Development of the Captives Culture in Zionist Prisons … “The Liberated Syrian Captive Sedqi al-Maqt is a Model.”

“The total number of those who entered the Zionist prisons and jails since the Nakba until the end of June 2020 exceeded one million male and female , therefore, talking about the march of struggle and resistance of prisoners and detainees in Zionist prisons is not an easy matter.” By these words, the researcher Majed Diab begins his lecture, entitled “Development of the Prisoners’ Awareness and Culture in Zionist Prisons… The Liberated Prisoner Sedqi al-Maqt as a Model,” which he gave in the Sami al-Droubi hall in the Cultural Center in Homs.

Diab indicated that the number of prisoners and detainees today in the Israeli prisons is 5500 prisoners distributed over 27 prisons, including 200 children, 49 women, and 700 patients pointing that the number of detainees who were martyred in Zionist prisons and jails reached 224 as a result of gunfire, torture or deliberate medical negligence.

The researcher made it clear that the development of the prisoners’ culture inside Israeli prisons contributed to keeping the prisoners in a state of permanent struggle , as this development resulted in what is known as the “Prisoners’ Document”, which expresses the “National Accord Document” in 2006, as they had a prominent role in the freedom and independence uprising which erupted in (1987-1993) .

“The culture of prisoners also contributed to the registration of the longest hunger strike in the world when prisoner Samer Al-Issawi continued his hunger strike for 287 days, in addition to the fact that this culture raised the percentage of those who returned to the struggle after their liberation from captivity to the highest rates in the world,” Diab added.

The lecturer, praised the dean of the Syrian prisoners, Sedqi al-Maqt, who challenged all the occupation authorities’ unfair and arbitrary practices against him in the prison and insisted that his release from detention will only be possible, according to his own conditions, which is through returning to the occupied Syrian Golan and continuing the struggle. He pointed out that al-Maqt was the companion of the martyr captive, Sitan al-Wali, the son of al-Golan, who also authored a book entitled, “The hunger baskets” which includes criticism, evaluation and conclusions of the prisoners’ experiences in organizing strikes to achieve their demands. The prisoner, Sitan Al-Wali, was martyred after his release due to medical negligence during his arrest.

The lecturer highlighted the achievements of Nael Barghouti, Dean of Palestinian Prisoners, who spent 41 years in Zionist prisons, and the martyr Samir Kuntar, dean of the Lebanese prisoners. He believes that the prisoners played an important role in fighting the rumors and developing their culture through the underground press, then he spoke about the of prisoners’ cultural production in the field of novel, story, poetry and documentation.

It is worth noting that the lecturer, Majed Diab, was born in Palestine, the Tiberias district. He took refuge with his family in Homs, the returnees camp, and received his education there. He is a member of the Palestinian Writers and Journalists Union and the Secretary of the Palestinian Democratic Cultural Forum in Syria.

Amal Farhat