These days, many are celebrating Palestinian Prisoners’ Day through initiatives similar to yours, commemorating the martyrdom of Walid Daqqah. This symbolic figure from the icons of the Palestinian resistance who never surrendered or faltered in any way throughout decades of captivity, defying torture, deprivation, isolation, and illness, in addition to the banning of his messages and writings.
Last year, on this very occasion, Walid was still steadfast in his solitary cell; his will unshakable, despite being deprived of all necessary medical care. Some of you still remember various expressions of solid support for him and other fighters detained in zionist prisons, particularly the calls and invitations to support him, especially the ongoing militant initiatives at that time, aiming to extricate Comrade Walid, whose health situation was dire, from the clutches of his criminal jailers. Unfortunately, all our efforts were not enough to overcome the stubbornness of Ben-Gvir and their accomplices among the jailers and judges. Death by denial of medical care is now the master of the situation in various zionist prisons, especially the Naqab prison where the abductees of Gaza are held.
It might be useful to remind ourselves, dear comrades, that if the Palestinian National Council had designated April 17th as “Palestinian Prisoners’ Day” in 1974, it was not only to denounce the barbarity of the zionist occupier on this occasion, nor just to honor the captive resistance fighters by reminding the popular masses of their sacrifices and concessions or their unshakable will in facing the zionist military. Celebrating Prisoners’ Day aims above all to affirm loudly and clearly our duties towards our imprisoned comrades, and foremost among all, to include their liberation in the general dynamics of our ongoing struggles. Celebrating Palestinian Prisoners’ Day aims above all, dear comrades, to call and encourage the living forces of the revolution and its fighting vanguards to implement all necessary measures to practically express our firm resolve to liberate our comrades from the clutches of their criminal jailers.
Our Walid died standing. He remains forever alive in our hearts and in the minds of the masses and fighters participating in this epic of resistance, and he remains forever alive with all those who preceded him or followed him as torches lighting the way of resistance, liberation, freedom, and emancipation.
In times of genocide in Gaza and the assassinations and massacres and widespread land confiscation in the West Bank, it is hard for popular mobilization to delve into talking about the conditions of the heroes of the struggle or to draw lessons from them… The enormous scale of the massacres makes it almost impossible to understand the stories of various struggle figures. The number of martyrs which has exceeded 33,000, including more than 14,000 children, and more than 76,000 wounded, not to mention all those under the rubble, is more than overwhelming… But the truth is that the thousands of prisoners who have been jailed for many years, some for several decades, highlight today more than ever the resistance of the Palestinian people in its various forms. This zionist government, more than any government before it, can only intensify repression and attempt to expand more than ever its scope of destroying all that is Palestinian, especially all those who join the collective will of resistance. For this reason, among others, international solidarity is called upon more than ever to take this reality into account. This is not always easy, given that we are dealing with a genocide taking place in plain view and not in the mist of secret camps, for the first time in human history, hundreds of millions of people are witnessing an ongoing genocide.
The fact remains, comrades and friends, that within the general framework of this historical resistance of the Palestinian people we can better understand the dynamic interconnection of the various factors that constitute the “collective will to resist” and the special place that the prisoner occupies in Palestinian collective memory. Throughout this historical epic and up to the present day, the “resisting prisoner,” along with the “martyr,” is the character shared by the majority of Palestinian families.
Naturally, as is the case everywhere else, the heroes of revolutionary struggle, especially those who personified the collective will of resistance, were the preferred targets for genocidal policies, which fascists of all stripes rushed to implement, particularly since the atmosphere of genocide made it easy to do so.
Comrades, let us be vigilant and prevent the zionist criminals from annihilating the revolutionary heroes in captivity!
Let us be worthy of the epic of the torches of freedom, those invincible resistance heroes detained in zionist prisons! Naturally, the popular Palestinian masses and their fighting vanguards in captivity can count on your active solidarity. May a thousand solidarity initiatives flourish for the sake of Palestine and its glorious resistance.
Solidarity, all the solidarity, with the resistance fighters in the zionist prisons and solitary confinement cells in Morocco, Turkey, Greece, the Philippines, and other places around the world.
Solidarity, all the solidarity, with the working class laborers!
To all of you, dear comrades and friends, the warmest communist greetings.
April 17, 2024