Palestinian prisoner Mahmoud al-Arida, the architect of Operation Freedom Tunnel

Palestinian prisoner Mahmoud al-Arida, the architect of Operation Freedom Tunnel and one of its heroes, stressed that "all eyes have to be on Al Mayadeen from where the truth, the whole truth, will come out."

"In a few days, behold the truth exclusively on Al Mayadeen where you will witness how our will overcame their arrogance and how our strong faith shattered their tyranny," indicated al-Arida in a message read Tuesday by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) official, Khader Adnan, on the first anniversary of Operation Freedom Tunnel.

Below is the text of prisoner al-Arida's message:

"In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

Praise be to God, and may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon his Messenger and beyond.

To our great people, a greeting from Allah, blessed and firm as the soil of Palestine and blessed by Al-Aqsa mosque.

To our people in the diaspora, the "Makers of the Trench," who were forced to cross borders against their will, leaving all of their hopes and dreams behind: The beasts of the West have ravaged the land, and everything therein from the crops, the soil, the gardens, and the homes call for retrieving it, so remain committed to your right of return.

Greetings to al-Quds, Gaza, and Jenin, to those stationed in the Triangle (a cluster of Palestinian villages adjacent to the Green Line), Al-Jalil, and Al-Naqab… Greetings to the West Bank and the fortresses of Resistance; to you, and to your hope in salvation… We are more than willing to offer our souls and have our blood spilled for your sake no matter how thorny and bitter the path is. Take our blood and use our skulls as lanterns to light up the path toward liberty, a path that takes us back to Palestine, the whole of Palestine, and a path toward al-Quds that disperses the darkness.

They were bewildered by the heroism of our people, thinking that their walls and materialistic blockades had undermined our will and that the trail of blood spanning from the Syrian [Izz Ad-Din] Al-Qassam to the Palestinian Diyaa Hamarisha had been lost. But Allah disappointed them and humiliated them with his soldiers, crushing their creed and putting forth the creed of roses in Bisan and Ain Jalut. Fighting the Hulagu of the century is a blow to the enemy’s face, disclosing its true face, that it is nothing but a mirage.

This malicious tree that goes by the name of "Israel" has no roots, and its eradication is easily attainable; it is frailer than a spider's web, and its existence is linked to a tightrope held up by the people, by us, the people of the land, specifically. It is an invasive plant that does not grow but in an environment rankled with divide. The first divide in 1937 is what allowed it to exist, and it remained due to disputes and Arab and Palestinian divides. It continued to fester over the last three decades due to the Palestinian and Arab divide, and if the status quo continues in Palestine and the Arab World, we will witness another Nakba targeting Al-Aqsa mosque this time, and this is not far from happening.

We call on our fellow brothers in Fatah and Hamas to uphold their historical responsibilities and take serious steps toward ending the divide, starting with putting an end to the media war that is only driving a wider wedge between us.

We need a revolution and a change in the status quo of terms and concepts, for God does not change people until they change themselves. Our problem with the enemy in this historical issue fundamentally stems from the lack of preparedness in Palestine itself for solving the crisis. The moral and Islamic decline into normalization is fundamentally linked to Palestine, which can never stand as justification for any such decline. We, Arabs and Muslims, are in disagreement about this entity, whether it is a foe or a friend, and we are in disagreement on the manner we are supposed to treat it. The first step is recognition [of the problem]. A sick man must acknowledge his disease and only take the medicine suitable for his illness.

Israelis were baffled, to say the least, as they looked at the tunnel dug underneath them in one of the most heroic prison breaks that shook Israeli security complex to its core.
Here's the Israeli shock after the #FreedomTunnelOperation.#Palestine pic.twitter.com/jZ3rhKuLFv
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) September 6, 2022

Our message to our people in the ’48 occupied Palestinian territories is that the enemy sees you as a growing tumor in its body; therefore, it is not sparing any means to eradicate you and uproot you from your land. A major conspiracy has long been in the making, and it is looming on the horizon. They want strife and blood in every Palestinian home so that a civil war that ends in genocide and exodus takes place. Put an end to this bleeding and destruction before the major sedition befalls us all. Bring religion back to your schools, kindergartens, and establishments, and teach the youth the religious and patriotic principles that the enemy is waging a relentless war against.

The dwindling of religious and moral principles in our academic curricula in Palestine overall is alienating the Palestinians from humanitarianism; we have the right to wonder who is the main beneficiary from this - these are the real reasons for bewilderment in our villages and cities in natural Palestine.

Our beloved Palestinian people, the Captive Movement is not fine, yet it continues to play the historical and humanitarian role of every captive movement for the sake of people under occupation.

The division drove a wider wedge within the Captive Movement, yet the conditions in the prisons grew even more tragic. The prisons' administration is as brutal as its government. The prisoners are unable to halt the offensive due to the divide, and the jailer continues to oppress the prisoners who are largely disheartened due to the entirety of Palestine's failure to liberate them. Hundreds of prisoners have spent record times in prison, which is a great tragedy that calls for holding Palestinians themselves accountable.

It has been one year since six #Palestinian prisoners carried out a heroic operation whereby they broke out of the Israeli #Gilboa prison through a tunnel they dug underground to the outside.#Palestine #FreedomTunnelOperation pic.twitter.com/0MOacJNqKr
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) September 6, 2022

Our message to our Arab Nation is that our enemy is "Israel", and it is the one murdering the Palestinian people and occupying the Golan. It is "Israel’s" army that is desecrating Al-Aqsa and inflicting murder and destruction, and not Iran, the Islamic Republic that has been blockaded for four decades due to its support for Palestine and al-Quds.

Normalizing ties with “Israel” and making an enemy out of Iran is a betrayal of religion and history and a stab in the heart of the Arab Nation. Put an end to this shame before history bedamns us.

Our proud people… our great Arab Nation… who have been with us since it all started, and thus far, you have shared with us our moments of joy, happiness, sadness, and pain. It was our right and duty to share with you every single step to freedom, from the planning, through working and execution, until our liberation that culminated in solitary confinement. Now, all eyes have to be on Al Mayadeen from where the truth, the whole truth, will come out. In a few days, behold the truth exclusively on Al Mayadeen where you will witness how our will overcame their arrogance and how our strong faith shattered their tyranny.

We salute our great people and Arab Nation. Peace be upon you all."