The Battles of the “Empty Bowel”: Irish and Palestinians

The death of the prisoner Khader Adnan in the prisons of the Israeli occupation is an occasion to talk about the weapon of the hunger strike. The Israeli occupation knows the extent of the power of this weapon and the extent to which it can form international pressure on the Zionist state. Because the battle and the weapon of “empty bowels” is self-sacrifice for the sake of what is higher – the homeland. The prisoner loves life as you and I love it, and he is fully aware from the beginning that his love for Palestine may be crowned with martyrdom at any moment, yet he is determined to hold on to this weapon. It suffices for the martyr Khader to be proud that he has five hunger strikes, the first four of which ended with the taking of his freedom, and the last of which he snatched his freedom for the last time when he rose as a martyr. His strikes began in 2012 when he went on strike for 66 days, then in 2015 for 52 days, 2018 for 59 days, and 2021 for 25 days, all of which took away his freedom, and finally, 2023 for 86 days and he rose as a martyr.

The Palestinian people found themselves suffering under an occupation from which they seek liberation. Various types of struggles were imposed on them by many peoples. Although all kinds of struggles are interrelated and one cannot be separated from the other, in the sense that adopting armed struggle without political action leads to inevitable failure due to the lack of political cover, but the weapon of the hunger strike is certainly one of the most severe of them on the soul. The Irish struggle experience had risen to the highest levels in this regard, especially the strike of (Bobby Sands) and his comrades, whose anniversary falls on the fifth of May of each year. At that time, Sanders and other fellow youths died as a result of their hunger strike in 1981 as part of their campaign to obtain their right to be treated as “political prisoners.” Today, the case of Palestine is very similar. The Palestinian experience, and before it the Irish one, within the scope of the “empty bowels” battles, has become a lesson for every struggle to achieve liberation and self-determination.

These martyrs, the Palestinians and the Irish, headed by the martyrs Khader Adnan and Bobby Sanders, established the hunger strike as an expression of political protest, and a major shift occurred in the culture of peaceful resistance. They believed in their cause and prepared in advance to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the cause, so their experiences became an example of confidence in the ability to achieve what they wanted, and an example for generations who believe in the inevitability of victory.

These experiences and sacrifices may establish what is to come, which will be more determined and aware of the enemy, whose soldiers single out prisoners every second in the prisons of the occupation, while they face the policy of solitary isolation, collective punishments, and the refusal to improve the health status of hundreds of sick and injured, while they face a flagrant violation of their most basic human rights. They also face organized terrorism. And here is the “Committee of Administrative Prisoners in the Occupation’s Prisons” announcing its decision to launch an open mass hunger strike “in the coming days,” to put pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities in an attempt to achieve “positive results in the administrative detention file,” and to respond to the assassination of the prisoner Khader Adnan. And again, we call for more activation of the issue of Palestinian prisoners (children, women, and men) on the Arab, Islamic and international levels.