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Palestinian Female Prisoners Suffer Abuse in Israeli Jails

Former Palestinian female prisoners in Israel recount their experiences, which often include assault at the hands of Israeli prison guards.
Demonstrators hold candles and pictures of arrested Palestinian women during a silent protest in front of the Israeli embassy in Warsaw March 8, 2011. A silent protest was organized during International Women day to remember 37 Palestinian political female prisoners kept in Israeli jails, organizers said. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel (POLAND - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR2JMLP

In October 2009, Sumoud Karajeh stabbed an Israeli soldier at Qalandiya checkpoint, the main military barrier that separates the West Bank from Jerusalem and the 1948 Palestinian territories. Karajeh was arrested on the spot and, after a lengthy interrogation, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempting to kill a soldier.

Now 25, Karajeh lives with her family in the village of Saffa, near Ramallah, one of the more than 1,000 prisoners released in exchange for one Israeli soldier in the October 2011 prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel. Yet the memories of the difficult two years she spent in an Israeli prison will forever be seared in her mind.

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