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Israeli govt bows to pressure of protests, Palestinians' solitary confinement ends

By Harsh Thakor 

A continuous ebb and flow has been the feature of the Palestinian political prisoners movement in the last few weeks, with the Israel Prison administration twice buckling to the pressure asserted by jailed Palestinian prisoners, after placing major Palestinian leaders, in complete activity. A tribute to the unflinching resilience of the Palestenians within prison walls.
The Handala Center for Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners declared in a statement on Tuesday that an agreement had been reached between the Prison Branch of the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Israeli Prison Administration.
This agreement advocates the suspension of the open-ended hunger strike, which the PFLP Prison Branch launched in occupation prisons, on the condition that the Israeli Prison Administration revoked the penalties imposed by the IPA against the Secretary-General of the PFLP, Ahmad Sa’adat, and two other imprisoned PFLP leaders, Ahed Abu Gholami and Walid Hanatshe, and the return of the three of them to general population.
The imprisoned PFLP cadres had embarked a hunger strike a few days ago, in support of cancer-stricken prisoner Walid Daqqa and other sick prisoners, and to wage militant resistance against the targeting of the PFLP’s leaders in captivity.
Few days ago The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine announced that the ranks of the prisoners of the Front would advance the Brigade of Martyr Khader Adnan. 54 imprisoned cadres of the PFLP will embark on a strike in the first batch, in response to the Israeli Prison Administration’s ruthless policy towards the leadership and cadres of the Front, in condemnation of the policy of medical neglect, in solidarity with the imprisoned intellectual Walid Daqqah, and the prisoners and the patients of Ramleh prison clinic.
The Zionist merciless assault on the prisoners is intensifying daily, and has reached the level of taking the blood of Palestinians for granted .Hundreds of martyrs among the prisoners perished through execution of Zionist conspiracy, the most recent of which is the disregard for the blood of the martyr Khader Adnan. The objective of the attack, by the I PA and its officers to reject the release of the sick prisoner, leader and thinker Walid Daqqah, and the persistent attempts to harm the life of the leader Ahmad Sa’adat, by isolating him or practicing infringements of human rights against the leaders of the Popular Front, against the sick prisoners, and biding for time in undertaking policy of slowly wiping out the prisoners.

Precedent events

Three days ago Palestinian prisoner Ahmad Sa’adat, the Secretary-General of the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was ordered back to languish in the isolation unit for an additional week by the Israeli Prison Administration (IPA), in retaliation for writing a political article. This came after Sa’adat, along with fellow leaders Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh and Walid Hanatsheh, were on the verge of being released from isolation after igniting protests among the prisoners.
Sa’adat is a major national leader who has been imprisoned by Israel since 2006, who was isolated an additional week for openly expressing criticism, and banned from family visits for a month. Denial of family visits is a common tactic used by the IPA to ruthlessly punish the prisoners and their families.
In retaliation not only to this attack but to the de facto assassination of Khader Adnan and the ongoing denial of release and proper medical treatment to Walid Daqqah, the PFLP Prison Branch have left no stone unturned to embark on a hunger strike to demand Sa’adat is released from isolation and Daqqah is released from prison so as to receive proper medical care for his rare cancer, myelofibrosis.
On May 22nd. the Israeli Prison Administration (IPA) bowed down to the pressures of the prisoners and ended the solitary confinement of imprisoned PFLP leaders Ahmed Sa’adat, Ahed Abu Gholami, and Walid Hanatsheh.
Buckling to the pressure exerted by imprisoned members of the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Israeli occupation prisons over the past few days and their threat to launch a combat inside the prisons, the IPA proceeded to end the isolation of PFLP Secretary-General Ahmed Sa’adat and return him to “Ramon” prison.
The IPA also ended the isolation of PFLP leaders Ahed Abu Gholami and Walid Hanatsheh and transferred them to the “Nafha” and Gilboa prisons respectively.
Two weeks ago, Israeli Prison Services (IPS) sensationally transferred political prisoner Ahmad Sa’adat, Secretary-General of the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), into the clutches of solitary confinement. According to Walla news website, the IPS failed to even reveal the reasons behind this ghastly move.
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Harsh Thakor is a freelance journalist who has studied Liberation movements. Thanks inputs from almayadeen.net and Red Spark

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