Democratic Palestine : 21 (ص 26)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 21 (ص 26)
- المحتوى
-
confiscated like what prisoners had
written, paintings, letters and books. In
this case, we sent protests to the admi-
nistrator of the prisons and to the Red
Cross.»
«Also, the enemy tried to make some
of the prisoners collaborate. We
worked to prevent this through political
education among all the prisoners. To
improve the bad living conditions, we
engaged in different forms of struggle:
banging on the cell doors, strikes, peti-
tions to the Red Cross and international
organizations. Often the enemy would
move people to different cells or pri-
sons, to break the prisoners’ solidarity
Or just to disorient people. We pro-
tested to the administration about such
moves.»
Zakaria felt that the others had
generally covered the problems with the
enemy, so he focused on the problems
among prisoners, saying, «The prob-
lems we had among the imprisoned
nationalists were mainly because of
political differences between organiza-
tions. We were able to solve these pro-
blems easily because of the democratic
atmosphere established among the dif-
ferent organizations in the jails.
Moreover, all realized that our efforts
should be concentrated against the
Zionist enemy and prison administra-
tion. Our constitution clearly stated
that problems outside the prison among
the organizations should not reflect on
life inside the jails. When there was the
split in Fatah after the 1982 invasion of
Lebanon, some problems occurred.
These were contained and_ solved
democratically. The comrades of the
PFLP started a strike and all the detai-
nees joined in; this defused the problem
among the Fatah prisoners.»
We asked the comrades what kind of
cultural life they were able to have in
view of the Zionists’ restrictions. Abu
Waffa told that in the beginning of his
detention, pens, paper, newspapers and
all books were forbidden. «Later, as
the result of fierce struggle, the Zionists
were forced to allow some books and
pencils and paper to be brought by the
Red Cross. We should know that the
Nazi-like enemy was afraid of us being
educated. There was always cen-
sorship.»
Zuhdi added, «In the beginning of
my detention, there were only some
ridiculous books, but after our
struggle, the situation improved. We
also had secret ways to bring in certain
political books.»
Abdul Hamid explained, «Education
and culture are the spiritual bread of
the militant, especially in jail where the
enemy aims to destroy our revolutio-
nary spirit. For that reason, we consi-
dered education and culture as impor-
tant weapons. At the beginning of my
incarceration, the administration
allowed only a few religious books.
26
After some struggle, we were allowed
stupid books, but our struggle intensi-
fied and we gained the right to receive
Marxist books via the Red Cross. We
particularly enjoyed receiving books
published in the Soviet Union.»
«After winning certain rights, we
increased our activities. The detainees’
central edition of Al Hadaf (PFLP
magazine) was issued regularly in the
jails. It was a vanguard among the
Palestinian publications. There were
also joint publications published in
each prison. During the time of the
joint leadership between the PFLP and
DFLP, we issued a joint publication
called The Path of Unity. Of course,
these publications were not allowed by
the enemy. In fact, they considered
them a major security problem. Still,
imprisoned comrades worked on these,
while others wrote poetry, books and
studies about our national cause. We
also had great painters among us, like
Zuhdi and Mohammad. Our political
and ideological education also became
more deliberate. Some cells had eleven
meetings every week.»
Zakaria added, «When we were able
to obtain a nationalist book about our
cause, or a book from our organiza-
tion, secretly of course, we spent time
copying it by hand, so that we could all
read it and send it to the prisorers in
other jails as well.»
We asked the comrades about
recreation opportunities in the jail.
Zakaria began: «The enemy aimed to
destroy us physically and mentally, and
therefore forbade all recreation. This
was something we struggled for. With
our struggle and the help of various
humanitarian organizations inside and
outside occupied Palestine, including
the Red Cross, we got the right to some
sports like table tennis, volleyball,
basketball and also chess. In 1984, the
year before our release, radios were
permitted. Before that, they were con-
sidered a security issue, a means of
communication with our organizations
outside.»
Abdul Hamid said, «I was told that
after our release, the Zionist adminis-
tration withdrew the right of having
radios. I hope that international orga-
nizations will move to help the prison-
ers reinstate that right.»
Mohammad told that it had taken
individual and group struggle to get the
right to paint in the prisons. «As a
result we have made a series of beau-
tiful paintings which were published in
the book Palestinian Art Behind the
Bars.»
We asked about the different forms
of struggle employed to obtain these
rights from the Zionist administration.
Abdul Hamid responded, «Our life in
the prison was a chain of confrontation
and struggle against the enemy. The
struggle of the imprisoned national
movement took a variety of forms.
There was the hunger strike which we
called strategic struggle, i.e., our last
resort and the form that required the
most preparation and commitment.
Short hunger strikes were also used as
political manifestations, to mark
national occasions. The purpose of
such a strike is to mark our position
and show our support to our people and
revolution outside on the propaganda
level. Such strikes were made after the
1982 invasion of Lebanon and the
Sabra-Shatila massacre.»
«In terms of struggling for specific
demands, there are six forms which we
consider tactical: refusing to go to the
daily exercise break; refusing to see
visitors; refusing to shower, shave or
wash our clothes; refusing a meal or
two; refusing to meet with the prison
administration; and refusing medicine.
Sometimes we would concentrate on
one form; other times, we used them in
combination, as part of struggling for
specific demands. The imprisoned
national movement played a role in
igniting and participating in the
struggle of our people. When we go on
hunger strike, our people under occu-
pation increase their confrontation of
the enemy; also media coverage
increases.»
«The first stage of the imprisoned
national movement’s struggle started in
1967. There were landmark hunger
strikes: in Ashkelon prison in 1976, in
Nafha in 1980, in Jenin in 1984 and
others. That first stage ended with our
release in 1985. (Approximately one-
third of the Palestinian political priso-
ners in Israeli jails were liberated at that
time.) Now other detained comrades
and brothers have entered the second
Stage.»
LIBERATION
In conclusion, we asked each com-
rade to describe his feelings upon
receiving information about the possi-
bility of being released, and upon being
released and received by his comrades
outside. Zakaria began, «I would like
to explain that we had been disap-
pointed several times before, not least
by the way Arafat has dealt with pri-
soner release negotiations. In 1979,
there was an exchange, but many long-
term prisoners, some critically ill,
stayed behind. Then in 1983, Arafat
released six Zionists for those impri-
soned in Ansar, but they had only
served one year. More shocking to us
was that this was arranged to insure
Arafat’s safe passage from Tripoli by
sea to Egypt. That was a political move,
at the expense of the detained national
movement. The third time we were
disappointed was when Arafat
exchanged an Israeli captive and an
Israeli spy for only two imprisoned - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 21
- تاريخ
- يناير ١٩٨٧
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed