The idea of a separation of powers in Israel is an illusion. Civil judiciary is utterly beholden to the political organs of the state and the military with its own courts.
So the news that hunger-striker Bilal Kayed's appeal against his imprisonment without a charge - aka 'administrative detention', based on a British mandate era colonial law - is set to be heard by Israel's High Court in October is no surprise.
Instead of being a separate entity taking 'an objective' view of a judicial case, the High Court is part of a government-wide system trying to break Bilal Kayed's hunger-strike.
The decision to keep Bilal Kayed shackled to his hospital bed is yet an another standard piece of the theater of cruelty Israel's regime enacts during each hunger-strike.
It's supposedly a show of strength from the occupation regime, intended to weaken the hunger-striker's determination, but it never works yet Israel sticks with it because an old Apartheid dog can't learn new tricks.
Comparing Bilal Kayed's now 60 day long hunger-strike to previous hunger-strikes, Israeli regime's tactics are copied from a hunger-strike to a hunger-strike. Tactics which in nine cases out of ten fail to break the determination of the hunger-striker in question.
The regime knows it has to negotiate, it knows it has to release the hunger-striker eventually and that there is room for 'a face-saving' deal which will allow the hunger-striker to be imprisoned a little longer so that the Israeli regime can claim it hasn't suffered a total defeat.
Yet it refuses to negotiate until very late and goes through the same antics, like this would be a some kind of long-running theater show where the High Court wearily makes the same kind of appearance each time in support of the regime's other Hydra's heads.
The moment the Israeli regime decided not to release Bilal Kayed when his sentence ended it knew there would be a hunger-strike. It decided to start a public contest between oppression and freedom and which oppression, it itself, was set to lose from the beginning. It must have known this from previous experience, yet it went ahead anyway, set on its tracks which is typical for oppressive regimes like it.
When Bilal Kayed is finally free, we might even thank Israel for this opportunity to bring light to the situation of the over seven hundred Palestinian political prisoners imprisoned by the Israeli occupation without a charge or conviction.
But until then we must support Bilal Kayed, bring publicity to solidarity activities in support of him and use this opportunity to demand freedom for other re-arrested hunger-strikers like Samer Issawi and his siblings, who suffer at his side because Israel's regime can't forgive those who win the fight of empty stomachs against it's empire of gulags and steel bars of prison cages.
Samer Issawi had his moment of victory and freedom, Bilal Kayed will have his, the struggle will go on and eventually Samer and Bilal will both be free in a free Palestine.
SOURCES:
Israeli court keeps Bilal Kayed shackled to hospital bed on 60th day of hunger strike; Amnesty speaks out
PFLP members join open hunger strike at sit-in in front of ICRC office in Gaza
PFLP: Setting next October for Kayed's hearing a "death sentence"
PPCS: Kayed may not stand another two months of hunger strike
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