(MENAFN- Alghad Newspaper)
The best we can hope for in regards to the Palestinian people's lost cause, in the midst of the ongoing Arab and global turmoil is to go back to its original discourse.
No pointless military escalations, or fruitless diplomacy to derail the historical discourse of the struggle and forfeit what remains of the occupied lands!
There is an undeniable truth here: the origin of the Palestinian people's struggle is that an unarmed people, whom have fallen under the most hideous and ruthless occupation in modern history, are peacefully resisting occupation.
The prisoners strike, now entering its second week, is one of the most noble and expressive means of resistance, taking us all back to square one.
The prisoners represent the conscience of a people imprisoned by an occupational army operating outside of international law as well as ethics.
For decades the world has sought ideas and resolutions, we too, all the while ignoring the truth and reality of the Palestinians' struggle. Now, their suffering, to us, has become no more than a mere detail to the bigger picture.
The prisoners are the highlight of the popular resistance endeavour, against a lawless occupation. Behind every prisoner, there are dozens of thousands of Palestinian families, wives and children, suffering the absence of their parents and providers.
The same goes for the relatives of martyrs and others missing in action.
Every day, these people suffer first hand and perhaps more than anyone else, the injustice and grievances of occupation.
We shed more light on their suffering than that of others, because so many unfortunately, have been conditioned by deliberate socio-economic policies under the Palestinian Authority, just like in the occupied territories.
Meanwhile, Israel knows exactly how dangerous the prisoners issue is, and what it means to the cause of the Palestinian people. Therefore, they make no concessions to them in regards to living conditions.
Likewise, the only times Israel ever agreed to let prisoners free were the few times Israelis were pressured into exchanging prisoners by external parties, more or less.
In the meantime, this consolidated stand by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli incarceration is the last form of unified Palestinian resistance against occupation, under the unfortunate circumstance of political divide over geography and leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO).
The weapon of hunger, as coined by the media, has today the power to transform Palestinian awareness, recharge the resistance with hope, and restore its morality.
The prisoners do not raise major political issues, for they do not seek to attain goals those outside of prison could not. There legitimate and only demand is the right a decent, dignified life, without humiliation.
This is the foremost cause of the Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike; they clutch to their rights to a decent life, with a will that is unbroken and unbent by the Israelis, their occupation, or their life sentences times ten.
Hundreds of them know for a fact that their only next stop is the grave.
Still, they hold on to their rights to live and are willing to give their own lives for their dignity and that of their people.
Many have forgotten what it means for a people to be under occupation.
The world, or at least most of it, thinks that the calamities of the Palestinians are caused by merely dispute over a piece of land.
Contrary to this misconception, the prisoners strike reminds the world the world that there are millions of people suffering under occupation, and that their pains are far larger than anything the two-state solution could bring.
It is an existential struggle; a matter and cause of life or death.
This article is an edited translation of the Arabic version, published by AlGhad.
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