Alwaght- With every minute Palestinian Journalist Mohammad Al-Qeeq nears his death, he also nears his freedom. When he took the decision to go on hunger strike, he was sending a message to his Israeli incarcerators; that he will either die or live free.
For more than 80 days, Mohammad Al-Qeeq has been only taking sips of water to stay alive, abstaining from food and nourishment. The 33-year-old is on hunger strike to protest his detention since late November after Israeli troops took him from his home in Ramallah. He has been held in “administrative detention” over alleged “terror activities” since then.
Al-Qeeq’s hunger strike now stands as a dare to the Israeli regime. When he stopped eating on November 25 he demanded that he either be charged or released. However, the Israeli Supreme Court has thus far denied his request.
The case of al-Qeeq has been met with obstinacy on the part of Tel Aviv which seems negligent of international condemnation. However, it is unclear how long this stalemate will last as previous experiences saw Israeli authorities bend before the will of hunger strikers to avoid further criticism from human rights groups. In 2015, Khader Adnan, a leader of Islamic Jihad who went on a 56-day hunger strike, was released from Israeli detention. Another example is the discharge of hunger striker Mohammed Allan last November.
Al-Qeeq’s physical condition may be deteriorating as has been witnessed in a video that showed him writhing in pain, but his name is spreading and his influence is expanding.
Hunger strike is a form of resistance and for Al-Qeeq, whose destiny is being shaped by the minute, martyrdom does not seem a far-fetched end. His resolve may eventually gain him a title as a symbol of Palestinian resistance. Already his picture has spread across the world, on both physical and virtual walls.
The power of hunger strike lies in its non-violence as well as its being the only weapon available to fight against the Israeli regime’s injustice within the walls of detention. Palestinians have been starving for freedom from Israeli occupation since 1948 and the subsequent discriminatory policies, continuing land theft, brutal crackdowns, and bloody wars. In their quest for survival, starving themselves was the means to that end at some critical points.
In the later stages of a hunger strike, protesters struggle to speak and can barely communicate anything other than pain. Yet their voices can be heard more than ever as their calls for freedom resonate in the news, proving that empty stomachs grumble loudly.
