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Walid Daqqah saw the “little prison” where he spent most of his life mirrored in the “big prison” that housed the rest of his people. His challenge to us and to himself was to free ourselves from the prison inside of us.
Daqqah, a Palestinian who has spent almost four decades in an Israeli prison, served his full sentence but it has been extended. He is also terminally ill and being denied adequate care. These are some of his writings.
"For a long time whenever Milad asked me on the phone, 'Daddy, where are you?' I avoided using the word 'prison.' I feared that it might be too much for her at her tender age to begin to live with this word and its weighty implications,” writes Walid Daqqah in his essay, “A Pace without a Door.” The 61-year-old Palestinian political prisoner and writer was arrested in 1986 and sentenced to a 37 years in Israeli prison. His sentence should have come to an end in 2023 but was extended by Israeli authorities for two years over the smuggling of mobile phones.
Walid Daqqah broke free during his nearly four-decade imprisonment through his writings, his resistance, and the birth of his daughter, Milad. His lifetime of refusing the prison’s walls has brought us all closer to freedom.
Walid Daqqah’s health continues to deteriorate inside Ramleh prison’s death chambers. Yet “despite all the roughness and challenges of prison, Walid keeps saying, ‘I am still kind and loving'” says his brother, As’ad Daqqah.