The end of the Palestinian hunger strike is a small ray of hope in an otherwise dire situation. As The National reported, 1,578 Palestinian prisoners in Israel jails ended their 40-day hunger strike on Saturday under a deal brokered by the International Red Cross.
This act of non-violent resistance was remarkable on many levels. It threw cold water on Israel’s accusation that Palestinians were simply “terrorists and murderers” as Gilad Erdan, Israel’s public security minister, said in the early days of the strike. It also forced Tel Aviv into the absurd situation of fabricating evidence of incarcerated Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti breaking the hunger strike. In the end, Israel was forced to negotiation with these prisoners on their terms. Such a concession has a far-reaching effect on the Palestinian consciousness.
The hunger strike also sent a powerful message of non-violent resistance against the inhumane and degrading treatment that Palestinian prisoners and detainees have been suffering in Israeli jails throughout the years, including torture and medical negligence. The Israeli prison system was described at the height of the strike by Mr Barghouti in a widely shared opinion piece in The New York Times as being part and parcel of Tel Aviv’s “inhumane system of colonial and military occupation”.
Ending on the eve of the 50th anniversary of Israel’s seizure of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in the 1967 war, the strike is a reminder that the occupation of Palestine has never stopped. It has only intensified as Tel Aviv entrenched its control over Palestinian life.
After 50 years of domination, it is time for a solution to be reached. But no one believes that a solution is imminent. The Israeli cabinet’s recent approval of a package of confidence-building measures aimed at improving the Palestinian economy and easing settlement construction may improve the situation. But this is little more than a Band-Aid. There is one ray of hope, though. Palestinian support for the hunger strike demonstrates that Palestinian can still organise and resist Israel’s efforts to destroy them.