"On July 27, Gaza resident Hamed Keshta arrived at the Erez border crossing, carrying an entry permit into Israel. He was headed to Ashkelon's Ganei Dan Hotel to meet with representatives from his employer, EUBAM. The European Union Border Assistance Mission in Rafah supervises and assists the Palestinian Authority in operating the border crossing with Egypt.
This was the first time since 1994 that Keshta, 33, of Rafah, married with two children, had crossed the border into Israel. It was to apply for a visa at the Canadian embassy in Tel Aviv. Keshta remained in Canada, even obtaining citizenship, until 2004 when he returned to Gaza. Since then he has worked as an interpreter and as a "fixer," a go-between for Western media outlets. He worked for the London Sunday Times, Britain's Channel 4 TV and the French production company Playprod. He has been at EUBAM since April 2006. The Ashkelon meeting was connected to a promotion from interpreter to assistant security director in the Rafah area.
"When I got to the border crossing, to my great surprise I was arrested by Israeli security officials," Keshta related in a recent telephone interview. He described the events of that day and the month's detention and interrogation at a Shin Bet security service facility that followed.....
According to Ben-Natan, as soon as Keshta was arrested the investigators proposed that he cooperate with them and become one of their agents. When he refused the interrogations began in earnest. "I assume," he said, "that it is the standard interrogation that thousands of other Palestinians undergo. They did not hit me, but I was placed in restraints and forced to sit on a chair. The interrogators' questions focused on the tunnels" under the Rafah crossing......"
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