On Prisoners’ Day we remember all Palestinians because they are all detainees

As people around the world mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, author Ramzy Baroud has said it is not just those who are in Israeli prisoners who are detained, “all Palestinians are experiencing some sort of imprisonment”.

“All Palestinians in some way are prisoners. If you Palestinian living in the Gaza Strip, born under siege in the Gaza Strip in the last 14 years, and you have never left Gaza … you are a prisoner,” Baroud explained.

“And if you are a Palestinian living in ‘Area C’ [of the Occupied west Bank] … you cannot leave without Israeli permission, you cannot cross any military checkpoint, you are a prisoner.”

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“Those who are living behind checkpoints and behind the Apartheid Wall in the West Bank are prisoners. All Palestinians are experiencing some sort of imprisonment,” Baroud added during a talk to mark the day and to discuss his latest book “These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons”.

“The 5,000 prisoners, or so, who are in Palestine at the moment, are actually a microcosm of the protracted imprisonment in Israel over the past 50 plus years.”

On April 17, Palestinians mark Prisoners’ Day to remind the public of the plight of those thousands of Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli military jails.