Former political prisoner Mahmoud al-Arda was first arrested by Israeli occupation forces in 1992 due to his involvement in the First Intifada and his membership in Islamic Jihad. Since then, for the past three decades, al-Arda has been incarcerated in different Israeli prisons, and he made international headlines in 2021 after leading a daring, successful, but short-lived escape from the maximum-security Gilboa Prison. In this blockbuster episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa—a former Black Panther and political prisoner in the US—speaks with al-Arda after he and 2,000 other Palestinian prisoners were finally released from incarceration in Israel in 2025.

Additional Links/Info

B’Tselem, Statistics on Palestinians in Israeli Custody
B’Tselem, “Welcome to Hell”: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps (Report)
Mansa Musa, TRNN, “Inside Israel’s Prison Regime”
Ruwaida Amer, Electronic Intifada, “Freedom is the eternal dream”
Aseel Mousa, Middle East Eye, “Jailbreak, freedom, exile: Life of Mahmoud al-Arda, architect of daring Israeli prison escape”

Credits

Videography: Ruwaida Amer, Cameron Granadino
Producer / Editor: Cameron Granadino
Voiceover: Danny Bou-Maroun

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