Israel Matzav

Disney World it wasn't

15-year old Muhammad Farmawi, who, it was claimed last week, was killed by Israeli troops in Gaza but then found alive in an Egyptian prison, got a rude awakening about prison conditions in the Arab world.

“We were collecting small stones near the Gaza International Airport when we heard gunfire,” the boy told local reporters. “As soon as we heard the gunfire, we ran toward the border with Egypt.”

Farmawi said that he and his friends discovered an underground tunnel and decided to hide inside it.

“It was a short tunnel,” he recounted. “We started crawling inside it until we saw light.”

Emerging from the opening, the teenagers discovered that they were in the middle of an agricultural field on the Egyptian side of the border. Within minutes, they were surrounded by Egyptian border guards who handcuffed and blindfolded them before taking them to prison.

According to Farmawi, who spent three days in prison, the Egyptian soldiers and policemen beat him and his friends with clubs and electric wires and forced them to sleep on the floor without mattresses or blankets.

“In addition to the beatings and verbal abuse, they gave us rotten food to eat,” he said.

Over the weekend, the Egyptians released Farmawi and 12 other teenagers, as well as five fishermen who had entered Egypt illegally, and handed them over to the Hamas-controlled security forces in the Gaza Strip.

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Asked if he would ever consider returning to Egypt, the teenager replied: “After what happened to me in Egyptian prison, I won’t go back there even if they offered me $1 million.”

If he'd been in an Israeli prison, he'd have had three gourmet Kosher meals daily, a comfortable bed and phone and television privileges, in addition to Red Cross and family visitations. Maybe that's why the 'Palestinians' don't mind going to Israeli prisons.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:40 AM