"We are sorry, Samer Issawi, we are sorry, my dear son Fahmi, Salah, my brother and my nephew, really sorry. Please forgive us all, for we are unable to help free you, but we have been protesting and campaigning for only the past year and half," said As'ad Abu Salah, a freed Palestinian prisoner in his late fifties, in a message to all Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails on the anniversary of Palestinian Prisoners Day, April 17, 2013.
Israeli troops arrested Asad and his two sons, Fahmi and Salah, near the border in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun back in 2008. In October 2011, Asad was released in a prisoner-swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in which more than 1,000 prisoners, including the now-hunger-striking Samer Issawi, were released.