“We, as prisoners, bow to the people of Gaza.” – Wael Samara, freed prisoner from Al-Am’ari refugee camp in Ramallah, to the people of the Gaza Strip after his release from the Israeli occupation’s dungeons.
The joy of the released Palestinian prisoners and their families is a testament to the strength of the Palestinian people and nation. It also represents everything “Israel” has tried so desperately to stamp out.
Many of these prisoners were abused and tortured in Israeli jails and some of the long-term detainees never imagined they would ever see freedom again. Each has a personal story, love frozen in time, growing children they never got to know, parents and grandparents that passed away during their incarceration.
In April 2020, I wrote an article entitled Ansar: A Testament to the Ugly Brutality of the Israeli Jailer and noted the following:
Palestinian prisoners have long played a unique role in the fabric of Palestinian society and its collective resistance. They cross all factional and social barriers, and in many cases, represent the best of several generations of leaders. When some in the Western world repeatedly ask “Where is the Palestinian Gandhi?”, we can confidently say that he or she has most likely been imprisoned (or assassinated) by the Israeli state.
Nearly every Palestinian family has a story of at least one member that has been imprisoned either by Israel or a neighbouring complicit regime in the region. As such, the issue of prisoners has historically been a unifying bond for the Palestinian people. Each prisoner is a microcosm of the Palestinian reality, be they arrested while under occupation, in a refugee camp in exile or under the thumb of the apartheid regime in the Galilee or Naqab.
Today, the political prisoners in Israeli jails comprise members of the legislature, children, and women; they also include over 430 administrative detainees. These are prisoners held without charge or trial for renewable periods of 6 months, who are often then re-arrested after being released. Not only is administrative detention void of due process, it is also profoundly cruel; these prisoners know that upon their eventual release, they can be (and often are) picked up at any moment in the future on the whim of Israeli security officials.
How can we not declare that Oct. 7 was indeed a victory for the Palestinian people and their resistance? When these long-term prisoners were set to rot forever or die in Israeli jails until this new round of releases, that was only achieved through the incredible Sumoud and bravery of the fighting organizations in Gaza? When prisoners like Mohammed Al Halabi from World Vision have now been released (a skeleton of his former self), even though a strong international campaign waged on his behalf achieved nothing?
The late Irish republican hero Bobby Sands wrote in his prison diary: Our revenge will be the laughter of our children. In the same vein, Palestinians can say that their revenge will be their joy in reuniting families and loved ones despite all efforts by the Zionist enemy to tear their society apart and render it dysfunctional.
by Marion Kawas