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Prisoners have unequivocal demands. Unity to continue struggling remains strong. "We call on the masses of our people and our nation to act" supportively. We "promise again that we will not retreat without securing our just human rights."
"We are all willing to be martyrs for the sake of our dignity and our rights, and therefore we promise that will will live (in) dignity or die."
Growing Palestinian street protests show support. Activists call the strike "pivotal." It reflects the wider liberation struggle. It's a rallying position across Palestine. Whether a third Intifada follows remains unknown.
On May 11, thousands of Palestinians rallied supportively in West Bank villages. Under the slogan "Friday Anger: Victory for the Prisoners," Israeli security forces confronted them violently. Tear gas, sound bombs, rubber bullets, and water cannon fired "skunk" spray were used. It contains harmful chemicals. Beatings, injuries and arrests followed.
Israeli Arabs participated supportively. Thousands of Galilee residents displayed prisoner photos and Palestinian flags. They chanted slogans voicing solidarity and demanding liberation from Israeli prisons.
Haifa, Umm al-Fahm, and Kfar Kana youths began a three-day supportive hunger strike. Activists and political groups on both sides of the Green Line voiced support.
Hadash, Balad, National Union, the Palestinian People's Party, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and others endorsed a public statement, saying:
"The immediate demand to the Israeli government is the release of all administrative detainees, and all prisoners, those on hunger strikes and those who aren't."
They're all political prisoners locked in Israel's gulag for wanting to live free on their own land.
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