SELF-COMPLIANCE OF PALESTINIAN PRISONERS RELEASED FROM ISRAELI PRISONS

This article presents the findings of our research on mechanisms of self-compliance of the Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails after having completed their sentence. This is in connection to their personality traits and pertinent areas of compatibility.
Demographic data were collected on the released Palestinian prisoners in terms of (age, gender, marital status and number of family members). This is in addition to; socio-economic data (occupational status, level of education, income and standard of living), and behavioral data focusing on the psychological and social problems prisoners endure as consequences of deficits in adaptation to prison life. Mechanisms of compatibility and self-reconcilement that the prisoner resort to in order to overcome the psychological and social problems that he/she faced are explored. The self-compliance scale was used and demographic data were generated, including; age at arrest, age at discharge, number of arrests, current age, educational level, sex, social status and employment status.
The results showed that the consistent indicators and aspects in the self-compliance scale after the analysis were: Stand solid in order to overcome the effects of the experience of families and start beyond; I realized that I had brought myself a problem entering prison; I tried to keep my feelings to myself; I began to feel that the experience of prison and after made me stronger than I was in the past; The first few days after liberation I lived in deep concern about the possibility of being re-arrested.
Given the scale of self-compliance and comparison with statistically significant relationships in the analysis of variance (ANOVA), the extent of data consistency at the analytical levels, i.e., ANOVA and Factor Analysis, is shown. Most of the axes that emerged in the statistically significant relations at the first analytical level (ANOVA) reappeared at the second (Factor Analysis) analytical level. These include; being arrested at the age of early youth or adolescence, having spent many years in Israeli detention jails, and coming from different geographical areas and different political affiliations. However, given their young age on arrest, respondents had not yet formed their political identity but were rather urged to resist the sense of injustice, oppression and humiliation inflicted upon them by the occupier who broke into their villages and towns destroying properties and killing people. The irony is that while the occupation was imprisoning them to break the resistance before it becomes more and more entrenched with age, the prison provided them with an exceptional space for reading, learning and understanding the nature of the occupation and the motives of the Zionist movement, and increased their belief in the need to continue the struggle against the occupation including inside the prison itself, many of whom considered a battleground against the occupation.
It was also found that the self-compliance concept and its elements obtained a considerable share in the vocabulary, areas and forms of expression among the respondents so that most of their answers included formulas that have a meaning that was sometimes identical to the concept defined parameters , such as, "I began to feel that the experience of imprisonment and beyond made me stronger than I was in the past" and "I had some imaginative perceptions and aspirations for the reality of post-liberation." However, the majority of respondents were able to achieve self-compliance after liberation by " Standing firm in order to overcome the effects of the experience of imprisonment and the launch of the aftermath” and "trying to keep emotions solely to own self and not to reflect on behavior" and “I began to feel that the experience of imprisonment and beyond made me stronger than I was before ".
Released from captivity was a fundamental challenge for almost all liberated prisoners, as it brought them to the realization that they had to deal with new realities in all matters and at all levels. This includes a mindset that is compatible with what is achievable, far from the “the Republic of Plato” which governs the relations and behavior of the prisoners inside the prison.
In conclusion, this research shows that despite the brutality of the Israeli occupation and its practices against Palestinian prisoners, the embracing environment of the new prisoners by those who preceded them, and the cohesive, supportive, organized and awareness-based structure of the "prisoners'' community" plays the major role in the prisoner''s sefl-compliance and his/her integration with others, as well as his/her human, national and self-sufficiency, and this is contrary to what the jailer wants. Thus, this advanced level of compatibility of and among the prisoners, including with one’s own self, the prisoner carries to his/her external environment after liberation from prison, where it is strengthened by the family and social support enjoyed by the liberated prisoner from his/her surrounding environment and his family and friends. This is because the talk here is about a homeland and a Cause for whom these freedom fighters scarified the most beautiful and productive years of their lives. So despite the setbacks, they remain the “Icon of the Struggle” and its flame that continue to be glorified by all, even if some relapse at times.