But then there’s another group of Palestinian prisoners who have been convicted in Israeli courts of offences that Israelis would never be arrested or charged for — for example, offences related to incitement or public order offences,” Michaeli told CBC News.

“Probably the vast majority of prisoners that Israelis would characterize as ‘terrorists’ have not done anything violent,” she said.

With Israeli hostages being held by Hamas and other militant groups, Al-Tahil says the guards at her prison told her she and other Palestinian women were arrested simply to be traded for Israeli hostages.

“Everyone was waiting for the [ceasefire] deal, because there was no [way] to justify our arrest,” she said.

A prominent Palestinian politician in the West Bank told CBC News the Israeli tactic of rounding up people ahead of such exchanges is well known.

“We are playing cat-and-mouse,” said Sabri Saydam, a senior member of the Fatah Party, which dominates the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.

In the hours after the ceasefire in Gaza went into effect, Israeli troops opened a new front in the conflict, sending a large military contingent into the West Bank city of Jenin to “eradicate terrorism,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a post.

Social media photos on Monday night appeared to show dozens of Palestinians taken into custody by Israel’s security forces.

“Initial figures show that those who have been rounded up over last night and the night before amounts to what exceeds the size of those who will be released,” said Saydam on Tuesday.

Among the 90 Palestinians swapped in the deal last weekend, more than 60 were women and all but eight were arrested after the Oct. 7 attacks.

None of the Palestinians released in the first batch over the weekend were convicted of killing Israelis. Among the most serious offences was a charge of attempted murder against a 15-year-old boy, although he had not been convicted by the time he was released Monday morning.  

If the ceasefire goes according to plan, subsequent detainee/hostage swaps will include people convicted of capital crimes, according to the list released by Israel’s government. 

Israeli TV stations are reporting that out of more than 700 Palestinians who could eventually be freed, those who have been convicted of murder could end up numbering more than 100.

A further 1,000 people captured in Gaza by Israeli forces will also be returned to the territory, but Israeli authorities have not said if any are suspected of committing crimes. 

The issue of equivalence

While many Palestinians see the plight of detainees as akin to that of the captured Israeli hostages, the issue of equivalence is polarizing in Israel — and among Jewish groups outside the country, including in Canada.

Honest Reporting Canada, which bills itself as a watchdog on “fair and accurate” media coverage of Israel, has expressed support for Israel’s administrative detention rules and stated any equivalence between Palestinians in Israeli jails and hostages is “morally obtuse.” 

After the first and only other round of hostage/detainee swaps in November 2023, the American Jewish Committee issued its own fact sheet, stating that Palestinians held in Israeli jails “made an active choice to commit a crime,” while the only “crime” committed by the Israeli and other foreign hostages was that they were “Jewish or were in Israel.” 

On Tuesday, an Arab Israeli member of Israel’s Knesset triggered an online backlash from Jewish Israelis after posting that he was happy about the release of the three women hostages, as well as the Palestinian prisoners. 

“We were all born free,” Ayman Odeh wrote.

Later on the social media platform X, Odeh explained that while Jewish Israelis “tend to see primarily the Jewish suffering, I see and feel the suffering of both peoples — this is simply the reality, not just mine, but of all Arabs living in this country.”

Bushra Al-Tahil says she has been enjoying her freedom, spending time with her mother and reading. But she fears the peace will be short-lived and that, before long, she will be back behind bars.

“We are always concerned. Not because we are afraid, but because the situation will never be good.”