Did Palestine Action hunger strikers achieve their goals? | Palestine Action

As the hunger strike by prisoners affiliated with the Palestine Movement dragged on, it seemed to be heading towards an inexorable and bitter conclusion.

Those who resolutely agreed with their demands and the ministers who even refused to meet with their representatives began to look as if only death could end the protest; and even then it was not clear what the others who refused the food would do.

However, late on Wednesday, Prisoners of Palestine announced that they had ended the protests of Heba Muraisi, Kamran Ahmed and Lewie Chiaramello. Four others who were on hunger strike but were officially in “pause” would do the same.

The announcement was made on the 73rd day of Muraisi’s refusal to eat; This was the same number of days reached by Irish republican hunger striker Kieran Doherty, the longest survivor of the 10 men killed in action in 1981.

Shahmina Alam, Ahmed’s sister, who she said called off her strike on Tuesday (the 65th day for her), said she was relieved. “Today I woke up without fear for the first time,” he said. “We don’t need to worry about the possibility of further health complications.” He also highlighted the continued fear of the refeeding process, which is itself precarious.

The end of the action was presented as a victory, sealed by the government’s decision not to award a £2bn defense contract to Elbit Systems UK, a subsidiary of Israel’s largest arms manufacturer. This was identified by Prisoners of Palestine as the main demand of the hunger strikers, and it was partially correct.

One of the five key demands was the closure of Elbit’s UK facilities, which some of those refusing the food were accused of targeting. Although this did not happen, there was a condition within this request that the Ministry of Defense tender not be awarded to Elbit Systems UK, which would train 60,000 soldiers a year.

Francesca Nadin of Prisoners of Palestine said: “We’ll never know for sure, but I think all campaigns, whether it’s a hunger strike, whether it’s Defend Our Juries, whether it’s judicial review, [challenging proscription of Palestine Action]“They all had an impact on this because the public is now talking about this issue in a way that wasn’t possible before.”

Alam said his brother was “demoralized” about the possibility of a halt when he spoke to him on Monday because he felt there was not enough progress being made on the demands, but he succumbed to pressure from relatives. However, Nadin said that the news about Elbit would cheer him up and that he was very happy when Muraisi told him about it on the phone.

Other key demands, such as the immediate release of bail to the prisoners, none of whom have been convicted and all of whom will have spent more than a year in prison before trial, and the lifting of the ban on Palestine Action, have clearly not been met. However, the second possibility still exists through judicial review, whose decision is eagerly awaited.

Palestinian Prisoners also noted other “victories”, including HMP New Hall in Wakefield agreeing to a transfer back to HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, which is near Muraisi’s family and friends and where he moved last year. Another important demand was to end communication censorship, and for this purpose, bulk packages of retained mail began to be sent to some prisoners during the hunger strike.

They may also point out that the death of hunger strikers could be a devastating loss that would amount to little more than what has already been secured, and that the sacrifice to their health would be too great.

Although they and Irish republican prisoners on the last hunger strike of such a magnitude and duration in a UK prison did not get their full demands, they are credited in retrospect with changing the course of the Northern Ireland conflict.

This does not mean that the consequences of the actions of modern protesters will be on the same scale. But with US congresswoman Rachida Tlaib Sharing about their status on XThe intervention of UN experts and international news coverage brought attention to both their own cases and wider problems in the prison system. Prisoners of Palestine also said 500 people had signed up to take direct action in the last few weeks; that’s more people than did this during the Palestine Movement’s five-year campaign before the ban.

Nadin said: “From the very beginning – all the hunger strikers said this – it was a call for the people to rally and it was a great success. The demands were kind of secondary to all of this, we know what the government is like.”

Alam said: “I think their name was overshadowed for a while, but people are now aware of Elbit Systems and a big part of that is due to the hunger strike.”