Feature: Prisoner jailed in Israel keen on teaching Hebrew in Gaza

If you were to ask Ahmed Alfaleet to summarize his life story in one sentence, he would probably say "Self-determination is how I realize my dreams."

Living in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, Alfaleet, 45, was released from Israeli prisons in October 2011 after spending 20 years in jail.

He was convicted by an Israeli military court for armed attacks against Israeli settlers and soldiers in Gaza when Gaza was occupied by Israel's army.

During his detention, Alfaleet managed to study at the famous Israeli Hebrew University, majoring in international relations.

As he studied, Alfaleet started understanding Hebrew. Hebrew is the language of Jewish people in Israel while Palestinians speak Arabic as in other Arab nations.

Following his release in a prisoners' swap deal brokered by Egypt between Israel and the Islamic Hamas movement in October 2011, he started teaching Hebrew in Gaza for small groups.

Later he opened "Nafha for Prisoners' Studies and Israeli Affairs Center," the first of its kind in the Gaza Strip.

Nafha is the name of the prison in southern Israel where Alfaleet was imprisoned.

When he started teaching Hebrew and Israeli culture, Alfaleet encountered several challenges, however he was determined to see his dream project through to the end.

Alfaleet recalled an incident when once a Gazan academic accused him of helping to spread Israel's culture and language.

The scholar said that if Israeli intelligence officers want to contact anyone in Gaza, they must speak Arabic, even with the local accent. Therefore, there is no need for Gazans to learn Hebrew.

Despite the criticisms, Alfaleet had a different perspective as a result of his imprisonment.

"Our current role as free prisoners is to highlight what we experienced in Israeli prisons, to inform Palestinians of the incarceration experience, and to launch campaigns to promote them," he said.

The slogan in the learning center reads "We become aware and grow together."

Alfaleet explained that "for me, this represents the first step towards freedom and liberation. No matter what your ideology is or how you cope with your occupier, you must first of all learn his language."

This was Alfaleet's response to everyone who wondered about his project and his objectives behind opening a Hebrew learning center in Gaza.

Alfaleet's brave move resembles the notions of some Palestinian activists.

Abdul Wahab Qatrawi, 27, is a specialist in Israeli affairs and was hosted by TV programs on various Arab satellite channels.

He always highlighted the importance of learning Hebrew especially by Palestinians.

He believes that Palestinians and other people concerned with the conflict must learn Hebrew in order to understand Israel's community and government.

"One must understand how one's enemy thinks, and this can only be achieved when you learn his language."

Personally, Qatrawi explained that as a media activist, learning Hebrew made him understand "how Israeli media operates both inside Israel and with the European world," adding that it also helped him to read "between the lines of Israeli news."

With an understanding for the need to learn Hebrew, Alfaleet did not hesitate to realize his dream.

"At the start few people were interested, but towards the end everyone understood the importance of learning Hebrew," he said.

Dima Ahmed, 29, is one of Alfaleet's students. She is the first Hebrew reporter from Gaza. Usually she posts her reports on her Facebook profile, and on one occasion, an Israeli soldier shared a video of hers with accompanying insults.

Ahmed believes that this was the best example of her message being effectively delivered.

"Despite the insults, I am very proud of myself as this prooves that my message was conveyed," she said.

Alfaleet is extremely proud of his teaching of over 2,000 students Hebrew in less than four months since his center's opening.

Meanwhile, this further solidified his credibility and confidence.

Currently he is working on extending his short courses into longer ones, which consist of 140 training hours plus a further 40 hours of training for potential Hebrew teachers.

Alfaleet also hopes to spread Hebrew training via social media.

"Our goal is to find a substantial number of Hebrew speakers who understand all facets of Israeli community as well as how to deal with them so as to understand what they are planning. Israelis know everything about us, but we know nothing about them," said Alfaleet.

"I thank God for this great achievement, and I hope to expand it. Currently I'm focused on children in special courses and I'm organizing summer camps for next summer's vacation." Endit