2. Sign the petition! Sign and share this petition, demanding freedom for Khalida Jarrar immediately.
3. 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. Parliamentarians have a responsibility to pressure Israel to cancel this order.
4. Use the Campaign Resources to inform your community, parliamentarians and others about Khalida’s case.
5. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy for Khalida Jarrar. Bring posters and flyers about Khalida’s case and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include Khalida’s case in your next event about Palestine and social justice.
6. 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.
Repressive police forces of the Israeli prison service stormed several sections of Palestinian prisoners in Ramon prison on April 3, injuring prisoners and firing tear gas on them.
Sections 2, 3, 5, and 6 were stormed on Friday night, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, in sections where members of Fateh, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Islamic Jihad are held. The raid lasted from 10:00 pm until the dawn hours of April 4.
The prison administration has locked down the prisoners in their sections, cut their recreation time, and also cut power and electricity to their section, a practice increasingly reported by Palestinian prisoners.
This followed clashes between prison repressive forces and Palestinian prisoners on Thursday night, April 2, when these forces attepted to break into rooms in Section 2 and destroy prisoners’ belongings. The prisoners poured oil and some food in the prison yard in an attempt to block the advance of these units. Allam Kaabi, head of the Prisoners’ Committee of the PFLP in Gaza, said that “the prisoners of Ramon are resisting occupation attacks and storming of the prison, and are facing deteriorating conditions. I urge international institutions concerned with prisoners’ issues to act to condemn the occupation practices against the prisoners.”
319 orders for administrative detention without charge or trial have been issued by Israeli occupation military courts since the beginning of 2015, reported Riyad al-Ashqar, spokesperson of the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies.
This is an increase of 500% over the same period in 2014, when 51 orders were issued, and is linked to the wide-scale mass arrests in the West Bank in June 2014 and after; hundreds of those arrested were not charged or tried but instead ordered to administrative detention.
45 of the administrative detention orders issued in 2015 have been for newly arrested Palestinian political prisoners, while 274 administrative detention renewal orders have been issued by Israeli military courts in the same period. These orders have ranged in duration from two to six months.
In January 109 administrative detention orders were issued; 89 in February; and 121 in March. Of these, Ashqar reported, 133 of those detained were from Hebron (al-Khalil), the largest single group. There are currently approximately 500 Palestinian prisoners held in administrative detention.
Administrative detention is the imprisonment of Palestinians without charge or trial and on the basis of secret evidence for up to six month periods, indefinitely renewable by Israeli military courts. The use of administrative detention dates from the “emergency laws” of the British colonial era in Palestine. Israel’s use of administrative detention violates international law; such detention is allowed only in individual circumstances that are exceptionally compelling for “imperative reasons of security.” In Palestine, however, Israel uses administrative detention routinely as a form of collective punishment and mass detention of Palestinians, and frequently uses administrative detention when it fails to obtain confessions in interrogations of Palestinian detainees.
Hundreds of Palestinian detainees engaged in a hunger strike in May-June 2014, demanding the end of administrative detention.
Among those recently issued new administrative detention orders is Ayman al-Tabeesh, 34, from Dura village near Hebron, for a three-month period. This is the sixth administrative detention order that has been issued against al-Tabeesh, all without charge or trial and on the basis of secret evidence. He was arrested on May 9, 2013 and entered an open-ended hunger strike for 105 days that ended with a pledge to not renew his administrative detention, and that he would be released in January 2014.
However, the occupation military courts renewed his detention without charge or trial, provoking a new open hunger strike for 123 days, which ended with a commitment to once again not renew his detention and release him on January 5, 2015; once again, however, the commitment was broken by the occupation military courts and his detention renewed for the fifth time for a three-month period, with a promise to release him after that detention.
However, on April 3, once again his detention was renewed. He has spent over 10 years in total in Israeli prisons, mostly in administrative detention.
The Israeli Salem military court sentenced Palestinian political prisoner Mona Qa’adan, 43, to 70 months (nearly six years) imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 NIS (approximately 7,500 USD), convicted of membership in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement and running a women’s organization allegedly associated with the movement.
Qa’adan has been detained since November 13, 2012, and her trial postponed repeatedly, over twenty times. She has been denied family visits continually since her arrest, for two and one-half years. Both her brother and her fiance are also held in Israeli prisons; her brother Tareq Qa’adan’s administrative detention without charge or trial was extended on April 1 for an additional four months.
Qa’adan’s family reported that the Israeli Attorney General had previously stated her sentence would not exceed 36 months, but the military court sentence – and exorbitant fine – nearly doubled that sentence.
The Organizing Collective of the Week of Solidarity with Political Prisoners is holding a series of events on global political prisoners, branching out from the commemoration of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day on April 17. The full schedule of events (en francais) follows. For more information, please visit the website for the week of action: http://prisonniers-politiques.samizdat.net/?p=1325
Dimanche 5 avril 2015
17h : Concert de soutien à l’Anarchist Black Cross – Paris/Banlieue organisé par le Collectif Contre Culture
Groupe de Paris du réseau international d’entraide avec les prisonnier.e.s politiques. Retransmission en direct avec l’émission KONSTROY sur F.P.P. (106.3 FM).
Infos et tables de presse.
Avec :
Murder One (Punk Rock)
The Vile (Punk)
3 Gnomes (HC punk veterans)
Centre international des cultures populaires (CICP)
21ter rue Voltaire, Paris 11e Métro : Rue des Boulets (L9) ou Nation (RER A / L1, L2, L9) P.A.F. : 5 euros
Vendredi 10 avril 2015
19h : Soirée de lancement de la Semaine internationale de solidarité avec les prisonnier.e.s politiques
Présentation de la Semaine en présence de Youssef Habache (membre du bureau d’Addameer, organiastion de soutien aux prisonnier.e.s palestiniens)
Débat sur les juridictions et les conditions carcérales d’exception visant les prisonnier.e.s politiques avec Gabi Mouesca (ancien prisonnier politique basque, ancien président de l’Observatoire International des Prisons) et Fuat Kav (ancien prisonnier politique kurde, membre du Congrès National du Kurdistan)
Exposition de photographies de la résistance kurde par Yann Renoult
Vente de tableaux en soutien à la lutte du peuple kurde
Buffet de la liberté et musique traditionnelle kurde
Académie des Arts et Culture du Kurdistan
16 rue d’Enghien, Paris 10e Métro : Bonne Nouvelle (L8, L9) ou Strasbourg-Saint-Denis (L4, L8, L9) Entrée libre
Samedi 11 avril 2015
18h : Soirée de soutien Soirée de solidarité avec les prisonnier.e.s des Amériques organisée par les Trois Passants, le CSIA, Terre et Liberté pour Arauco et le Groupe de Soutien à Leonard Peltier
Informations sur les prisonnier.e.s adhérents à la Sexta zapatiste, les anarchistes incarcéré.e.s à Mexico, les prisonnier.e.s politiques mapuches, Leonard Peltier…
Projections de vidéos et lecture de lettres de prisonnier.e.s envoyées pour l’occasion
Concert de soutien avec
Le Galactic Fumble (Punk’n’roll)
Edouard Nenez et les Princes de Bretagne (Punk maraîcher)
Centre international des cultures populaires (CICP)
21ter rue Voltaire, Paris 11e Métro : Rue des Boulets (L9) ou Nation (RER A / L1, L2, L9) Entrée libre
Dimanche 12 avril 2015
17h : Soirée de solidarité avec les prisonnier.e.s politiques basques organisée par le Comité de Solidarité avec le Peuple Basque (CSPB)
Projection du film Génération d’autonomistes basques sur l’histoire du groupe armé Iparretarrak
Discussion sur la situation politique en Pays basque
Bar et buffet solidaires
Centre international des cultures populaires (CICP)
21ter rue Voltaire, Paris 11e Métro : Rue des Boulets (L9) ou Nation (RER A / L1, L2, L9) Entrée libre
Mardi 14 avril 2015
19h : Soirée de soutien aux Trois d’Angola et Albert Woodfox organisée par Coup pour Coup 31
Projection du film Les Trois d’Angola (prisonniers politiques africains-américains, militants Black Panther Party)
Discussion avec Coup pour Coup 31 sur l’histoire des Trois d’Angola et informations sur la campagne pour la libération d’Albert Woodfox
Bar solidaire
Académie des Arts et Culture du Kurdistan
16 rue d’Enghien, Paris 10e Métro : Bonne Nouvelle (L8, L9) ou Strasbourg-Saint-Denis (L4, L8, L9) Entrée libre
Mercredi 15 avril 2015
15h : Rassemblement de soutien au peuple sahraoui
Esplanade des Invalides (à proximité du métro)
Paris 7e Métro : Invalides (RER C / L8, L13)
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19h : Soirée de solidarité aux prisonnier.e.s politiques dans les geôles marocaines organisée par le CORELSO (Comité pour le Respect des Libertés et des Droits Humains au Sahara Occidental) et l’AMDH-Paris/IDF (Association Marocaine des Droits de l’Homme)
Projections et débats sur la situation des prisonnier.e.s politiques dans les geôles marocaines
Bar solidaire
Confédération Nationale du Travail 33 rue des Vignoles, Paris 20e Métro : Buzenval (L9) ou Avron (L2)
Jeudi 16 avril 2015
19h : Soirée de solidarité avec les prisonnier.e.s politiques corses organisée par l’Associu Sulidarità
Projection du film Génération FLNC sur l’histoire du groupe armé FLNC
Discussion sur la situation politique en Corse
Bar et buffet solidaires
Chants de la résistance corse avec le groupe Scontru
Centre international des cultures populaires (CICP)
21ter rue Voltaire, Paris 11e Métro : Rue des Boulets (L9) ou Nation (RER A / L1, L2, L9) Entrée libre
Vendredi 17 avril & Samedi 18 avril 2015
Festival du cinéma au Cinéma La Clef
34 rue Daubenton, Paris 5e Métro : Censier-Daubenton (L7)
Vendredi 17 avril
18h : Quand ils sont venus la nuit
Court-métrage réalisé par les jeunes du camp de Dheisheh (Palestine) et Regarde à Vue
21h : Case prison (avant-première)
Documentaire de la plateforme des ONG françaises pour la Palestine sur la situation des prisonnier.e.s politiques palestiniens
Exposition photo : Portraits de prisonnier.e.s palestiniens et de leurs proches par Yann Renoult
En présence de Youssef Habache
Samedi 18 avril
15h : Type F
Un vibrant plaidoyer contre l’isolement carcéral dans les prisons de type F, en Turquie.
18h : All Power to the People
Documentaire américain de Lee Lew Lee sur la tactique de répression du FIB contre les mouvements révolutionnaires avec interview de Mumia Abu Jamal, Leonard Peltier…
Palestinian forces strongly condemned the arrest of Khalida Jarrar, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and Palestinian leader, from her home by Israeli occupation forces.
Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee Member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi said:
“On behalf of the PLO Executive Committee, we strongly condemn today’s arrest of Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Member and a member of the political leadership of the PFLP, one of the PLO’s constituent factions, Khalida Jarrar.
It is obvious that her arrest is politically motivated and a violation of her parliamentary immunity, and Israel should respect international norms regarding the immunity of elected officials….
We demand the immediate release of Khalida and all imprisoned PLC members, and we call on all members that are signatories to the Fourth Geneva Convention to hold Israel accountable for its blatant violations of international law, including the arbitrary arrests of Palestinians and the torture of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, Israel’s continued use of administration detention and solidarity confinement, the ill-treatment of Palestinian men, women, children, and elderly, and the constant prevention of visitations by family members. Israel is not above the law, and it must not be given carte blanche to dehumanize the Palestinian people and systematically devalue their basic rights and lives.”
For its part, the joint parliamentary blocs and lists in the PLC said in a statement that “this arrest comes amid a growing escalation by the occupation against the Palestinian people through continuing the construction of settlements, attacks on Jerusalem and the holy sites, and campaigns of arrests, including against elected PLC members.” The statement urged regional and international parliamentary bodies to expose the Israeli policy and isolate the Israeli state, holding it accountable for its crimes.
“Popular and political forces and civil society organizations are committed to work to defend the militant leader Khalida Jarrar and resisting the attack of the occupier as they did when it attempted to expel her. Our people, and the comrades and colleagues of Khalida, will once again impose on the occupation the release of our dear colleague Khalida, to return to the forefront of resisting the occupation and its attacks.
The occupier will learn that the arrest of Khalida Jarrar – like the arrest of the head of the Abu Ali Mustafa bloc, the leader Ahmad Sa’adat, will not stop our contributions to the struggle for the freedom of Palestinian people and Palestinian land. These imprisoned comrades are today shining stars in the sky of Palestine lighting the path for all fighters for freedom, return and liberation.”
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said:
“The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine strongly condemned the arrest of national leader and Palestinian Legislative Council member Khalida Jarrar by Zionist occupation forces, considering this arrest to be a desperate attempt to suppress her activity and prominent national role in defending the rights of the Palestinian people, the prisoners and their struggle, and to confront the policies and plans of the occupation and expose its crimes.
The arrest of MP Khalida Jarrar, along with the arrests of MPs Ahmad Sa’adat, Marwan Barghouti and many members of the Change and Reform Bloc, once again confirms that the Zionist state does not respect any immunity or agreements, urging a quick response to these arrests targeting various sectors of the Palestinian people through immediately ending security coordination and all forms of political and economic relationship with the occupation state, and rebuild the Palestinian national strategy on the basis of the overall conflict with the enemy.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is confident that the leader Khalida Jarrar is able to thwart the occupation’s plans for her arrest, as she defeated its previous plan to expel her to Jericho.”
The Progressive Labor Union Action Front said that:
“Khalida Jarrar has always been known for standing alongside poor and marginalized people and advancing their interests and concerns. She has always stood wholeheartedly with the workers’ struggle and trade union struggles, supporting workers’ rights, union rights, and economic and social policies of justice to support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people.
The Progressive Labor Union Action Front called upon all international organizations and institutions to stand with Khalida Jarrar and demand her immediate freedom.”
The Palestinian Islamic Jihadmovement said that “the arrest of a national symbol such as Khalida Jarrar indicates desperation of the occupation to suppress the progress of the masses in confronting the occupation and its aggressive and expansionist policy,” and called on the Palestinian Authority and its security forces to end security coordination with the occupier in the West Bank.
Qais Abdul Karim, “Abu Laila,” Deputy General Secretary of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine said that the arrest of Jarrar is “part of the overall war by the occupation targeting our people.” The Palestinian People’s Party said that the “occupation is indulging in aggression in violation of all international laws and norms.”
Hamas condemned the arrest of Jarrar as a “Zionist crime par excellence,” warning of the “dangers and consequences of this arrest.” Speaking on behalf of the movement, Salah Bardawil demanded an end to Palestinian Authority security coordination with the occupation, noting that Jarrar was a strong advocate of ending security coordination.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society described the arrest as “an act of revenge in response to Jarrar’s defeat of the Israeli military judge’s order of expulsion to Jericho a few months ago,” and for Jarrar’s role in Palestine’s accession to the International Criminal Court.
Salim Zanoun, chair of the Palestinian National Council, urged international and European parliamentarians and organizations to condemn this blatant violation of the rights of the elected representatives of the Palestinian people, highlighting Inter-Parliamentary Union decisions calling for the release of imprisoned Palestinian elected representatives.
Issa Qaraqe, director of the Prisoners Affairs Committee, said that the arrest of Jarrar is a “message to the international community from Netanyahu and his gang…that the persecution of Palestinians will continue at all levels,” urging international parliamentarians to take action on Jarrar’s case and push their governments to pressure Israel in a meaningful way to release Jarrar and her fellow Palestinian political prisoners.
The Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies and the Ahrar Center denounced the attack and arrest on Jarrar; Fouad Khuffash, director of the Ahrar Center, noted that the arrest of Jarrar is meant as a threat against Palestinian political life, highlighting the occupation’s commitment to targeting Palestinian legislators and political leaders.
The Israeli occupation forces on Thursday arrested the deputy in the Palestinian Legislative Council and leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Khalida Jarrar, when a large group of occupation military forces broke into her home at dawn on April 2 and took her to an unknown destination.
The arrest of the struggler Khalida Jarrar comes after multiple attempts to suppress her work, including the issuance of a Zionist military order expelling her to Jericho for six months. She led a sit-in at the Palestinian Legislative Council for a month in rejection of the expulsion order and defeated the order. Today, we see this aggressive arrest in flagrant violation of the internationally recognized principle of parliamentary immunity.
Wa’ad, the National Democratic Action Society, expresses its full solidarity with Khalida Jarrar and all prisoners in Israeli jails, demanding that the Arab League, the United Nations, and all human rights organizations take action to achieve:
1. The immediate release of Khalida Jarrar and all Palestinian prisoners, led by imprisoned PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat and Fateh leader Marwan Barghouti, the imprisoned representatives of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails.
2. Work to build unity of the Palestinian factions and forces and overcome internal differences to uphold the Palestinian people’s cause and struggle for the liberation of their land.
3. Call upon Arab and progressive parliamentarians around the world to stand with MP Khalida Jarrar and build international soliderity against the brutal and systematic policies of the occupier against the Palestinian people.
The Wa’ad National Democratic Action Society calls to hold the Zionist state accountable for its complete violation of international treaties, in particular Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits forcible transfer or exile of individual protected persons from the occupied territory to that of the occupying power, which is constantly violated in relation to Palestinian prisoners.
The Abu Ali Mustafa Bloc of the Palestinian Legislative Council, via MP Jamil Majdalawi, issued the following statement in response to the Israeli occupation authorities’ arrest of PLC member and Bloc representative Khalida Jarrar:
This crime committed by the occupation is an attempt to seek revenge for the resilience and victory embodied by our colleague Khalida Jarrar, who rejected the order expelling her to Jericho several months ago, supported widely by the masses of the Palestinian people and all political and social forces, and by the international solidarity movement and civil and human rights organizations in Palestine, the Arab world, and internationally.
The criminal occupier repeatedly resorts to unsuccessful attempts to break the will of the resistance and the steadfastness of our people, their militant leadership and their symbols. Khalida is one of these symbols of steadfastness, and her role is cherished and respected by the Palestinian masses. She is our colleague and our comrade.
Popular and political forces and civil society organizations are committed to work to defend the militant leader Khalida Jarrar and resisting the attack of the occupier as they did when it attempted to expel her. Our people, and the comrades and colleagues of Khalida, will once again impose on the occupation the release of our dear colleague Khalida, to return to the forefront of resisting the occupation and its attacks.
The occupier will learn that the arrest of Khalida Jarrar – like the arrest of the head of the Abu Ali Mustafa bloc, the leader Ahmad Sa’adat, will not stop our contributions to the struggle for the freedom of Palestinian people and Palestinian land. These imprisoned comrades are today shining stars in the sky of Palestine lighting the path for all fighters for freedom, return and liberation.
Freedom to all the strugglers in Israeli jails – Freedom for the struggler Khalida Jarrar
Abu Ali Mustafa Bloc of the Palestinian Legislative Council
MP Jamil Majdalawi
Israeli occupation forces issued an order banning Palestinian former prisoner Salah Hamouri, 29, from entering the West Bank for six months. Hamouri, a Palestinian Jerusalemite who holds French citizenship, was summoned to the Moskobiya intelligence building in Jerusalem, and handed a military order, signed by Nitzan Alon, Israeli military commander in the West Bank. The order bans him from the West Bank for six months, from March 24 through September 24, 2015, under the pretext of “maintaining the security and safety” of the area.
Hamouri is a law student at Al-Quds University-Abu Dis with courses in Ramallah, where he must take a qualifying exam in July in order to become a lawyer. This arbitrary military order will prevent him from completing his studies and obtaining his qualification as a lawyer.
It should be noted that Salah Hamouri was released on December 18, 2011, as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange, after 7 years in the prisons of the occupation. The Israeli authorities accused him of belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and planning the assassination of right-wing Rabbi Ovadia Yosef; he was convicted of PFLP membership and was sentenced to seven years imprisonment on that charge.
Jean-Claude Lefort, Honorary MP, coordinator of Salah Hamouri Defence Committee; Françoise Diehlmann, Regional Councillor (EELV); Jérôme Gleizes, Paris Councillor (EELV); Monique Chemillier-Gendreau, professor of international law; Claude Léostic, president of the NGO Platform for Palestine; Annie David, Isère Senator (PCF); Pascal Boniface, scholar of geopolitics; Patrice Leclerc, Mayor of Gennevilliers (PCF); Daniel Breuillet, Mayor of Arcueil (EELV); Pascal Joly, general secretary of the CGT-URIF; Dominique Vidal, writer for Le Monde Diplomatique; Tawfiq Tahani , president of the Association France Palestine Solidarity (AFPS); Michel Duffour, former Minister (PCF), Jacqueline Fraysse, MP (PC), Patrick Jarry, Mayor of Nanterre (PCF); Michel Billout, Senator (PCF); René Balme, honorary mayor of Grigny (Left Front); Jean-Guy Greilsamer, co-president of the French Jewish Union for Peace (UJFP); Pierre Stambul, co-president of the UJFP; Pierre Barbancey, journalist
UPDATE, April 4: Khalida Jarrar refused to speak or eat at all while she was held at Ofer under interrogation before being transferred to HaSharon prison, reported her daughter Yafa.
More international voices are expressing support for Khalida Jarrar:
2. Sign the petition! Sign and share this petition, demanding freedom for Khalida Jarrar immediately.
3. 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. Parliamentarians have a responsibility to pressure Israel to cancel this order.
4. Use the Campaign Resources to inform your community, parliamentarians and others about Khalida’s case.
5. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy for Khalida Jarrar. Bring posters and flyers about Khalida’s case and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include Khalida’s case in your next event about Palestine and social justice.
6. 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.
UPDATE: Khalida Jarrar‘s first court hearing was rescheduled until tomorrow. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association lawyer is on his way to Hasharon prison now to try to visit her. News via Yafa Jarrar.
Issa Qaraqe, director of the Prisoners Affairs Committee, said that the arrest of Jarrar is a “message to the international community from Netanyahu and his gang…that the persecution of Palestinians will continue at all levels,” urging international parliamentarians to take action on Jarrar’s case and push their governments to pressure Israel in a meaningful way to release Jarrar and her fellow Palestinian political prisoners.
