Alwaght- Whereas the Israeli leaders think that they can bring the Palestinians to their knees by imprisoning them, the latter have proven that they have a strong resolve to defeat the enemy as they do on the battleground.
The Palestinian struggle against the Israeli occupation in recent years has not been limited to armed fight and covered all areas. No matter which front the Palestinians are on, they continue to battle the occupiers. Palestinian prisoners, who live in the worst conditions in Israeli prisons, try to instrumentalize captivity to confront the Israelis, and they have made some success.
As an example, after 172 days of hunger strike, Khalil al-Awawdeh, a Palestinian prisoner, managed to beat the Israelis and embrace his freedom. According to an Israeli statement, al-Awawdeh will remain in Assaf Harofeh hospital until he recovers and will be released on October 2. The pictures of this Palestinian depicting him in critical physical condition amid months-long hunger strike circulated online massively and revealed to the world public the stealth side of the Israeli crimes.
Al-Awawdeh's release decision comes as the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) walked back from its recent insult against the life-time and long-term Palestinian prisoners. 1,200 Palestinian prisoners planned to start their hunger strike in the Israeli prisons from Thursday in a concerted action to protest against the insulting actions of the IPS and its non-compliance with its commitments, but with the Israeli retreat, the hunger strike plan was canceled.
Israeli prison authorities have repeatedly promised better conditions for the Palestinians in their prisons but they have taken effective measures, triggering decisions for hunger strike by the Palestinian prisoners occasionally to bring world attention to their tragic conditions. This way has been successful as a number of Palestinians were released from captivity with a show of ironclad resolve.
Glorified as the "ironclad man" of Palestine these days, al-Awawdeh started his hunger strike from mid-March and suspended his strike following an Israeli promise for his freedom. They did not fulfill their promise and issued for him a four-month 'executive detention' and he returned to his strike on July 2.
The release of al-Awawdeh and Bassam al-Saadi was among the movement's conditions for ceasefire with the Israeli regime and the mediations to free them continue. The Israeli regime accuses al-Awawdeh of working in Islamic Jihad Movement but has not yet presented any documents for its claims. He went on hunger strike to prove his innocence.
In recent years, some Palestinian prisoners who are in Israeli prisons for no reason and on various pretexts have gone on hunger strike in response to their unjust imprisonment and have managed to force the Israeli authorities to surrender to their demands. Khader Adnan is one of these famous figures who was finally released from last year after weeks of hunger strike.
In the past, hunger strike was an individual Palestinian pressure toll but now it is used collectively by the Palestinian prisoners. If the prisoners go on strike en masse, it would bring security risks to the Israelis and Israeli officials do not hide their concerns from this issue. The dire health conditions that occur to the hunger strikers after a while has negative consequences for the Israeli regime in terms of human rights on the world stage, and the strike of thousands of prisoners unleashes against Tel Aviv waves of international criticism.
Another victory for resistance
The Palestinians recognize the release of their captives as part of a victory in the anti-Israeli occupation struggle. The Supreme National Emergency Committee called the Israeli retreat a "new victory" for the Palestinian captives.
Congratulating the release of al-Awawdeh, Palestinian resistance groups stated that this victory once again highlights the "power of our captives in the face of the Israeli atrocities and their resistance to the cruel rulings." The Resistance Committees noted that "people and the heroic Palestinian resistance will always support our captives in the Israeli occupation prisons."
Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanoo highlighted al-Awawdeh victory a new achievement.
"The victory of al-Awawdeh once again proved the legendary endurance of the Palestinian prisoners and their pride for refusing to obey the unjust rulings of the Zionists and showed that our prisoners will win in any battle with the occupiers," al-Qanoo said in a statement.
Khader Adnan, a commander of the Islamic Jihad, reacted to the news of al-Awawdeh's victory and said that this is the "victory of the right resolution of the Palestinians over the occupiers."
Al-Awamiyah, too, expressed his happiness as he over the past six months suffered critical conditions.
"This victory was achieved with the help of efforts, sacrifices, persistence and support of all the free people of the world for this just cause….. I had no fear for my life during the hunger strike because my slogan in this hunger strike was a slogan that I have inherited from the great people in the history of mankind. We are a nation that does not lose in its battles. We either win or die and there is no room for failure," he was quoted as saying.
Resistance groups have repeatedly warned Tel Aviv that it need to conclude the prisoners case, but the Israelis are procrastinating and although they ostensibly show a will for conclusion, they in practice take no steps. The resistance commanders have said many times that the Palestinian prisoners are their "red line" and if the security situation in the prison becomes difficult for them, they will defend their prisoners with all their might and are even ready to go to war.
The Israelis are in a campaign of purging, either by assassination or detention, all those who they think can pose threats to them to guarantee their shallow security. But even the Palestinian captives prove to be a challenge to Tel Aviv.
In the last two years, Palestinian prisoners have made the conditions of Israeli prisons difficult by uniting for realizing their demands, making the Israelis fed up with situation. The Palestinians, who have been used to resistance and hardship in recent decades, also use the conditions of captivity to put pressure on the Israelis.
In various wars, the Palestinians have forced the Israelis to yield to their demands. The Palestinian prisoners on the other hand use the prison conditions to demonstrate to the world public the Israeli crimes. With their heroic resistance, they even managed to draw reactions from the European Union, a backer of the Israeli regime. The capability of the Palestinian prisoners to reveal to the world the Israeli apartheid policy with their enduring of plight and teetering on the death brink demonstrates that the resistance is the final victor either on the battleground or or in captivity. Actually, the Palestinians have well learned this way of victory.
