Waking up every 20 minutes with light and screams. Stripped naked and placed in a filthy cell , with beds full of insects. And then there are those who, speaking to Rai News, speak of physical violence . These are the dramatic accounts of activists arrested in recent days by Israeli authorities while participating in activities to support the Palestinian population engaged in the olive harvest.
"We are in Italy, we are 'fine' and we are safe," were the first words upon arrival from Giorgia Lombardi, city councilor of La Spezia and member of the National Council of Europa Verde, "but our concern is for the Palestinians still in prison, who will not be spared violence. I haven't slept for two nights; there has been so much psychological and physical abuse ." In addition to Lombardi, those detained were Lorenzo Diofili, Aurora Valentini, Cosimo Dondini, Paola Jesus, and Marco Cola.
"It all happened in a few minutes. They arrived armed to the teeth," Marco Cola said from the airport. "They grabbed us, then separated the men and women. They made us strip almost naked. I even had my testicles pulled, and they kicked us . For hours, day and night, with the lights on, we couldn't speak to anyone. We were constantly insulted."
"This is a form of torture to which the Italian volunteers detained in the West Bank were subjected ," Angelo Bonelli, co-spokesperson for Europa Verde, and Luana Zanella , AVS group leader in the Chamber of Deputies, denounced. "The attack occurred during the olive harvest, in an area where, paradoxically, a sign for a 'European Land Protection Project' stood out. They were attacked by settlers armed with automatic rifles."
"We will not stand idly by, as President Meloni and Minister Tajani are doing," Bonelli and Zanella continue. " We will denounce everywhere the treatment reserved by Israeli authorities for international activists committed to supporting Palestinians in the West Bank, helping farmers with the olive harvest. There are all the elements for the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office to open an investigation, including to identify the violent settlers. Meanwhile, Netanyahu's current government has begun demolishing Palestinian homes in Jerusalem, and the humanitarian conditions in the refugee camps in Gaza are dramatic and desperate."
"We reject the inaction of the Meloni government, which has limited itself to saying it is following the case," Bonelli and Zanella added. " The gravity of the IDF soldiers' behavior requires not only political condemnation but also the involvement of our investigative bodies, which we will ask to assess whether the crime of torture, which the Rome Prosecutor's Office is investigating in the cases of the complaints filed by the Flotilla members, was committed."
(Unioneonline/vl)