NOVANEWS
R. Rudolph
We have all heard the sounds. Feet pounding on the bleachers at the start of the game before the players descend from the sidelines. Loud and in unison, one can feel the vibrating from within and the adrenaline rising. Faces flushed with inspiration, the players emerge from their waiting places. This time it is not the pounding of the bleachers, but the rumbling of stomachs. Loud and in unison, Palestinian prisoners’ stomachs are reverberating in protest at the inhumane treatment experienced in Israeli jails. Joined therewith and in solidarity, people are mobilizing to say we hear you and we are one. Deafening is the sound of solidarity. Faces are red in anger at the injustice faced from the silence of world leaders to the dismissal of their captors. Steadfast and strong, it is the Battle of Empty Stomachs. Humanity awaits the emergence of our global heroes from administrative detention; it also awaits the day when Palestinians have the right to return to their homes on their lands from the river to the sea.
For more than 70 days, Palestinian prisoners have been waging a battle to bring global attention to the plight of prisoners held inside Israeli jails. Many are held in administrative detention, without charge or trial, and subjected to secret evidence and allegations. The prisoners’ demand an end to the use of solitary confinement, isolation and administrative detentions; they demand the protection and upholding of prisoners’ rights; and, they demand an end to systematic humiliation such as strip searches, nightly raids and collective punishment.
Palestinian prisoners are calling for dignity, humanity and freedom. They are human and the silence to this injustice results in the complicity of the inhumane treatment meted out by the Israelis. Shall we continue to permit this or ignore it, as some have attempted to deny the existence of the Right of Return and the ongoing Nakba?
The Nakba is the catastrophe that has plagued Palestinians for 64 years. It encompasses the totality of Palestinian experiences; it furthermore encapsulates the totality of all global experiences, from every region around the world and from the young to the old and the healthy to the sick. The Nakba embodies and symbolizes the injustices suffered by a people at the hands of an oppressor and a system that has permitted that oppressor, the Zionist Entity, to act with impunity for all these years.
The Battle of the Empty Stomachs demonstrates to the global community and to humanity that there are no limits to the policies waged by an Entity that is referred to by some as the only democracy in the region. The so-called democratic regime that denies rights to those living within; that attempts to extinguish those not living under its authority; and, that rejects the right of return to those whose lands it took. The Right of Return is at the heart of any peace in the Middle East and the plight of the Palestinians is the heart of the global community.
From the Khader Adnan campaign, to the Global March to Jerusalem, and to the Battle of Empty Stomachs, Palestinians and concerned humanitarians around the world have demonstrated what can be done when people walk hand-in-hand and work together for humanity, freedom and dignity. Transnational, regional and local coordination strengthens the rights of Palestinians and humanity.
The injustices suffered around the world and in many places, from Palestine to America, are common. It is the duty of humanity to struggle for that which is greater than the self and the individual. Humanity must strive for something beyond worldly endeavors or the acquisition of material rewards. People must strive to ensure that justice prevails over injustice; that past wrongs are righted and history is not repeated; and, that others are educated so past wrongs can be corrected and mistakes not be once again committed. Palestine and its prisoners must be free and Palestinians must have the right to return to their homes from the river to the sea.
