The Israeli occupation high court denied the appeal of severely wounded Palestinian prisoner Israa Jaabis on Thursday, 25 January; she had appealed for a reduction of her 11-year sentence due to her inability to perform essential functions behind bars and the lack of adequate medical treatment provided to her, causing her to live with constant pain and suffering.
Jaabis’ case has been highlighted by many activists recently as her intense suffering has come to light. She has burns over 60 percent of her body and eight of her fingers were amputated, in addition to long-lasting scarring and pain in her face and throughout her body.
The Palestinian NGO Network condemned the ruling of the Israeli high court, calling for international organizations to “intervene to provide protection for prisoners in the Israeli prisons in the face of Israeli disregard for human life and the escalation of daily repression…The performance of the play in the court confirms the extent of the distribution of roles between the various security arms of the occupation, whether political or judicial. All of these systems are tools to inflict damage and destruction on the Palestinian people and land, and the false image of the judiciary and the law is nothing but paper to cover the reality of the state that launches daily killings and is an attempt to beautify its image in front of the world. This requires the boycott of the courts, especially in cases that can be exploited by the occupation authority to cover up its crimes against the prisoners.”
The story of Israa Jaabis is a human tragedy brought about due to occupation, racism, oppression and injustice. Jaabis, the mother of a 9-year-old child, was seized in October 2015 near the al-Zaim checkpoint at the entrance to Jerusalem. Jaabis holds a Jerusalemite identity card, but lived in the West Bank with her family and her son, who has a West Bank identity card. Reportedly, she was informed that she would lose her Jerusalem identity unless she moved back to Jerusalem – part of the ongoing and systematic Israeli attempt to erase Palestinian existence in Jerusalem – and was being forced to live apart from her child.
She had rented an apartment in Jabal al-Mukabber and was in the process of moving her basic belongings to the apartment, including a gas cylinder to power a stove. As she approached the checkpoint, the gas cylinder caught fire after an airbag popped open inside of her vehicle, burning Jaabis severely over 60 percent of her body while the situation was treated as a “terror attack” rather than a medical emergency by the occupation forces on the scene.
She is held in HaSharon prison with 33 other Palestinian women and girl prisoners, including the following:
Shatila Abu Ayad, from Kafr Qasim in occupied Paestine ’48, serving a 16 year sentence
Shorouq Dwayyat, from Sur Baher in Jerusalem, sentenced to 16 years in prison
Maysoun Mousa al-Jabali from Bethlehem, sentenced to 15 years
Nurhan Awad from Jerusalem, sentenced to 13 and a half years
Israa Jaabis from Jabal Mukabber in Jerusalem, sentenced to 11 years
Rawan Dar Abu Matar from Beit el-Lou in Ramallah, sentenced to 9 years imprisonment
Marah Bakir from Jerusalem, sentenced to 8 years imprisonment
Amal Taqatqa from Beit Fajjar in Bethlehem, sentenced to 7 years imprisonment
Yasmine Sha’aban from Jalameh in Jenin, sentenced to 5 years imprisonment
Ayat Mahfouz from al-Khalil, sentenced to 5 years in prison
Sabreen Zubeidat from Sakhnin, sentenced to 50 months imprisonment
Ibtisam Kaabneh from Aqabat Jaber refugee camp in Jericho, sentenced to one and a half years
Khalida Jarrar from el-Bireh, in administrative detention just renewed for another six months after serving six months’ imprisonment without charge or trial
Bushra al-Tawil from el-Bireh, held under a four-month administrative detention order
Ayah Shawamra from Shuafat refugee camp, still detained and not sentenced
Israa Jabir from al-Khalil, still detained and not sentenced
Ghadeer al-Atrash from al-Khalil, still detained and not sentenced
Aisha al-Afghani from Ras al-Amud in Jerusalem, still detained and not sentenced
Areej Amjad Houshieh from Qutna near Jerusalem, still detained and not sentenced
Amina Mahmoud of Jabal Mukabber in Jerusalem, still detained and not sentenced
Tahrir Abu Suriya of Nablus, still detained and not sentenced
Fadwa Hamadeh of Sur Baher in Jerusalem, still detained and not sentenced
Niveen Abu Sal from al-Arroub camp in al-Khalil, still detained and not sentenced
Amani Hashem, from Beit Safafa in Jerusalem, still detained and not sentenced
Nariman Tamimi from Nabi Saleh in Ramallah district, still detained and not sentenced
Sabah Abu Mayala from al-Khalil, still detained and not sentenced
They are joined by minor girls, including:
Malak Salman from Beit Safafa in Jerusalem, sentenced to 10 years
Manar Shweiki from Jerusalem, sentenced to 6 years
Lama al-Bakri from al-Khalil, sentenced to 3 years and 3 months
Hadiya Areinat from Auja in Jericho, sentenced to 3 years
Nour Zreikat from Madama in Nablus, sentenced to 20 months
Ahed Tamimi from Nabi Saleh in Ramallah district, still detained and not sentenced
Ruaa Abu Sal from al-Arroub camp in al-Khalil, still detained and not sentenced
Razan Abu Sal from al-Arroub camp in al-Khalil, still detained and not sentenced
