International solidarity with Khalida Jarrar and Palestinian prisoners has continued to escalate prior to her administrative detention confirmation hearing on April 15.
CODEPINK is a women-led grassroots organization in the United States that works to end U.S. wars and militarism, and engages in creative protests and actions against U.S. repressive policies. CODEPINK issued a statement and action call, sending an appeal out to their supporters urging action to free Khalida Jarrar, calling on them to join Samidoun’s online action; write letters to Khalida Jarrar; and join the BDS campaign.
The Committees for a Democratic Palestine in Brazil sent urgent messages about the arrest of Palestinian leader and parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar, and her fellow imprisoned members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, to the 81 members of the Brazilian Senate, the 508 deputies of the Brazilian Parliament and the 27 heads of Brazilian state legislative councils, urging them to take a stand against the human rights violations by Israeli occupation, to demand the release of all imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarians and respect for international conventions protecting the rights of Palestinians.
The message text:
“On April 2, the Israeli occupation military raided (with 60 soldiers in a heavily armed force) the home of Mrs. Khalida Jarrar, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah in occupied Palestine. She was taken to an unknown location.
On April 6, the Israeli military ordered her to 6 months administrative detention without charge or trial, a process used on a large scale by Israel. In addition to Khalida Jarrar, there are 15 more Palestinian parliamentarian prisoners, including Ahmad Sa’adat, Marwan Barghouti and PLC speaker Aziz Dweik.
It is worth mentioning that this policy violates the principles of international law, the Geneva Convention, and violates the parliamentary immunity.
We therefore call on Parliament to condemn this Israeli policy and pressure the Israeli state to respect international conventions that protect the rights of Palestinian civilians and to release all of the imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarians in Israeli prisons.”
In France, Le Parti de Gauche (the Left Party) called for the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar, saying that:
“On Sunday, April 5, the Israeli military ordered 6 months of detention without trial for Palestinian parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar, member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The PFLP is a formation of the Palestinian Left fighting for a liberated Palestine from Israeli occupation. Khalida Jarrar is an advocate for Palestinian prisoners, and was threatened with expulsion from Ramallah since last September.
According to the Israeli Army, our comrades of the PFLP represent ‘a threat to the security of the region’. In reality, it is clear that it is the actions of the Israeli army which are the primary threat to the security of the region. More than 6,000 prisoners are arbitrarily detained, including one hundred Palestinian children.
The Parti de Gauche calls for France to act for the immediate release of our comrade Khalida Jarrar, and all Palestinian political prisoners, and reaffirms its support to the international campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to support Palestinian rights and compel Israel to respect international law.”
Human Rights Watch also ran a “Dispatch” on human rights today, focusing on Jarrar’s case:
“We don’t know whether Israel’s detention of the Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar has anything to do with her passionate advocacy for prisoners’ rights. It could be her membership on a government-appointed committee mandated to follow up Palestine’s recent accession to the International Criminal Court. Israel is not saying. But one thing is quite clear: her case is rife with due process violations.” Read more at the link.
