Mother of son killed by Israeli occupation forces detained; Lena Jarbouni summoned for interrogation

Zeinab Ankoush, 46, the mother of Adel Ankoush, one of the three young Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces in Jerusalem after carrying out a stabbing targeting Israeli military forces, remains detained by occupation forces. The Ofer military court extended her detention for one week on Thursday evening, 22 June.

She was seized by Israeli occupation forces who raided her home in the Ramallah-area village of Deir Abu Mashaal on Wednesday morning, 21 June, in a pre-dawn raid. Her village, home to the three young men, her son Adel Ankoush and Bara’a Saleh Atta and Osama Atta, was under an intensive siege by occupation military forces for one week. She was seized by occupation forces under the pretext of “incitement,” for her public comments after the death of her son.

Ankoush is one of 55 Palestinian women held by the Israeli occupation, including 14 mothers and 10 minor girls under the age of 18. Another of the imprisoned mothers is Sabah Faraoun from the Jerusalem village of Bethany. She is held without charge or trial under administrative detention; she was scheduled for release on 22 June, but her administrative detention order was extended for an additional three months. Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable; Palestinians can be imprisoned for years at a time under such orders.

Palestinian lawyer Hanan al-Khatib emphasized the suffering of families, especially those of the child prisoners and the imprisoned mothers, as the Eid al-Fitr holiday approaches. She noted that Faraoun will be deprived of celebrating the holiday with her four children.

Meanwhile, released prisoner Lena Jarbouni, the longest-serving female Palestinian prisoner until her release after 15 years in April 2017, was summoned by the Shin Bet intelligence agency for interrogation on Wednesday, 21 June. Her brother, Saber Jarbouni, said that she was interrogated for two and one-half hours about her activities since her release from Israeli occupation prisons, including speaking out for the freedom of Palestinian prisoners, especially child prisoners. He noted that this interrogation was “an attempt by the Shin Bet intelligence agency to say that we are always watching you” in an attempt to intimidate Jarbouni.