PALESTINIAN prisoner of Israel’s jails, Bilal Kayed, today, Wednesday 3rd August, enters his 50th day of hunger strike for his freedom.
Kayed, a member of Palestine’s largest left-wing faction the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was held in Israeli prison for 14-and-a-half years before his release was due in June.
However, he is now being held on administrative detention, a method used by Israel to detain prisoners indefinitely with no charge or trial. It is estimated by prisoners’ organisation Addameer that 715 Palestinian prisoners are being held in administrative detention, about one tenth of all the prisoners held by Israel.
Like other recent hunger strikers who secured their release, Khader Adnan and Mohammad al-Qiq, Bilal Kayed is using his own body and his health as the only weapon he has to secure his release. Now held in Israel’s Barzilai Medical Centre in Ashkelon, his health has deteriorated rapidly, with him losing 30kg of weight, 90% of his ability to speak, and much of his hearing.
He had pre-existing health problems dating from the years of medical neglect he already suffered in jail. But he is not alone – tens of PFLP-affiliated Palestinian prisoners have joined Kayed in solidarity hunger strikes, demanding Kayed’s immediate release.
When joining hunger strikes, prisoners’ cells are often raided by the Israeli Prison Service, fines issued, belongings confiscated and family visits denied, and prisoners are put into solitary confinement. One of those joining Kayed – the most high-profile prisoner to do so – is Ahmad Saadat, the General Secretary of the PFLP, who has been imprisoned by Israel for a decade.
Saadat was immediately put into solitary confinement in Ramon prison when he started his strike. The PFLP released the following statement to mark Saadat’s joining of the hunger strike. ‘As the imprisoned leader Bilal Kayed enters his 47th day of hunger strike, representing the meaning of steadfastness and pride despite his pain and deteriorating health, he is determined to defeat the oppressor, the killer, and achieve his date with freedom.
‘At the same time, the prisoners of the Front who are engaged in the battle in support of their comrade Kayed, are being hit by Zionist repression. They emphasise that no matter what forms of terror and repression are used against them by the prison administration, the jailer will not be able to stop the march toward victory in this battle and the achievement of freedom for Bilal.
‘To the steadfast Palestinian masses:
‘We have previously stated and we do once again, before the prisons and intelligence services of the occupation, that the continued imprisonment of Comrade Bilal Kayed and his transfer to administrative detention, including his suffering now in the hospital under harsh repression, will be met with the escalation of struggle by the prisoners of the Front.
‘From the leaders of the Front to the youngest imprisoned children, the prisoners will not leave their comrade Kayed alone in isolation, transfer, or sanctions and repression. The prisoners confirm that they are in the struggle against time to achieve freedom for their comrade, and that in light of the ongoing struggle with the prison administration, they have succeeded in destabilising the prison administration.
‘We have seen this in its failure to confront or suppress this struggle despite its attempts to impose all forms of sanctions and punishment against the prisoners of the Front. Those who are marching toward the continuation and conclusion of this battle declare that we are entering a new era of the march toward victory, in which tyranny and terror are defeated by will and determination.
‘We in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine organisation in Israeli jails emphasise the following amid the escalation of the battle for freedom of our Comrade Kayed:
‘1) With his position of high responsibility, the General Secretary, Comrade Ahmad Saadat is launching a hunger strike from Sunday, 31 July. This is a strategic decision of a leader who is fighting this battle alongside his fellow strugglers. The commander does not leave his soldiers but joins in the battle, and emphasises that his participation in the battle will continue until Comrade Bilal achieves his freedom.
‘2) A new group of leaders of the Front, including the prominent leader Comrade Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, and a new batch of prisoners in Ramon and Ofer prisons, are joining the open hunger strike.
‘3) The step being taken by the General Secretary to join the hunger strike alongside a group of PFLP leaders is a new escalation step that sends several messages to the occupation.
‘The prisoners will not stand by as the health of Comrade Bilal Kayed deteriorates. They are all determined to fight this battle and continue to escalate the struggle toward an overall strategic strike of all prisoners in all prisons. And they carry another message to the masses of the Palestinian people and the people of the world to continue to keep up the pressure and escalate the struggle to release Bilal and expose the occupation practices against the prisoners, especially the policy of administrative detention against hundreds of prisoners.
‘To the masses of our people, we are fighting this battle beside you. We are determined not to back down or to weaken. The fascist procedures and policies of the prison will do nothing but increase our determination to achieve freedom for our comrade Bilal Kayed.
‘Freedom for the prisoners! Victory is inevitable!
‘The leadership of the PFLP in Israeli jails, July 31, 2016.’
A week ago, on July 26th, Joe Catron of Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, read out a letter to the protesters outside the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
The letter was written by Mahmoud Kayed, Bilal’s brother, and reads as below.
‘Friends in the United States, Friends everywhere in the world,
‘We greet you from occupied Palestine, and we thank you for inviting us to deliver this word in the demonstration, and to raise the voice of Palestine in front of the Democratic National Convention in the city of Philadelphia.
‘Let me first greet you all, on behalf of my family and myself, and convey the greetings of my brother, Bilal Kayed… And I greet you on behalf of all of the Palestinian prisoners.
‘My brother Bilal, as some of you know, has spent 14-and-a-half years in Israeli jails, and when he was scheduled to be released on June 13 – on that date, instead, they sent him back to jail for six months under the law of administrative detention.
‘This criminal colonial law is used by the occupation state, “Israel,” in order to keep the Palestinian leaders and activists isolated from their families and their loved ones and the masses of their people.
‘Today, there are more than 700 Palestinians in detention under this unjust law. Israel is not only imprisoning thousands of Palestinians in an attempt to crush the will, the spirit and the resistance of the Palestinian people.
‘It is also imprisoning the bodies of the martyrs shot down by the armies of occupation, their lives taken by the colonisers and their bodies frozen, imprisoned, denied to their families. Today, I extend to you from occupied Palestine, a message of solidarity and support as well, for you in your struggle inside the belly of the imperialist beast, and for your struggle for the freedom of all political prisoners in the United States.
‘Freedom for the imprisoned strugglers for just causes and for liberation, whether they are in the US or Israeli prisons, and anywhere they are where prisoners are being held because of their commitment to defend justice and human dignity, giving years of their life to defend their oppressed peoples and their right to self-determination.
‘Today, we also raise the call once more to free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, imprisoned for 32 years in French prisons for his struggle for Palestine. As Palestinians, we know very well what injustice means, what occupation means and what arrest means.
‘From occupied Palestine, we salute the struggler Mumia Abu-Jamal and all of his fellow militant Black leaders and political prisoners in US prisons. We are on their side in their struggle and their just cause for freedom and dignity. The Palestinian Arab people have been struggling for 100 years for the right to live and to reclaim their land and liberate their land and people from colonialism, occupation and racism.
‘And our people have and continue to recognise that our natural position is in the struggle alongside the oppressed peoples, and not alongside states that trample people’s rights, plunder the wealth of the people and impose their will on the impoverished and oppressed peoples. My brother Bilal belongs to the Palestinian, Arab and international movement confronting imperialism and Zionism.
‘He is one of 7,000 Palestinian prisoners standing firm in defence of the rights, freedom and dignity of the Palestinian people, which is inseparable from his personal rights, freedom and dignity. The United States government supports and perpetrates injustice and occupation in Palestine, and provides military and financial support from taxpayers’ money, rather than spending that money on programs and services for poor people, education and social programmes.
‘Instead, the United States perpetuates injustice and violence and funds prisons and police oppression. We emphasise that your role and your struggle in the United States is a central, pivotal and leading role in stopping the Israeli and US policies by:
• Participating in boycott campaigns against the occupation and against the private security corporations like G4S that provide it with support and services.
• Organising delegations of solidarity with the Palestinian people and the prisoners. We welcome you to our occupied homeland Palestine and urge you to see the realities of occupation, apartheid and the suffering of our people.
• Building bridges between your people and ours – bridges based on human solidarity and internationalism, based on love, respect and equality. Long live international solidarity! Long live our resistance! Freedom for all political prisoners! Freedom for Bilal Kayed!
‘From your brother, Mahmoud Kayed.’
