The following statement was issued early Friday morning, May 11, by the leadership of the hunger strikers in prisons, following their negotiations with IPS officials:
Statement No. 5
Issued by the Central Committee of the Leadership of the Strike
To the masses of the Palestinian people….you are free before our nation…you are free before the world.
On our twenty-fifth day of an epic hunger strike, we continue to trust in God. Our empty stomach continue in the spirit of Palestinian steadfastness that overcomes Israeli oppression. To the free people of the world…
We have held a lengthy meeting with the leadership of the Prison Services in Nafha prison last night, including all members of the Central Committee of the Leadership of the Strike. The Prison Service attempted through prevarication and procrastination to pressure us to break the strike with unverifiable promises. After a round of stubborn negotiations between humanity and brutality, we report the following:
First – we have conveyed our position unequivocally, which is, we will not accept any partial solutions that do not guaranteed, as a minimum our demands:
a. An immediate end to the tragedy of isolation and solitary confinement
b. Prisoners from the Gaza Strip allowed family visits
c. The return of prison conditions to pre-2000 conditions.
Second – we are living through an exceptional period of struggle with a strong consensus to continue our strike at any cost and achieve our demands, and we have the highest readiness and willingness to sacrifice for that goal
Third – we have decided to refrain from taking vitamins and to boycott the prison clinic, and we are going to take bold, serious and dangerous steps that we will announce at the time. There will be unprecedented steps over the next few hours and days.
To our people and the masses of our people…
We do not review our coming steps in this statement. We do this not to rouse emotions, but because we are very serious about continuing this battle and are fully aware of the consequences. We have prepared ourselves for all stages without hesitation. We call on the masses of our people and our nation to act now and strongly before it is too late. We look forward to a unified, strong Palestinian position that is united across geographic lines and engages in concerted efforts to force the occupation government to respond to our demands with respect for our lives.
We look to Tahrir Square in sister Egypt, to our people in Jordan and in beloved Tunisia and all of our Arab and Muslim brothers and to our people in the Diaspora and around th world. Finally, 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 you that we will live with our dignity or die.
Central Committee of the Leadership of the Strike
May 10, 2012
