When empty stomachs defeated the sword

It is one of Palestine's days, when the prisoners won the “empty stomachs battle” against the occupation henchmen, racists and jailers, and imposed on arrogant Israeli security and political forces their conditions (almost) in full. They could allow family visits, the visits of the people of the besieged Gaza Strip to their impriosned sons and daughters. They could set an immediate end for solitary confinement, and stop the open and unconditional extension of administrative detention. They also could improve their conditions behind bars, which was a stand against Shalit’s law, the racist practices and instructions given to the officers inside prisons, which have a Nazi style. The cost they paid was extortionist in order to grab their right of embracing their children. It is a great day in the history of the Palestinian movement, which remained for years and decades a vanguard in the ranks of the just and legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people for freedom and independence, from which great leaders have graduated. From behind bars, battles of confrontation, uprising and resistance have been operated, after the struggles of the Palestinian people succeeded in converting their jails into schools, universities, and training centres, contrary to the will of the occupation and oppression. A few days ago, the strugglers ended their 15th big strike in the last fourdecades, after 50 days of continual strikes by administrative detainees, and four weeks of the general strike by thousands of captives. Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh have unprecedentedly scored a new world record, as they went on hunger strike for 77 days, which is the longest period of time a human being can refrain from eating before he loses his life. The previous world record was that of Irish activist and poet Bobby Sands, who went on a hunger strike for 66 days. We did not doubt ever that the prisoners will defeat their jailers. Khader Adnan has won (66 days), Hanaa al-Shalabi has won (44 days), and gained their freedom after a long combat with their Israeli wardens, presenting an inspiring image to hundreds and thousands of captives, who showed persistence on continuing the empty stomachs battle, under the slogan death or victory… we will win. What can the jailer do to the prisoner who decided to abstain from eating, and in the last days raised the resistance by refraining from drinking fluids or taking vitamins? What can a jailer do with a struggler who chose to die in dignity rather than live in humiliation? What can the Israeli repression and oppression machine do with a struggler who has decided to be an example of sacrifice to their people? It is the Arabs' spring blossoming in the darkness of the occupation's cells… promising of an imminent Palestinian spring, coming, no doubt, despite anything or anyone… It is glad tidings of a quake… The Palestinian quake will storm through divisions and sagging efforts, and will shake the land below the feet of the occupation and settlement…the future is near. It is a coincidence that the captives' victory day came on the day of the Nakba Day... As if it is a victory on the Nakba and its implications, and an indication that the Palestinian people, despite the passage of two thirds of a century, still store energy for struggle, which will enable them to achieve their legitimate goals and aspirations of returning to their homeland and the right of self-determination, building its independent state with Jerusalem as the capital. In the victory of the captives against their tormentors there is a lesson.. We hope it would be understood by the Palestinian people’s leaders in the West Bank and Gaza, before others… Unity is the way to victory.. Victory emerges from patience . Rights are not asked but fought for. Struggle in all its forms is the way to restore pride and dignity.  In the prisoners' uprising there is a glimpse of hope towards a “big uprising” that would wash away the rubble of despair, hopelessness and obedience. That would rid them of years of division. It will return them to the frontline of Arab uprisings. As these people rebelled against Nakba, dissipation, loss and confiscation… triumphed over their defeat in 1967… and got out of all its wars like the phoenix that refuses to be hunted. I salute Palestine and its captives as they are write a glorious page in the history of the Palestinian national movement… Salute them as they are proving with their hunger and their empty stomachs that the Palestinian hand will defeat the Israeli sword.