Attorney Jawad Boulos – faraamaai, April 1, 2024

Palestinians commemorate Palestinian Prisoner Day every year on April 17. It is an occasion for the people of Palestine to reaffirm their loyalty to the prisoners’ movement and to those who have struggled against Israeli occupation over the decades, sacrificing their freedom to achieve the national liberation project and establish an independent Palestinian state. This year, the occasion comes at a time when Palestinians face complex and fateful circumstances. Among the most critical is the aftermath of the devastating war waged by Israel on Gaza. However, the situation extends beyond Gaza to encompass the fate of the Palestinian cause as a whole.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement has historically been one of the clearest fronts of perpetual confrontation with Israeli occupation. From the outset, it reflected the Palestinian resistance’s understanding of its role in the liberation process: no compromise with the occupier on one hand and no endurance without organizing the prisoners into a unified entity that transcends their "individual" and "factional" identities, without abandoning their diverse intellectual and political convictions. The prisoners elevated the supreme Palestinian interest to a near-sacred status. Inside Israeli prisons, they constructed a free entity where individuals adhered to daily practices based on agreed discipline and values of struggle, humanity, and ethics. These values justified their sacrifices, astonished their jailers/enemies, and compelled them to deal with Palestinian prisoners with relative respect as a unified body rather than as weak, broken, and scattered individuals, as the occupiers had planned and desired.

This journey was not easy. Israeli jailers initially attempted to "tame" Palestinian prisoners after the occupation, as military courts decided to treat them as "criminals and terrorists," sentencing them accordingly. The courts’ objective was not merely to punish Palestinian fighters but also to deter them and future generations of resistance. The prisons aimed to crush their spirits, rendering each prisoner nothing more than a helpless "prey," relying on the "benevolence" of the jailer.

The occupation failed to impose its formulas, and the prisoners succeeded in crafting what could be termed a "balanced deterrence formula." In essence, prisoners were not merely individuals pleading for the occupier's mercy but a free, cohesive entity with sufficient means, resources, and a determined will to resist oppression and humiliation. They were not criminals or terrorists but rightful claimants of rights they would neither forgo nor accept being stripped of.

Despite the occupiers’ relentless efforts to break the prisoners’ will, the prisoners’ movement continuously resisted and confronted these attempts. One notable effort was by Minister Gilad Erdan, who in 2018 formed a special committee to "explore ways to revoke the rights of Palestinian prisoners," under the pretext that anyone "attacking Israel must pay with their lives or endure lengthy prison sentences under conditions equal to those of criminal prisoners."

Erdan’s committee proposed recommendations that included eliminating the categorization of prisoners by organizational affiliation, abolishing the prison representative system that resolved disputes between prisoners and administration, ending prisoners’ ability to cook in their sections, reducing water consumption, among other measures aimed at undermining most of the prisoners’ hard-won rights and living conditions.

The Netanyahu government’s efforts in those years were not baseless. Following the weakening of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, it believed it was progressing successfully in dismantling the Palestinian national liberation project. However, it realized that it could not fully achieve its goal without dismantling the prisoners' movement and its unifying structure. Palestinians—prisoners and the public alike—were acutely aware of the movement’s importance and the need to preserve its role in rallying national sentiment during critical moments, as demonstrated repeatedly.

The current Israeli government perceived vulnerabilities within the prisoners’ movement. Sensing gaps in what had been a fortified bastion for Palestinians, the Minister of National Security intensified his ministry’s attacks on the movement, exploiting the events of October 7 to justify unprecedented oppression aimed at dismantling the "status quo" within Israeli prisons.

The erosion of the prisoners’ "balanced deterrence formula" is linked to broader factors, including the overall weakness of the national movement. Most notably, the division between Gaza and the West Bank—embodied in the split between Fatah and Hamas—has been the most detrimental and influential factor. Furthermore, internal fragmentation within Fatah itself and the "importation" of factional disputes into the prisoners' leadership further entrenched divisions, shaping both their internal relations and their interactions with prison administrations.

The prisoners' movement was not afforded the opportunity to reassess its situation in light of the post-October 7 Palestinian reality. Instead, it faced an onslaught of unprecedented repression. Their lives turned into torment, as repression affected every aspect of their existence, undermining their leadership’s standing, subjecting them to severe physical abuse, isolating them from the outside world, and dismantling their hierarchical structures, leaving ordinary communication nearly impossible.

Although details are scarce regarding the treatment of hundreds of individuals detained during the war from Gaza or the conditions under which over ten Palestinians arrested in the West Bank were killed, it is clear that the lives of the prisoners—especially their leaders—are genuinely at risk. The recent assault on Marwan Barghouti and acts of retaliation against him stand as a grim warning of the potential tragedy.

The plans of Israel’s current leaders are consistent with their predecessors' belief that all of Palestine is their divine inheritance and that Palestinians—especially those resisting occupation—must be eliminated by any means necessary. After October 7, they sensed that the proverbial sword had fallen, believing their opportunity was at hand.

As Palestinians commemorate Prisoner Day, what lessons will they draw from this critical moment?