Palestine: Mass Protests Help Free Militant Fighter

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Issawiyeh, December 28 — PL’ers came to show solidarity with the released Palestinian political prisoner, Samer Tariq Issawi. Issawi, a left-wing Palestinian fighter. He was first arrested in 2002 under allegations of manufacturing bombs and firing on Israeli citizens, and was convicted of membership in an illegal organization, possession of explosives, and attempted murder based on very flimsy evidence. He was sentenced to 26 years in prison. In October 2011, he was released in the deal between Israel and Hamas for the release of the Israeli POW Gilad Shalit, held by Hamas.
However, in July 2012, Issawi was arrested once more for violating the (very strict) terms of his release, sentenced to eight more months in prison and threatened with the re-activation of his old jail sentence, which would put him behind bars for almost two more decades. In response, he went on an intermittant hunger strike, between August 2012 and April 2013, demanding his release.
Massive protests sprung up around Israel-Palestine and abroad to demand his release. The protest brought results, and in April 2013 a deal was agreed upon between Issawi and the regime, ending his hunger strike and allowing for his release after his eight month jail term.
In December 2013,  he was finally released to his home village of Issawiye, after enduring the horrors of imprisonment. The real reason for his imprisonment is political; the evidence of any “crimes” committed by him are flimsy at best.
He was arrested as part of the Israeli regime’s harassment of Palestinian political fighters, especially those of working-class background and left political alignment. However, the resolute, multi-ethnic struggle against his unjust imprisonment forced even this fascist state to capitulate and grant him his freedom.
Two PL’ers visited Issawi and his family tiday. We have been very well-received by the locals, and Challenge (in English and Arabic) was enthusiastically welcomed. As communists, we stand shoulder to shoulder with all those who fight against apartheid and fascism. Only by a united, multi-ethnic struggle, can we smash the racist, capitalist Zionist system and replace it with a communist workers’ state from the river Jordan to the Mediterranean, as a stepping-stone toward a red Middle East and a red, borderless world.