On Prisoner's Day, Palestinian Prisoners in Numbers
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The twentieth Arab summit which was held in Damascus back in March 2008 announced the adoption of Prisoner's Day as a national day of solidarity with Palestinian and Arabs in Israeli prisons.
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Prisoner's Day is a sounding alarm for continued resistance
Today, April 17th, is widely celebrated by Palestinians and Arabs as "Palestinian Prisoner Day" after it was coined by the Palestinian National Council back in 1974. It has been commemorated ever since by Palestinians in the occupied territories and abroad in the diaspora as a national day of solidarity with prisoners to support their right to liberation.
The twentieth Arab summit which was held in Damascus back in March 2008 announced the adoption of Prisoner's Day as a national day of solidarity with Palestinian and Arabs in Israeli prisons in all Arab countries.
Palestinian Prisoners Day is popularly commemorated to immortalize the prisoners' cause and bring it to the attention of the international community and the international public, in an effort to expose "Israel's" brutal treatment of Palestinian prisoners, which violates all international and humanitarian norms including the Fourth Geneva Convention, international humanitarian law, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Palestinian Prisoners in Numbers
According to reports of institutions concerned with the affairs of Palestinian prisoners, including the Palestinian Prisoners' Club and the Commission for Detainees and Former Detainees, Israeli prisons hold around 4,900 Palestinian prisoners (including 31 women and 160 minors), and another 1,000 administrative detainees: including 2 women (namely Raghad Al-Fani and Rawda Abu Ajamia) and 6 minors.
Prisoners arrested prior to the Oslo agreement are estimated to be 23, the oldest of whom is Muhammad Al-Tus, imprisoned since 1985.
Read more: About 5000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons: Report
Prisoners sentenced for life were estimated to be 554 (the longest serving is Abdullah Al-Barghouthi). Additionally, 12 prisoners were reported martyred in Israeli prisons, and another 700 are severely ill (including 24 diagnosed with cancer and tumors).
The Captive Movement Statement
On this occasion, the Supreme Emergency Committee of the Captive Movement stressed that "the commemoration of Prisoners' Day manifests in the practical pursuit of liberating the prisoners," noting that "the path of liberating the prisoners is known to every member of our people and our nation [i.e. armed resisitance]".
The committee affirmed that the prisoners' message to all the Palestinian people is "to look past their divisions and confront the enemy, united as one in all arenas."
"Our enemy sought - and is still seeking - to violently abuse our prisoners but they [the Palestinian prisoners] succeeded with their steadfastness, patience, and the support of our people in repelling the [jailer's] aggression."
The movement stressed that the Palestinian prisoners are a central element of "our living cause [the Palestinian cause], and they represent the enduring and patient character of this cause, despite the fierce war waged by the occupation against them and its failed attempts to detach them from the cause and cast them into oblivion."
"Prisoner's Day is not just mute images and loud slogans, but rather a day for sounding the alarm [to make it known] that our suffering has not stopped. We are not just numbers and statements in office drawers. we are fated to be free. Everyone who hears our voice must strive to save the 4,900 prisoners from the dungeons of prisons," the statement read.
Read more: Hunger striking Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan at risk of martyrdom
