April 17th Palestinian Prisoners' Day - Free the Detainees

Free the Detainees was made by the Swiss-born artist and activist Marc Rudin and published by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Lebanon in 1991. The poster depicts a bright orange and green-leaved branch busting through a grey brick wall, leaving bits and pieces of debris beneath. In addition, there is chalk text handwritten onto the brick wall. There is both Arabic and English text which states “April 17th Palestinian Prisoners’ Day” to the right of the orange branch and “Free the Detainees!” directly below the orange branch. This references the release date of the first Palestinian prisoner detained in an Israeli prison. 

Rudin’s use of an orange is a direct reference to Palestinian cultural memory. Originating in the 19th century, the Jaffa orange became a source of export for Palestinian farmers, but after the Nakba (catastrophe) of the Palestine War and Expulsion of 1948, over 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes, having to leave behind the ability to physically nurture their goods and resources, such as the Jaffa orange, which were so closely tied to their cultural identity. Additionally, the brick wall represents a prison wall or a visual representation of diminishing Palestinian identity caused by physical separation through Israeli force. However, the work translates Palestinian resistance by depicting the Jaffa orange branch’s ability to burst through the wall shows the emotional and physical force of the Palestinian people in continuing a fight for resistance and liberation of detainees in Israeli prisons.

Find it on JSTOR

Citations:
Charif, Maher. “The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – PFLP.” Palquest, www.palquest.org/en/highlight/23332/popular-front-liberation-pales tine-%E2%80%93-pflp. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024. 

“The Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, April 17.” IMEMC News, 17 Apr. 2024, imemc.org/article/the-palestinian-prisoners-day-april-17/. 

Rudin, Marc. Free the Detainees! www.marcrudin.org, https://marcrudin.org/#/collection/categories/all/media/840. Accessed 2024. 

Sella, Adam. “The Fruits and Vegetables of Palestine and Their Significance.” Al Jazeera, 3 Sept. 2023, www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/31/the-fruits-of-palestine-and-their-symb….