The image above of an empty classroom was used by Birzeit students in a letter writing campaign during the exam period of the last few weeks to let the prisoners - who were painfully aware they were missing exams - know they were not forgotten by the students still at the university.
The Arabic printed below the picture on the cards read: Zumala'una fi al-mu'takalaat: hunna makanukum at-taabeea'ee... nahnu nantatheeru owdatakum! which translates approximately as: "Our colleagues in prison: This [lecture hall] is where you truly belong... We await your return!
Several hundred letters were written, and on 28 June 1996, I delivered the ones for the students in Ramallah's Muqata'a. The students were on a triple high because of the successful court hearing last Wednesday; Peter Dickie from the Jerusalem Times had turned up to deliver a copy of an article he had written about them that came out today; and I had a couple hundred letters from students to hand over to them.
The photo (above left) shows the students sorting the letters into piles for each prisoner. Above right (from left to right), Adeeb, Fakhri and Wa'el (not a Birzeit student but even he got one) stand outside their cell and smile at a letter.
Here are some excerpts from the letters written to the prisoners:
"While you are in the prison of the Authority, your memory does not leave us, even if we do not know you personally. My dear brother:'la buda lil laylee anjali
walla buda lil qaidi anyankassar'
('As the night will be eclipsed by the day,
so the chain will be broken.')"
"We hope to God that you are in good health and God-willing, you will be released soon."
"While we sit our final exams, your memory is in our thoughts: this is where you truly belong - in the classroom and not in the prison. We greet you and grasp your hands."
This was the last official news from the university about their case.
Following this, they began to be released in dribs and drabs until the last detainee, Mustapha 'Atari, was released towards the end of the year, ten and a half months after his imprisonment.
Most went back to their studies. Fakhri and Bassam Subbah went back to their jobs as teachers, and Adeeb Ziyadi began a masters course in International Studies and got married...
It was a moving wedding to go to. After having visited Adeeb and the others in prison over fifteen times, it was like a reunion for all of us.
Reading international media reports that report arrests of "Islamic militants" or "Islamic terrorists" in Palestine, one is left with the assumption that they 'must have done something'.
This arrest and detention was similarly reported by the international media.
I count these people - whom I was able to witness endure an unjust detention with both dignity and faith - as among my friends.
My question to you is this: Will you feel the same way the next time you read about an arrest like this?
For those interested in following the cases of other Birzeit student detainees in Palestinian Authority detention, please see the website of the Human Rights Action Project at Birzeit University.
Check out Birzeit students in Palestinian detention: Some statistics from 1996