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  Hamas Opens Doors of Notorious Prison: A Visit to Fatah's Torture Chamber

Hamas Opens Doors of Notorious Prison A Visit to Fatah's Torture Chamber

By Ulrike Putz in the Gaza Strip

Part 2: 'We Now Have Law and Order'

A stack of Dushka machine gun ammunition and a book titled "The Lessons of the Vietnam War" lie on the desk in front of Abu Mohammed. Both items had just been dropped off. Hamas, says Mohammed, has called upon residents to return stolen property to the Palestinian Authority -- and that was precisely what local residents were doing.

Abu Mohammed reads out a long list: weapons, weapons, and more weapons, CDs, ammunition, landmines, computers, walkie-talkies. These things have all been brought back already, says Mohammed, adding that more and more people suffering from guilty consciences had contacted the office to drop off items they had taken illegally.

The scheme seems almost unbelievable at first, but it is confirmed a few minutes later at the gate. Abu Ahmed wears a knit cap and a long robe, the outfit of the devout Muslim. He glances sheepishly at a list of items he took while cleaning out the security force's building, which he says he would like Hamas to pick up from his house: "Printer paper, a chair, a wall clock, a fan, a video recorder with remote control, and a radio."

He apologizes for his greed, explaining that Fatah killed his brother during the fighting. As he is speaking, a donkey trots through the gate, pulling a cart stacked with doors, lumber, parts of filing cabinets, drainage pipes -- items sent back by their temporary owner.

Abu Mohammed, who is wearing blue Hamas camouflage, is all smiles. "Look," he says. "When Hamas calls upon people to return stolen goods the people comply -- voluntarily, no less."

Revisting the Worst Days of His Life

Imad al-Akad has been in the security force building before -- four years ago. His eyes blindfolded, he was led through long corridors. The blindfold was only taken off once he had reached an overcrowded communal cell.

Akad was arrested because he had thrown stones at an army major who had allegedly raped a child. Akad, who was just 18 at the time, got off lightly -- he was released after 11 days. He never saw the notorious isolation cells in the basement.

Today he has come here with friends to visit the place where he spent the worst days of his life. "One ticket for the complete tour, please," he says, joking with the Hamas men at the entrance.

But other former inmates were less inclined to make light of the place when they visited the former prison in recent days, say the guards. Grown men wept when they saw their former cells. Others accompanied widows who came to see where their husbands had been murdered.

Hamas has assumed power in the Gaza Strip, but what it does it intend to do with it? Does it aim to establish an Islamic state based on the Iranian model? "One cannot prescribe something like that," Abu Mohammed says at his desk in the guard booth. "Only God can lead us to that."

And what is better for Gaza, now that Hamas is in charge? "That you, as a foreign journalist, can sit here without being kidnapped," says the militia leader, smiling thinly. "There is security in Gaza now, even for Fatah's people."

Hamas, says Mohammed, has released all of the captured enemies -- "except for a few dozen with blood on their hands" -- and guarantees their safety. "We now have law and order."

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

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