Re-Memberance Against Genocide

Walid Daqqa was martyred on April 7^th, 2024. Daqqa remains a Palestinian political prisoner, as his body remains in captivity, in accordance with Israel's “postmortem detention” policy. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2022, one year prior to his scheduled release from a 35-year sentence. The Israeli military alleges Daqqa commanded a unit which killed an Israeli soldier. Daqqa repeatedly refused this accusation, but in a military court system with a 99% conviction rate against Palestinians, truth and justice have no cornerstone in due process.

In light of his cancer diagnosis, his family submitted multiple appeals to the Israeli military court, requesting his urgent release to ensure access to life-saving treatment. All appeals were consistently denied. Daqqa's 35-year sentence was increased by two additional years for smuggling cell phones to political prisoners in his unit. He was not only denied treatment, but punished for supporting fellow prisoners in their attempts to connect with loved ones.

Walid Daqqa was 24 years old when he was detained. A Palestinian with Israeli citizenship, he was born and raised in Baqa Al-Gharbyeh to a family of modest means. Of his life trajectory, he wrote:

I must confess that I had not planned anything - not to become a fighter, nor to join any faction or party, nor even to engage in politics. Not because I deem all this wrong, nor because politics is undesirable or reprehensible as some perceive it to be, but simply because these were vast and intricate subjects for me. …. Instead, I could have simply carried on with my life as a painter or as a gas station worker, as I had done until I bore witness to the atrocities of the Lebanon War and the subsequent massacres of Sabra and Shatila.1

Daqqa's political and philosophical musings were forged amidst harrowing genocide. It's difficult to write an obituary for a man who represents a collective cause. There is an individuating tendency in obituaries; testimonies celebrating the life of a