Palestinian national leader, leftist parliamentarian and feminist Khalida Jarrar was brought before the Ofer military court on Monday, 10 July. Jarrar, also a noted advocate for Palestinian prisoners and the vice-chair of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, was ordered detained for 48 more hours while the Israeli military prosecution determines whether to bring an indictment or an order for administrative detention without charge or trial.
Jarrar was seized by Israeli occupation forces on Sunday, 2 July in a pre-dawn raid targeting her family home. She was arrested simultaneously with another raid targeting Khitam Saafin, the president of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees. At least nine other Palestinians were seized on the same night by Israeli occupation forces.
Jarrar was last seized by Israeli occupation forces in April 2015 and jailed until her release in June 2016; she was held in administrative detention until international pressure forced her case to be moved to the no less unjust Israeli military courts.
Saafin was ordered yesterday to three months in administrative detention. She joins nearly 500 other Palestinians jailed without charge or trial, among 6,200 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable; Palestinians have spent years detained in Israeli prisons without charge or trial.
Suha Jarrar, Khalida’s daughter, shared her experience at the Ofer military court:
There is a growing international campaign demanding the release of Khalida Jarrar, Khitam Saafin and their fellow Palestinian prisoners. Political parties, organizations and movements from around the world are joining the call for their release and protests are being organized in a number of international cities.
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Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges international mobilization and action to demand the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar and Khitam Saafin, prominent Palestinian progressive and feminist leaders and strugglers committed to the freedom and liberation of their people. The arrests of Jarrar and Saafin clearly come as an attempt by the Israeli occupation to attack Palestinian popular movements and suppress them through fear, arrests and intimidation carried out by a massively armed occupation force.
We urge all friends of Palestine and the Palestinian people to join us in reactivating the Khalida Jarrar Solidarity Campaign as well as the campaign in solidarity with Khitam Saafin. These arrests represent an attack on the leaders, the political activity and the popular organizing of the Palestinian people. They must be met with intensified solidarity to demand the freedom of Khalida Jarrar, Khitam Saafin and all of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners behind bars in Israeli occupation prisons.
Take Action to support Khalida Jarrar and Khitam Saafin:
1. Sign the petition! Sign and share this petition, demanding freedom for Khalida Jarrar and Khitam Saafin immediately.
2. 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. The arrest of Khitam is an assault on the Palestinian women’s movement. Parliamentarians have a responsibility to pressure Israel to cancel this order.
3. Use the Campaign Resources to inform your community, parliamentarians and others about Khalida and Khitam’s case.
4. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy for Khalida Jarrar and Khitam Saafin. Bring posters and flyers about Khalida and Khitam’s case and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include Khalida and Khitam’s case in your next event about Palestine and social justice.
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. Learn more at bdsmovement.net.
