- The battle of “volcano of freedom or martyrdom” will not remain within the prison walls
- We heard the call of the prisoners movement, and we will follow the decisions taken by their leadership.
- The Palestinian people in the diaspora stand with the prisoners movement and the valiant resistance and will not abandon their responsibilities.
- The shop owners in Berlin who joined the commercial strike and closed their shops on Friday are a national model that embodies the will of a unified people.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network organized a demonstration in Berlin, Germany on Friday, 24 February 2023, in response to the call of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement for a day of anger as it escalates the “Battle of Freedom or Martyrdom” in advance of a mass hunger strike called for 22 March 2023. This battle was launched by a series of attacks by infamous far-right Zionist Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir on the prisoners’ movement; yet, the prisoners have emphasized that this is not merely a struggle for improved conditions but a battle for freedom. In addition to the street demonstration, multiple Palestinian and Arab businesses participated in the day of strike called for by the prisoners’ movement, closing their stores in support of the prisoners’ struggle.
In its speech at the demonstration, Samidoun expressed its determination to continue working, struggling and organizing events in support of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, emphasizing that “the demonstration that took place in Berlin was a cry for freedom, return and victory, and expressed the voice, will and conscience of our people in Palestine and in the diaspora. It comes in response to the decision of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement to declare Friday a day of anger and call for a strike in support of the prisoners and Jerusalem,” after the escalations made by the Zionist prison administration against the Palestinian prisoners.
Samidoun condemned the massacre committed by the Zionist soldiers in Nablus. “This heinous massacre committed by the occupation army in order to externalize the internal crisis of the Zionist project also reflects its failure to stop the armed struggle in the heart of Jerusalem and throughout occupied Palestine. It is also a desperate effort to divert attention from the heroic battle that the Palestinian prisoners are waging around the clock inside the prisons.”
In the speech in Berlin, Samidoun saluted the Palestinian revolution and the struggle of the Palestinian masses everywhere: “Today, we renew the pledge and commitment to our Palestinian people and the families of the martyrs, to continue our march of struggle until return and liberation. The blood of our people that is spilled every day is not cheap, and the enemy’s crimes will not be permitted to pass with impunity.”
The speaker emphasized that the Palestinian people continue to resist and to struggle for liberation, saluting “the strength and clarity of the strugglers in Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarem, Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem and Ramallah, and in the valiant resistance in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine.”
In response to the call of the prisoners’ movement for mobilization and action, Samidoun sent a message to the prisoners’ movement: “Our brave prisoners… You remain steadfast in the dungeons of the Zionists. We have heard the revolutionary call issued by you, and we have heard the call of the leadership of the prisoners’ movement. And we have come to implement your call, echoing from Gilboa prison, Ashkelon prison, the Negev, Nafha, Damon, Ofer, Ramon, Ramleh, Shatta and all the other prisons in Palestine. From the sites of struggle and confrontation, from the den of our lions and from the castles of the revolution… We are with you until victory. And with you until freedom, until return and the liberation of our land”.
“This confrontation will not remain inside prisons. We will work with our people in our homeland, Palestine, and everywhere in exile and diaspora, so that it is a struggle in every village, neighborhood, region, city and capital. Our people and our prisoners will be victorious over the criminal Ben Gvir and his fascist, racist government.”
Samidoun considered the brutal criminal escalation against our prisoners “an expression of the failure of the Zionist entity to stop the valiant resistance that is escalating in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and all of occupied Palestine. Therefore, the enemy wages a daily battle of revenge through which it tries to confiscate the achievements and rights of the prisoners’ movement, rights that were obtained at a high cost of blood, hunger, torment and continuous struggle over the past decades.”
The Samidoun speech concluded by saluting “our people in Berlin who stand with us today and to the honorable shop owners who closed their shops in implementation of the decision of the Higher Emergency Committee of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement that declared Friday a day of rage and strike. We salute this popular will in Berlin that presents a living example and confirms that in we are able to actively participate in the battle for freedom. A thousand greetings to you, and a thousand greetings to the shop owners who chose to participate with their people and chose to take a stand for the Palestinian position. We call for transforming this struggle into a popular expression, so that this example is the rule rather than the exception.. This is our people when they decide to unite as one body in the battle of common destiny, this is our people when they reject attempts to isolate them from their people in Palestine and choose to be one people, one body and one spirit that fights and wins.”
