Palestine: 'You are not the same as them'

Majd and Abdelateef had a second hearing on Monday. Having spoken to the lawyer, we knew that he was planning to argue that as GB, Lauren, Aimee and I had been freed, Majd and Abdelateef should be also. Because naturally, if the evidence is questionable enough to set us free, then the same evidence should also be questionable enough to set them free.

We arrived at the court bright and early, but found Majd and Abdelateef's family already inside, already waiting. They spent the (many) hours that followed in the burning sun, standing next to the gate, craning their necks for a glimpse of Majd and Abdelateef. Abdelateef's wife (they were married one week before he was arrested) was there, nervous but hopeful.

Abed's wife and his and Majd's family, desperate for a glimpse of the brothers.

Hopeful, because the family told us excitedly that they were expecting Abdelateef to be able to go home with them. This is what the lawyer had expected as well. When Majd and Abed arrived in court, I saw Majd gesture at himself resignedly, as if he was staying put, but then grin and point at Abed and point outside. They all expected that with the international comparison, that Abed at least would certainly be free.

As it is Majd's second 'offence' (hahahaha) he was resigned to spending some time in jail, although I had hope that as the evidence was so clearly flawed, the charges might be dismissed and that we could all go skipping into the sunset together, while the Wall crumbled in the background and Israelis and Palestinians (riding on the backs of unicorns, natch) hugged, creating rainbows and magic pixie dust, which destroyed racism, and created world peace. 

Turns out we were all disappointed. Or to choose a better word in the case of Abed's wife; devastated.

The hearing was in Hebrew. It lasted for about an hour and a half. Majd and Abed's grins of the first minutes turned slowly to confusion and then frowns - this was our only gauge of what was happening. At the end, the lawyer asked the court translator to speak to us and explain what had happened. With the hugest grin on his face, the soldier (in a military court, everyone's a soldier) explained that Abed would not be freed and that Majd was likely to get at least 6 months- more than the expected worst case scenario.

To explain these decisions, he went on to say that "the judge says that you are not the same as them". Still grinning. He found terribly amusing that the fact that I was born British and they were born Palestinian is enough for them to be still in prison while I am free.

Majd and Abed's hearing was the last of the day - as we were leaving, a load of soldiers walked past us, carrying human shaped shooting targets, and we waited for our lift with the sound of shooting ringing in our ears.

Tomorrow is the brother's next hearing, so we're going to a different court. We're going to try to live tweet any progress (language/soldier issues aside...) on the ISM twitter account, so follow @ISMPalestine here: www.twitter.com/ismpalestine