We must not betray our imprisoned martyrs
The mass hunger strike being observed by thousands of our political and resistance prisoners in Israeli dungeons and concentration camps represents the last and ultimate form of Jihad or resistance against a nefarious, sadistic enemy that excels like nobody else in the arts of torture and oppression.
Our imprisoned martyrs had to go to Zionist jails so that we live a dignified life as much as possible, a life free of haphazard Israeli aggression on our lives, dignity, and very survival.
Many of them fought or tried to fight an enemy that had learned from, emulated and surpassed its Nazi mentors, by trying to demonize and dehumanize our people, especially those great heroes, by calling them terrorists when the deformed, evil entity represents the essence of terror and all that is evil.
Our heroes, who can legitimately be called imprisoned martyrs, struggled in order to keep up our national just cause alive. And indeed they have, rather successfully.
Many of these heroes represent the crème de la crème of the Palestinian society. They are doctors, engineers, imams, lawmakers and other professionals who were arrested without charge or trial for the purpose of having their individual and collective will to life broken.
Israel simply wanted to humiliate and subjugate the spirit of defiance and resistance among Palestinians by ganging up on those helpless prisoners, these lions in the cages.
It is therefore our utmost duty to identify and show solidarity with them in the most effective manner in order to demonstrate to them that their struggle and self-abnegation is not in vain.
The extensive hunger strike being observed throughout Israeli Bastilles is actually a battle of wills between the dark forces of oppression and hatred on the one hand and those who represent the enduring human spirit and will to life and dignity.
It is a battle between savagery and civility, a battle between freedom and tyranny. In the end, freedom must triumph and tyranny defeated.
But in order to reach this point, our peoples and other Arab and Muslim peoples and all free men and women around the world must take to the streets to demonstrate against the Nazis of our time, namely these Zionist beasts who have introduced into our region everything they had learned from their Nazi mentors-from mass starvation to genocidal killings.
We must pressure our respective governments to exert pressure on behalf of these helpless heroes who have demonstrated their readiness to pay the ultimate price for their and our freedom and dignity.
Pressure must also be exerted on Arab governments, including the Jordanian and Egyptian governments, to take meaningful steps to pressure the Zionist entity to treat these POWs with a semblance of humanity; and also on the United States, Israel's ultimate guardian and ally, to prod Israel to end nightmarish conditions in its jails.
It is no longer sufficient to withdraw ambassadors to the Zionist regime. Time and events seem to have passed such innocuous symbolism by. Hence, more meaningful and proactive measures ought to be taken immediately. This could include threatening to sever whatever diplomatic ties once and for all with the genocidal Zionist regime.
And in case the Zionist regime decides to fly in the face of the entire umma in order to satisfy its sadistic and cannibalistic urges to inflict pain and suffering on our prisoners, then more far reaching measures must be contemplated.
Egyptian and Jordanian officials were quoted on several occasions as saying that diplomatic ties with Israel represented "national assets" for these states.
Well, what is the point of having "national assets" which you can't utilize to save lives? Must we see dozens of our dear prisoners succumb to the fate that the evil Zionists determine for them before we decide to take daring steps on their behalf?
But before we ask non-Palestinian Arabs to do their duty, we must ask the Palestinian Authority (PA) to do its own duty. We all know the PA is partner with Israel in a notorious security arrangement called "security coordination" which Israel views extremely gravely.
Hence, a serious threat, not empty posturing, to terminate this embarrassing and manifestly ignominious aspect of our relations with Israel might eventually convince the Israel government to rethink its cruel treatment of our people.
As I write these words, with a heavy heart and lot of sadness, some of these prisoners might die at any moment. Hence, the real gravity of the moment.
There are numerous steps that can be made in order to make these heroes behind Israeli bars feel that they are not alone and that their cries for justice and freedom and dignity have been heard, the least by their own people.
We and our supporters must leave no stone unturned in order to let the cause of freedom and light triumph over oppression and darkness, because the oppressed must also do their part in order to defeat their oppressors.
Besides, we who have been living under the Nazi-like Israeli occupation know too well the extent to which the Zionist entity can be callous and diabolical. Hence, it is probably too futile to pin a hope on a change of mind or a change of heart on the part of the decision-makers within the Israeli government.
Israel, as we all know, suffers from the chronic disease of collective psychosis and thinks that the slightest move by Palestinians to regain their freedom, dignity and humanity represents a serious threat to Israel's survival.
This is why it is extremely hard to hope for a reasonable or magnanimous step by the Zionists to close this tragic chapter of our prisoners' struggle for freedom and justice.
But the Zionist will is not divine, and Israel can't play God by trying to predetermine the fate of people.
Finally, a word to the Israelis. You have gone too far in your insolence, recalcitrance and arrogance of power. But in so doing, you are affronting and hurting the feelings of hundreds of millions of people around the world who wouldn't forget or forgive.
Perhaps you should put your arrogance and intoxication of power aside for a while, and think quietly about the ultimate ramifications and repercussion of your evil behavior on future Jewish generations.
Think for a while. The strong doesn't remain strong forever. Neither does the weak.
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Khalid Amayreh (Arabic: خالد عمايرة, b. 1957 Hebron) is a Palestinian journalist based in Dura, near Hebron. Amayreh has experienced years of restrictions on his activities and travel, including imprisonment. Some of his many articled can be found here: http://www.xpis.ps/
Amayreh has been a correspondent with numerous newspapers and news outlets:
● Sharja TV, correspondent, 1994-2001
● Iranian News Agency (IRNA), 1995-2006
● Middle East International (London) 1995-2003
● Al-Ahram Weekly (English) 1997-present
● Aljazeera English (aljazeera.net): 2003-2006
● Palestine Information Center: 2000-present.
● Palestine Times (daily newspaper) (has ceased publication)
Furthermore he is a prolific freelance writer contributing to many websites, e.g., The Palestinian Information Center, The People's Voice, PalestineThinkTank, Uprooted Palestinians and Al-Ahram Weekly.
Books
● Journalism and Mass communication, Theory and Practice (Arabic, 1996)
● Refutation of Western Myths and Misconceptions about Islam and the Palestinian question (Arabic, 1988)
● Living Under the Israeli Occupation, (Forthcoming)
Resources
List of Amayreh's articles in French
List of Amayreh's articles in Spanish
Information gleaned from Wikipedia and PIWP Database
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URL: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/2012/05/07/we-must-not-betray-our-imprisoned-martyr
