In conjunction with the continued rise in temperatures, the heat and flame of the battle of prisoners in the occupation prisons, for freedom, and for the restoration of rights and the preservation of dignity, is escalating.

The escalation began this time from the south, where the Negev Desert Prison, which houses more than 1,400 prisoners, on the morning of 8/15/2023, when prisoners in a number of sections of the Negev Prison refused to leave for the morning “security check” conducted by the occupation prison administration. In protest against the policy of arbitrary transfer carried out by the Negev Prison administration against prisoners between sections of the prison.

The state of tension in the Negev prison was preceded on the day of a provocative visit by the Minister of Internal Security to the occupation and the godfather of punitive laws against the extremist prisoners, Itamar Ben Gvir. All of this was preceded by the storming of the repressive “Masada” unit into Section No. 26 in the Negev prison, on 8/13/2023. To carry out arbitrary transfers there, as the prisoners were transferred to different sections.

The Zionist oppression did not stop at one section of the Negev Prison, as on Thursday morning, 8/17/2023, the “Yamaz,” “Dror,” and “Matsada” units stormed Section 4 of the Negev Prison, and transferred them to other sections.

The intensity of the events escalated rapidly. The Supreme Emergency Committee of the Palestinian Prisoner Movement issued a statement confirming its readiness to wage battle with the occupation from inside the prisons, amidst a state of field unity. This was followed by the Prisoners’ Information Office announcing that approximately 1,000 prisoners from all prisons had entered an open hunger strike. .

The liberated prisoner and popular leader in Jerusalem, Muhammad Al-Shalabi, said in a special statement to Bayt Al-Maqdis Agency: “Some brothers were able to communicate with a number of prisoners in the Negev prison, and the situation is tense in all sections of the prison, but in the most targeted sections more than 10 telephone devices were confiscated.” A hidden mobile phone used by prisoners to communicate.”

The liberated prisoner, who specializes in prisoner affairs, in an interview with the Beit Al-Maqdis Agency, confirmed that the Zionist occupation, during recent months, had decided to make the lives of the prisoners hell, deliberately transferring this scene outside the occupation prisons, in order to mitigate and reduce the flame of the raging resistance against the occupation in the occupied land. The occupation seeks to export a different image of what is going on in the minds of those involved in resistance activities regarding the occupation prisons, as they are viewed as centers of power, education and awareness, and the acquisition of experience. With the escalation of the process of repression and attempts to eliminate the achievements of the prisoners, the occupation achieves two goals, which are: raising the awareness of the Palestinians who are thinking of working. The resistance fighters and intimidate them that hell awaits them in the occupation prisons, and at the same time the occupation seeks to further torture and take revenge on the prisoners in the occupation prisons.

Al-Qiq said in his comment on the recent escalation in the Negev prison and the rest of the occupation prisons: “The issue here is not only related to (Ben Gvir’s) visit to a number of occupation prisons, but rather the Zionist occupation wants to practice two policies, the first of which is to pressure the resistance in Gaza to speed up the implementation of A prisoner exchange deal with the occupation according to what it wants, and according to its rules of the game. As for the second policy, it aims to increase pressure and abuse of prisoners in the occupation prisons to satisfy the settler organizations and the religious right parties in the occupation entity, whose presence today has become prominent in the general scene of the occupation.”

Al-Qiq adds: “Usually, when prisoners are assaulted in the occupation prisons, several field steps are taken immediately afterward on the ground by the Palestinian prisoner movement, such as: abstaining from security checks, abstaining from going out for (the outburst), and other measures as a form of protest.” And rejection of what the occupation is doing, as the means of resistance that prisoners have vary from “empty stomachs” to boycotting the occupation courts and refraining from going to them, and not going out to “frenzy” and closing the departments.”

Muhammad Al-Qeeq warns of the seriousness of the current situation of prisoners in the occupation prisons, as the occupation is striving to break the will of the prisoners, and at the same time it is seeking to transform the file of prisoners in the occupation prisons from a “security file” to a “criminal file” so that it can undermine their rights and dilute their case.