As students around the world gathered and protested for freedom for imprisoned leader Comrade Bilal Kayed, on hunger strike in his battle for freedom since June 15, Palestinian leftist writer Comrade Khaled Barakat noted that “Comrade Bilal Kayed is still chained to his bed, with deteriorating health. He has lost his vision for several hours at a time and suffers excruciating pain. Still, despite refusing anything but water for over 40 days, he maintains a very high spirit and level of determination for victory.”
“The Israelis should not expect Palestinians to accept this attack on Bilal, after jailing him for 14 and a half years. You cannot simply send them to detention without charge and expect this to pass without a battle. The entire Palestinian prisoners’ movement, with all of its political backgrounds and affiliations, have stood in unity behind Comrade Kayed because they know that he is entering this confrontation on behalf of every Palestinian struggler, whether he or she is in prison or not,” said Barakat.
“But why did Israel do this? The reason Israel sent Comrade Kayed to administrative detention after 14 and a half years of imprisonment is, simply, one more attempt to break his clearly unbroken will. He is so committed to one single task and has lived it throughout his sentence: defending the prisoners and their rights. He is known for this among his fellow prisoners, and he is loved for this among the Palestinian people,” said Barakat. “The trust he enjoys from the prisoners’ movement is based on this very important fact.”
Barakat continued, recalling Kayed’s life experience: “It is extremely important to draw lessons from the experience of Comrade Bilal Kayed. He was arrested when he was a young Palestinian man. He was a refrigeration technician, a worker who graduated from the Qalandia technical institute. When the second Intifada broke out, the PFLP made a decision to temporarily join the Palestinian national security forces in order to build the experience and training of the military wing of the Front, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades. Some of the comrades of the Front were asked to join and became wanted by the Israelis, like Bilal,” Barakat said. “He worked closely with the leader Mahmoud Abu Hanoud of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, who later was assassinated by Israel, shortly before Bilal was arrested.”
“We must remember that Bilal is the son of a freedom fighter; his father has a very similar history to Bilal. He was part of the Jordanian forces when he left to fight with the Palestinian revolution in Lebanon. In fact, Bilal was born in Syria on Noveber 30, 1981, and went to Palestine in the mid-1990s. Bilal had the right to be in the West Bank as his father and mother are Palestinians from the West Bank, even under the occupation law,” said Barakat. “The reason we are providing this background information is to say that, in a way, Bilal Kayed represents a Palestinian national experience, the history and struggles of the Palestinian people in diaspora and inside Palestine.”
“Bilal Kayed is now on hunger strike for 42 days. This is, however, far from the first time that he engaged in – or led – a hunger strike, nor is it the first time that he was punished with isolation. Throughout his time in prison, he was attacked frequently by guards and targeted by the prison authority for his constant advocacy for the prisoners and their collective rights, as Palestinian political prisoners, prisoners of freedom and the liberation movement,” Barakat said.
“He used his time in prison wisely. He educated himself; he speaks four languages. He entered academic courses as a student. Each one of these things that he achieved was part of a battle and accompanied with difficulties, challenges, and obstacles on the part of the prison administration,” Barakat noted. “Throughout his imprisonment, he was part of every battle of the prisoners for freedom. This is why Bilal has the respect and the trust of all of his comrades, inside and outside prison.”
“Today, we call on all of the revolutionaries of the world to stand up and express their solidarity with Bilal Kayed. We must mobilize in all social sectors, and continue to work in the labor movement, the student movement, LGBT movements, and engage in the struggle not only for Bilal Kayed but for all Palestinian political prisoners as the cause of freedom,” said Barakat. “It is particularly crucial that we link the movement to boycott Israel with the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian resistance.”
Barakat noted that “Israel enjoys full official impunity with the avid support of imperialist powers on the international level. Like all forces and powers, however, it can be subject and held accountable to a higher pressure and power – the people, mobilized, at a global level, especially when this solidarity comes from within the ‘belly of the beast.’ We are confident that Comrade Bilal Kayed will be victorious. It is all of our obligation to struggle mightily to ensure that this is the case, not only for Bilal, but for every Palestinian struggler for freedom.”
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