Saadat: Hunger Strikers confident of victory, call for unity and support

The following letter was written by Ahmad Saadat from his isolation on the eighth day of the Karameh Hunger Strike, and smuggled out to the world. It calls for support for the hunger strike on Palestinian, Arab and international levels:
Dearest Umm Ghassan, and all my loved ones;

Ghassan, Amal, Iba, Loay, Sumoud, Yassar, and my whole family; Do not worry, my health is much better than in the previous hunger strike, and I am confident it will remain so. Thank you for your continual support to my position in this hunger strike. As is the case in every strike, they took all of our electrical appliances, canteen, clothingwe only have left prison clothes, some change of underwear, pajamas, towels, soap and toothpaste. All of us have lost about 5-7 kilograms in weight, but everyone is in good health and most importantly, high morale, and are determined to continue the strike. We are confident of victory, relying on the justice of our cause and our demands, and the support of the masses of our people, our nation, and the free world individuals, organizations and institutions standing, as always alongside our just struggle. These demands include a number of legitimate human rights under international law, including abolition of solitary confinement as a dangerous form of torture with no security or legal justification and contrary to international humanitarian law and all international conventions that prohibit torture. We are also demanding an end to the prohibition of family visits to the prisoners from Gaza for more than seven years, as well as interference with family visitors from the West Bank under the

pretext of security reasons, and demanding that such visits be allowed for extended as well as immediate family. What we need from the masses of the people, political forces and institutions is to raise the voices and the call of our just demands of the prisoners with a unified voice, and not subject the cause of the prisoners to internal disputes or the management of division. This strike includes participation from all political forces and factions, without exception, and the best gift from the political forces supporting us is to implement agreements for unity, on which the ink is not yet dry. Such unity is an essential foundation, the most important pillar to achieve our just national goals. In conclusion, I salute and thank all of the Palestinian, Arab and international forces standing beside our just struggle. Forward to victory! Ahmad Saadat April 24, 2012 Eighth day of hunger strike The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat Palestinian Prisoners to Launch Hunger Strike on Prisoners' Day - April 17, 2012 The following statement has been issued by Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli jails. Prisoners from a number of different political currents have organised the Karameh (Dignity) Hunger Strike. Protest action will be stepped up on a daily basis until the 17th of April (Palestinian Prisoners Day) when an indefinate hunger strike will be launched. Ahmad Sa'adat and all prisoners of the PFLP will fully participate in the open-ended hunger strike. The statement has been translated from Arabic, and appeared on the Ajnad news website: The various political currents in the prisoners movement who are held in the zionist jails have reached an agreement to escalate the ongoing hunger strikes in order to achieve the human rights which Israel have denied prisoners for many long years. Prisoners will begin an indefinate hunger strike this month. This means they will refuse all forms of food and liquid (with the exception of water) until their demands are met. The hunger strike has been initiated because this is the the the

only tool that the Palestinian prisoners have to achieve their rights. We must pressurise the occupying government and force it to negotiate on the demands the prisoners movement has been striving to achieve. The hunger strike is supported by the prisoners movement as a whole, with agreement amongst all member parties. The demands of the Karameh Hunger Strike are: 1. An end to the policy of solitary confinement and isolation which has been used to deprive Palestinian prisoners of their rights for more than a decade. 2. To allow the families of prisoners from the Gaza Strip to visit prisoners. This right has been denied to all families for more than 6 years. 3. An improvement in the living conditions of prisoners and an end to the Shalit law, which outlaws newspapers, learning materials and many TV channels. 4. An end to the the policies of humiliation which are suffered by prisoners and their families such as strip searches, nightly raids, and collective punishment. The aim of the hunger strike is to shift local, regional and international public opinion. It aims to put pressure on the occupying government and hold it responsible for the health of all prisoners. Palestinian Prisoners are calling on free people across the world to to do everything in their power to support them in their struggle for rights.