The following letter was written by Ahmad Sa’adat 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, clothing…we 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 Sa’adat
April 24, 2012
Eighth day of hunger strike
