On the Palestinian Prisoner’s Day, the Palestinians stress their unbreakable will to confront the Israeli occupation

 In 1974, the Palestinian National Council’s regular session adopted a resolution to mark April 17 of each year a day to honor the Palestinian prisoners. Since then, that day is seen as a national tribute to prisoners who are subjected to the most horrific violations in the Israeli occupation prisons and to draw the world’s attention to the need to support their just cause and their right to freedom.

To commemorate this occasion, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Authority  and concerned establishments launched a series of events in the cities and towns of the West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip in addition to a campaign on social media entitled “We were born  Free”. 

The campaign aimed at shedding  light on the suffering of the Palestinian detainees in the Israeli occupation prisons in the light of the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic which  threatens their lives under the policy of intentional medical negligence practiced  by the occupation authorities against them.

 Head of the Studies and Documentation Department  at the Palestinian  Prisoners’ Affairs Authority  Abdel Nasser Farwan explained in a statement to SANA  that the occupation has detained more than a million Palestinians since its occupation of Palestine, including 17,000 women and more than 50,000 children, as part of its  attempts to break the will of the Palestinians in their  battle to defend their existence and their legitimate rights.

He  underlined that the Israeli occupation has failed to achieve its goals  and the prisoners’ issue has become the title of the battle for freedom and dignity in the face of the occupation.

Farwana explained that 4,500 prisoners are still under detention, including 140 children, 41 women and 550 ill prisoners who suffer from chronic diseases need urgent treatment.

On his part, Member of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Ahmed Abu Al-Saud said that the Palestinian people celebrate the Palestinian  Prisoners’ Day with pride in the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners who represent the icon of steadfastness and resistance against the occupation.

He called  for urgent action by the international community to put pressure on the occupation and save the Palestinian detainees from the clutches of death.

For his part, the specialist in the prisoners’ file Nashat Al-Wahidi pointed out that the prisoners are living within inhuman conditions as a result of the arbitrary practices of the occupation against them.

He underscored  that the prisoners are subjected to physical and psychological torture, noting the suffering of the 25 old prisoners, mainly Karim Younis and Maher Younis- who have been detained since 1983. 

The human rights researcher Essam Yunis called for considering the  Palestinian Prisoner’s Day as an international occasion to support and save the Palestinian prisoners, especially children, the sick and the elderly.

He stressed that the prisoners issue is a moral and humanitarian cause necessitates freedom-loving peoples of the world to join and intensify efforts at all levels to liberate the prisoners from the darkness of the occupation’s jails. He called on the international human rights institutions to assume their responsibility in putting an end to the occupation crimes against the Palestinian prisoners. 

Rawaa Ghanam