The Israeli occupation military issued an order extending the arbitrary administrative detention of Palestinian parliamentarian and national leader Khalida Jarrar for an additional six months on Wednesday, 27 December 2017, four days before her detention was to expire. Jarrar was seized by occupation soldiers who invaded her home in El-Bireh on 2 July 2017. A well-known Palestinian leader, Jarrar is a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, head of its Prisoners’ Committee and Vice-Chair of the Board of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.
Jarrar is one of 11 Palestinian parliamentarians imprisoned by the Israeli occupation, most of them jailed – like her – without charge or trial under administrative detention. She is one of three Palestinian women currently held in administrative detention, along with Khadija Ruba’i and journalist Bushra al-Tawil. There are a total of over 450 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention and over 6,100 total Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.
Administrative detention is an artifact of the British colonial mandate over Palestine that allows the Israeli military to arbitrarily imprison Palestinians with no charge and no trial. It is frequently used to target community leaders like Jarrar, and its widespread and systematic use stands in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Protests and statements from around the world, including from political parties and the South African government, have urged Jarrar’s immediate release. She has been subject to repeated and ongoing attacks by the Israeli occupation, including the attempt to forcibly displace her to Jericho from her Ramallah home in 2014, followed by her arrest and imprisonment in 2015. She was also ordered to six months in administrative detention then; however, following an international outcry, the administrative detention order against her was cancelled and she was instead ordered to the no less unjust Israeli military courts, sentenced on political charges and jailed until June 2016.
This latest renewal of Jarrar’s administrative detention comes hand in hand with the detention of over 500 Palestinians since the imperial Trump declaration by U.S. President Donald Trump purporting to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The mass arrests, including the targeting of youth activist Ahed Tamimiand former long-term hunger striker Khader Adnan, are an attempt to suppress the Palestinian people’s resistance to injustice and emerging uprising. This is part and parcel of an Israeli strategy that aims to deny the Palestinian people their active, principled leadership at a critical time of mobilization.
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Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges international mobilization and action to demand the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar, prominent Palestinian parliamentarian, leftist and feminist leader committed to the freedom and liberation of her people. This is a clear attempt to continue the systematic suppression of Palestinian popular movements through arrests and attempted intimidation by an armed occupation force with the clear backing of U.S. imperial power.
We urge all friends of Palestine and the Palestinian people to join us in reactivating the Khalida Jarrar Solidarity Campaign. The detention of Khalida Jarrar represents an attack on the leaders, the political activity and the popular organizing of the Palestinian people. It must be met with intensified solidarity to demand the freedom of Khalida Jarrar and all of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners behind bars in Israeli occupation prisons.
Take Action to support Khalida Jarrar:
1. Contact your Member of Parliament, Representative, or Member of European Parliament. The attack on Khalida is an attack on Palestinian parliamentary legitimacy and political expression and a violation of parliamentary immunity. Parliamentarians have a responsibility to pressure Israel to cancel this order.
2. Use the Campaign Resources to inform your community, parliamentarians and others about Khalida’s case.
3. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy for Khalida Jarrar or join one of the many protests for Jerusalem and distribute this post and other news about Khalida and the Palestinian prisoners. Go to a public square or find your nearest Israeli embassy here: https://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/israel
4. Write to Khalida and show your support. While Zionist jailers frequently censor Palestinian prisoners’ mail, these letters can help bolster morale and even send a message to the jailers and censors themselves. Write to Khalida Jarrar at: HaSharon prison
Ben Yehuda, P.O. Box 7
40 330 Israel
5. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation like HP and G4S. Learn more at bdsmovement.net.
