Democratic Palestine : 23 (ص 12)
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- Democratic Palestine : 23 (ص 12)
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noring them, or by promising to look into the matter, and then
‘forgetting’ all about it.
PLANNING THE STRIKE
Given the miserable conditions and the ineffectiveness of the
prisoners’ previous forms of protest, preparations began for a
hunger strike in Ashkelon, as well as in other Zionist jails.
Preparations started six months before the date of the strike
was set. Plans were made in order to strengthen the relations
among the prisoners and boost their abilities. The aim was to
build trust between the prisoners and the leadership in the
jails, to consolidate the prisoners’ enthusiasm, and to coor-
dinate effectively between the various organizations inside and
outside the prisons.
In the pre-strike deliberations, there were democratic
discussions among all imprisoned militants from the various
resistance organizations. A committee was formed to decide on
and plan the strike. It included representatives from. all
organizations in the prison: one from Fatah, one from PFLP,
one from DFLP, one from the Popular Struggle Front, and
One to represent the other organizations. The decision to stage
the hunger strike was taken unanimously by the committee,
plus one non-committee member from the Muslim
Brotherhood. The entire pre-strike dialogue was secret. What
was publicly declared before the strike was the demands of the
prisoners for improved living conditions. The final outcome of
the dialogue was positive. It is noteworthy that bilateral
discussions between Fatah and the PFLP, and collective
discussions among all the organizations, served to restore the
effectiveness of the prisoners’ movement.
The committee of all the organizations’ representatives
prepared the practical measures for the strike. It sent messages
to all nationalist and progressive forces and institutions in oc-
cupied Palestine,particularly the Committee for the Defense of
Prisoners and the Committee of Lawyers. Messages were also
sent to the Arab governments, the Arab League, the UN, the
Red Cross and the Pope, explaining the harsh circumstances
which the Palestinian revolutionaries were enduring in the
Zionist prisons. Finally, the date was set for the strike
-unanimously agreed to be on December 11, 1976, the ninth
anniversary of the founding of the PFLP.
THE STRIKE DECLARATION
On the morning of December 11, 1976, a prisoner handed a
document to the officer on duty at the start of the daily roll
call. This document declared the start of the hunger strike, the
reasons for its declaration and the prisoners’ demands. This
marked the actual implementation of the plan which had been
under preparation for weeks by the strike committee. This
committee took upon itself the formulation of the prisoners’
decisions about protesting their conditions. it conducted ex-
tensive, secret communications among all the prisoners from
the different organizations, to ensure their unity in struggle.
The plan aimed at continuing the hunger strike until fulfillment
of the prisoners’ demands, or until the prisoners faced death.
A negotiating committee of four prisoners was formed to
take decisions relating to the course of the struggle,to negotiate
with the prison administration and to meet with the Red Cross
and delegations. A central organizational detention committee
was formed to follow up the question of living conditions in
the prison. Subcommittees were formed to guarantee the
coordination and execution of the plan. Information commit-
tees were formed to issue news about the strike, and follow up
12
the reactions outside the prison. Special cleaning committees
were formed of prisoners who were asked not to join the
hunger strike, so that they could serve as messengers between
the different sections of the prison.
The document declaring the start of the strike was smuggled
out of the prison to be sent to international and local
organizations, so that they could begin a solidarity campaign
that would put pressure on the Zionist authorities to submit to
the prisoners’ demands. The negotiating committee and the
central organizational detention committee laid out a three-
stage program for maximalizing the capacity of the militants
who were participating in the strike. All sick prisoners were
excused from participating, as were the cleaning workers. In
the first stage, 150 revolutionaries were supposed to par-
ticipate. After 10 days, 100 others would join in. One week
later, the rest of the prisoners would join in. However, this
schedule was not followed. The majority of detainees joined in
at the moment the strike started. Even sick prisoners joined in.
ates
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.
FORCE—FEEDING
The Zionist prison administration only realized what was
happening when the strike actually erupted. At first, thev tried
to ignore the action, thinking it would not last long. They did
not imagine that so many detainees had the energy needed to
continue for more than a week. For one week, they continued
to ignore the strike, but things did not happen as they had
wished. The strike continued, and the administration declared
an emergency situation in Ashkelon. Guards and medical staff
were prohibited from leaving, and more personnel were
brought in.
After the first week, the prison administration made its first
concerted effort to break the strike. They started sending
groups of strikers to the prison clinic. Here guards tied each
prisoner to a chair, and a nurse would attempt to force-feed
him with hot, salted milk. This caused the prisoners severe
pains, and the administration was forced to transfer some of
them to hospitals outside the prison for emergency treatment.
Despite this, the strikers continued their fast, thus foiling the
Zionists’ first attempt to break the strike.
On the ninth day of the strike, the administration once again
attempted to break it. This time, they isolated the revolu- - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 23
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- أبريل ١٩٨٧
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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