Group of the Left in Spanish Parliament denounces expulsion order against Khalida Jarrar

8 September 2014

The Group of the Left in the Spanish Parliament has submitted a resolution to the Parliament (full text below) calling for the Spanish government to demand:
1) cancellation of the expulsion order against Khalida Jarrar;
2) liberation of all members of the Palestinian parliament in Israeli jails.
3) end to harassment of members of Palestinian parties.

Full text below:

A LA MESA DEL CONGRESO DE LOS DIPUTADOS

Al amparo de lo establecido en el Reglamento de la Cámara, el Grupo Parlamentario de IU,ICV-EUiA, CHA: La Izquierda Plural, se presenta la siguiente Proposición no de Ley de apoyo a la democracia palestina y medidas contra la persecución de parlamentarios y dirigentes políticos palestinos, para su debate en la Comisión de Asuntos Exteriores .

El 20 de agosto de 2014, las fuerzas de ocupación israelí entregaron a Khalida Jarrar, Parlamentaria Palestina legítimamente elegida por el pueblo palestino en las elecciones de 2006, una orden militar que ordena que Jarrar no debe abandonar el distrito de Jericó durante los próximos seis meses y sólo puede salir con la autorización expresa del comandante militar israelí en Cisjordania. Acompañando a la orden se encontraba un mapa delineando los límites del distrito de Jericó. La orden establece que en base a información Jarrar es una amenaza para la seguridad de la zona. Le dieron 24 horas para abandonar Ramallah. Jarrar se negó a firmar la orden.

Actualmente Jarrar se encuentra en un encierro voluntario en el Consejo Legislativo Palestino (Parlamento), para evitar la ejecución de la orden militar israelí

Esta orden de expulsión ha supuesto el inicio de una campaña dirigida contra militantes, miembros, cuadros y representantes del Frente Popular para la Liberación de Palestina y otros dirigentes políticos o representantes de movimientos sociales.

Estas detenciones vienen a sumarse a otras detenciones de miembros del mismo grupo político desde la orden de expulsión de Khalida, algunas fuentes apuntan a un número de 25 miembros del Frente Popular para la Liberación de Palestina.

Conviene recordar que en julio de 2014, llegó a haber 34 miembros del parlamento detenidos en cárceles israelís.

El Congreso de los Diputados insta al Gobierno:

1) El Congreso de los Diputados expresa su apoyo a la democracia palestina, a sus instituciones democráticas y a sus representantes elegidos democráticamente.

2) El Congreso de los Diputados insta al Gobierno a adoptar las medidas necesarias, tanto en el ámbito de las relaciones bilaterales como en la UE, para interceder ante el Gobierno de Israel con el fin de:

Cancelar cancele la orden militar contra la diputada palestina, Khalida Jarrar.
Liberar de forma inmediata a los parlamentarios palestinos en cárceles israelís.
Cesar la persecución a los miembros de los diferentes partidos palestinos y el cumplimiento de las garantías procesales de acuerdo a la legislación internacional.

Palacio del Congreso de los Diputados

Madrid a 1 de septiembre de 2014

Joan J. Nuet i Pujals Jose Luis Centella Gómez

Diputado Portavoz

Brazilian labor unions, political parties, social movements support Khalida Jarrar

8 September 2014

Dozens of Brazilian organizations and individuals have signed on to a statement denouncing the expulsion order against Palestinian parliamentarian and political leader Khalida Jarrar, including labor unions, the Landless Workers’ Movement/MST, political parties, student organizations and Palestinian and solidarity groups.

Take action and learn more: Visit samidoun.net/khalidajarrar for all updates and news on the Campaign in Solidarity with Khalida Jarrar, and action items you can take.

The statement follows:

English translation:

We, the undersigned, denounce the invasion carried out by the Israeli army into the home of Palestinian Member of Parliament Khalida Jarrar, and the Israeli authorities’ military order, read by the soldiers, ordering Khalida to leave Ramallah to Jericho, which she would be forbidden to leave – which means, in practice, that she will be detained and may not exercise her mandate.

This is an illegal and illegitimate act by the Israeli authorities, who once again are dealing with the Palestinian parliamentarians with total disregard, as if they had command authority over them. Recall that Israel, as the occupying power, has a duty to protect the Palestinian civilian population in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza under international law, rather than persecuting, oppressing and massacring them.

This only strengthens our repudiation of the genocide committed by Israeli against the poeple of Gaza, and the systematic persecution of the inhabitants of the West Bank and Jerusalem with illegal arrests and home demolitions.

**

Original, Portuguese:

Nós, abaixo-assinados, repudiamos a invasão, operada pelo exército israelense, à casa da deputada palestina Khalida Jarrar e a ordem militar das autoridades de Israel, lida pelos soldados, para que Khalida deixe Ramallah e siga para Jericó, de onde não poderá sair — o que, na prática, significa que ela ficará detida e não poderá exercer seu mandato.

Trata-se de um ato ilegal e ilegítimo das autoridades israelenses, que mais uma vez tratam parlamentares palestinos com total desrespeito, como se tivessem poder de mando sobre eles. Lembramos que Israel, como potência ocupante, deveria proteger a população civil palestina da Cisjordânia, de Jerusalém e de Gaza, como estabelece o direito internacional, em vez de persegui-la, oprimi-la e massacrá-la.

Reforçamos nosso repúdio ao genocídio cometido por Israel contra a população de Gaza e à perseguição sistemática dos habitantes da Cisjordânia e de Jerusalém, com detenções ilegais e demolição de casas.

Frente em Defesa do Povo Palestino
Campanha pela Libertação de Ahmad Sa´adat – Brasil
Comitê de Solidariedade à Luta do Povo Palestino – RJ
Comitê de Solidariedade ao Povo Palestino do ABCDMRR/SP
Comitê Brasileiro de Defesa dos Direitos do Povo Palestino
Comitê da Palestina Democrática
Comitê 29 de Novembro de Solidariedade ao Povo Palestino
Sociedade Árabe Palestina de Corumbá – MS
Centro Cultural Árabe Palestino do RS
Comite Gaúcho de Solidariedade à Luta do Povo Palestino
Comitê Estadual de Luta Contra a Repressão
Comitê Pró-Haiti
Deputado estadual Adriano Diogo (PT-SP)
Deputado federal Ivan Valente (PSOL)
Vereadora Juliana Cardoso (PT-SP)
Vereador Nabil Bonduki (PT-SP)
Vereador Toninho Vespoli (PSOL-SP)
Assembleia Nacional dos Estudantes Livre (Anel)
Associação Islâmica de São Paulo
Centro Brasileiro de Solidariedade aos Povos e Luta pela Paz (Cebrapaz)
Ciranda Internacional de Comunicação Compartilhada
Central Sindical e Popular Conlutas (CSP-Conlutas)
Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT)
Corrente Socialista dos Trabalhadores – PSOL
Fórum Permanente de Entidades Não Governamentais de Corumbá e Ladário (FORUMCORLAD)
Intersindical – Instrumento de Luta e Organização da Classe Trabalhadora
Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST)
Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Teto (MTST)
Movimento Juntos!
Movimento Luta de Classes (MLC)
Movimento Mulheres em Luta (MML)
Movimento de Mulheres Olga Benário
Observatório da Cidadania Dom José Alves da Costa
Organização de Cidadania, Cultura e Ambiente (OCCA Pantanal)
Organização Indígena Revolucionária
Pacto pela Cidadania (Movimento Viva Corumbá)
Partido Comunista Revolucionário (PCR)
Partido Comunista Brasileiro (PCB)
Partido Comunista do Brasil (PCdoB)
Partido Operário Revolucionário (POR)
Partido Socialista dos Trabalhadores Unificado (PSTU)
Quilombo Raça e Classe
Rede Emancipa
Revista Zunái
Sindicato dos Trabalhadores da USP (Sintusp)
União da Juventude Comunista (UJC)
União da Juventude Rebelião (UJR)
Unidos pra Lutar
Via Campesina Brasil
Ahmad Schabib Hany, professor de História, produtor, revisor e tradutor de texto
Baby Siqueira Abrão, jornalista
Claudio Daniel, poeta e professor de literatura portuguesa
Clovis Pacheco F., professor universitário, sociólogo e jornalista
Francisco Horus Moura de Almeida Pacheco, estudante
Gisele C. Costa – pedagoga e pesquisadora em América Latina pela USP
Lucas Marcelo, diretor de Relações Internacionais da União Nacional dos Estudantes (UNE)
Lucia Rodrigues, jornalista
Moara Crivelente, cientista política e jornalista
Rogério Sotilli, secretário municipal de Direitos Humanos de São Paulo
Rosiver Pavan, professora
Soad Schabib Hany, advogada
Wadia Schabib Hany, arquiteta e professora universitária
Waded Schabib Hany, pedagoga e professora aposentada
Waded Schabib Hany, pedagoga e professora aposentada
Zamzam Schabib Hany, médica

Electronic Intifada: Palestinian lawmaker resists banishment, tells occupiers they must go

6 September 2014

Adri Nieuwhof at the Electronic Intifada published an overview of the Khalida Jarrar case, including Samidoun and the campaign in solidarity:

Palestinian Legislative Council member Khalida Jarrar is resisting an Israeli occupation order to banish her from her home in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank to the district of Jericho for six months.

Jarrar has set up a protest camp at the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) — the Palestinian Authority legislature — in Ramallah where she will remain until the order is lifted. “It is the occupation who must leave our homeland,” she has said.

Jarrar refused to sign the military order “to put her under special monitoring” that was handed to her by an Israeli occupation officer at her home in the early hours of 20 August.

The article connects the expulsion order against Khalida Jarrar with other occupation repression of Palestinian political forces:

We have also seen in the past week raids and roundups of dozens of PFLP members, cadres and leaders in the West Bank, Kates wrote in an email. These arrest raids come not only at the same time as the expulsion order against Jarrar, but on the occasion of the thirteenth anniversary of the Israeli extrajudicial execution of PFLP General Secretary Abu Ali Mustafa in his Ramallah office on 27 August 2001.

The Israeli occupation regularly targets political groups on major dates and anniversaries in an attempt to thwart organizing and mobilization.

The entire system of political imprisonment is based on suppressing Palestinian organizing, Kates added. It works hand in hand with the Israeli assassination policy in an attempt to deprive the Palestinian people of their leaders, their organizers, their community and national voices.

And so the expulsion order against Khalida Jarrar is not an individual act, but part of a coordinated campaign to disrupt and suppress the PFLP as a Palestinian progressive, leftist, resistance party and the Palestinian resistance and liberation struggle as a whole, Kates noted.

Click here to read the full article.

Take action and learn more: Visit samidoun.net/khalidajarrar for all updates and news on the Campaign in Solidarity with Khalida Jarrar, and action items you can take.

Jarrar protest tent hub of organizing and activism in Ramallah, Palestine

6 September 2014

The protest tent organized by PLC member and political leader Khalida Jarrar outside the Palestinian Legislative Council building in Ramallah has just ended its second week of events and organizing. It has hosted a European delegation and numerous solidarity activists, as well as a number of forums, events and political activities, turning the tent of resistance to expulsion into a political events center in Ramallah.

Most recently, on September 4, the tent hosted a public debate organized by the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, on whether the performance of the resistance in Gaza has fundamentally diminished the Oslo Accords to irrelevance. Palestinian scholar, academic and former administrative detainee Dr. Ahmed Qatamesh argued that it has, while Dr. Nabil Amro of the PLO Central Council argued that it had not; the debate was moderated by Lisa Taraki, Omar Barghouti and Abdelraheem Al-Sheikh.

Khalida Jarrar is continuing to resist the expulsion order against her on August 20 by Israeli occupation forces; she has been based in the protest tent since the order by a military court was presented to her by a force of approximately 50 occupation soldiers raiding her home in Ramallah.

Over 2,000 organizations and individuals have signed on to demand the immediate cancellation of the expulsion order – including Members of European Parliament Mike Carthy and Marie-Christine Vergiat – and thousands more have sent letters demanding the same.

Take action and learn more: Visit samidoun.net/khalidajarrar for all updates and news on the Campaign in Solidarity with Khalida Jarrar, and action items you can take.

September 5, London: Protest in solidarity with Khalida Jarrar and Child Prisoners

2 September 2014

The following event is organized by Inminds:

Date: Friday 5th Sept 2014, 3:00pm – 5:00pm
Location: G4S HQ, 105 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QT (Closest public transport: Victoria Tube/Rail station)
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/311456522379990/

PALESTINIAN CHILD PRISONERS RAIDED & STRIP SEARCHED

In ongoing attacks on Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons which last month saw 16 violent raids using tear gas and attack dogs on defenseless captives, last week heavily armed thugs from the occupation forces special units stormed
childrens prisoners wing at the G4S secured HaSharon prison. 5 of the children’s rooms were ransacked, and the children were handcuffed and strip searched by heavily armed forces.

37 children are caged at HaSharon in very difficult conditions. They are regularly denied visits from their family.

The food is of very poor condition and the quantity often not enough for all the children, and this has been made worse with recent cuts in food rations. Children have not seen many fruits and vegetables since their arrest.

Children are also facing severe delays in receiving basic medical care, and children education is being unnecessarily disrupted with bans on simple items like calculators for maths. The children are barred from learning any subject other than arabic & maths.

The 37 child prisoners at HaSharon are mostly from Jerusalem and include former hunger striker 15 years old Ubaida Assad whom we have campaigned for before.

Join us this friday outside G4S HQ as we demand an end to all such punitive attacks and the immediate and unconditional release of the children.

SOLIDARITY WITH KHALIDA JARRAR

Member of the Palestinian Parliament, Khalida Jarrar has dedicated her life to defending political prisoners in occupation dungeons. She chairs the Prisoners’ Committee of the Parliament and is former executive director of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and a member of its board.

On 20th August around 50 Israeli sodiers invaded Ramallah and surrounded Jarrar’s home to deliver an military expulsion order expelling her from her home in Ramallah to Jericho effective within 24h.

Jarrar refused to sign the expulsion order, saying “you, the occupation, are killing our Palestinian people. You practice mass arrests, demolish homes, kidnap people from their homes and deport them. It is you who must leave our home.”

The expulsion order violates the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits such forced transfers.

Khalida Jarrar has now moved in to a “protest tent” outside the Palestinian parliament building in Ramallah. She announced that she is going to stay and continue her work from there until the decision is revoked.

Khalida Jarrar has already been banned from traveling abroad in an attempt to prevent her from informing the people of the world of the struggles of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, now the occupation is attempting to do the same within Palestine, wishing to expell her from the administrative capital of the West Bank Ramallah to curb her activism. This expulsion order is clearly another attack of Palestinian prisoners and their defenders.

We in international solidarity must stand with Khalida and repel this attack.

Please join us protest in solidarity with Khalida Jarrar this friday outside G4S HQ at 3pm.

For information on other ways to help, please visit the Khalida Jarrar Solidarity Campaign
http://samidoun.net/khalidajarrar

Child Prisoners & Women Prisoners – The Hares Boys, Lena Jarboni & Shireen Issawi

We will of course be continuing our campaigns for the Hares Boys – 5 Palestinian boys tortured at the notorious G4S secured Israeli children’s dungeon at Al Jalame and then caged at Israel’s G4S secured Megiddo prison, and are facing 25 years for a crime that didn’t even take place. And we will continue our campaign for women prisoners, in particular Shireen Issawi and Lena Jarboni who has endured 11 years locked up and abused in Israel’s G4S secured HaSharon prison.

LIVE UPDATES DURING PROTEST

We will, inshAllah, be tweeting live from the protest with live photos being uploaded to our twitter and facebook page. So if you can’t join us on the day, please help us by sharing the photos as they get uploaded.

https://www.facebook.com/inmindscom

https://twitter.com/InmindsCom

If you support this activity please share this alert widely, thank you.

JazakAllah,

Abbas Ali

Palestinian Prisoners Campaign
www.inminds.com/caged

fb.com/inmindscom
twitter.com/InmindsCom
youtube.com/user/inminds

The Palestinian Prisoners Campaign aims to raise aw

ACTION ALERT: Take action for the immediate release of Dr. Yousef Abdul Haq

2 September 2014

Solidarity Movement for a Free Palestine (SFP) and the Tanweer Cultural Centre are demanding the immediate, unequivocal and safe release of Dr. Yousef Abdul Haq. Known for the phrase “stay humanized” Dr. Yousef lived by this philosophy despite Israel’s attempt to silence him.

On 26 August 2014 73 year old Dr. Yousef Abdul Haq, a retired Economics Professor at An-Najah National University, was arrested from his home in Nablus by the Israeli Army. The soldiers ransacked Dr. Yousef’s home, which he shares with his only daughter.

Dr. Yousef was taken from his home at approximately 02:30am and transferred to Huwwara Military Camp, just south of Nablus city. 7 days later Dr. Yousef appeared before an Israeli Military Court where a Judge consented to Dr. Yousef’s detention, without charge, for 4 months.

Dr. Yousef is known to his friends and the community as a gentle, wise and considerate man. In 2005 he co-founded the Tanweer Cultural Forum where youth and the community gather to organize cultural events, such as poetry readings, filming showings and community volunteering. Dr. Yousef has also been an inspiring and integral member of SFP, resisting the illegal Occupation of his land through non-violent methods.

This is not the first time Dr. Yousef has been interned by Apartheid Israel. He has been arrested 3 times, the last being in 2010 when he was held for 4 months. In total Dr. Yousef has spent nearly 3 years in Israeli Apartheid prisons.

Born in the village of Deir Istiya in Salfit district of the occupied West Bank area of Palestine, Dr. Yousef became a lecturer in Law and Economics at Palestine’s biggest and most prestigious University, An-Najah National University, Nablus. Dr. Yousef was fondly thought of by his students at An-Najah National University in Nablus, where he taught Economics and Law for many years prior to his retirement.

Dr. Yousef had returned to the West Bank area of Palestine in 1993, with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the signing of the Oslo Accords. Despite being Palestinian he had been prevented from returning to his homeland, living in exile with the PLO in Tunis. Since then he has also been preventing from visiting his capital city, Jerusalem, by his Occupiers.

Dr. Yousef has worked tirelessly for his people, his community and Palestine. As a result he has been a constant target of the Occupation. Now in his seventies he is suffering from high blood pressure and should be at home enjoying his retirement and his only grandchild.

SFP and Tanweer demand his release and would ask people around the world to assist in our campaign in the following ways:

Please sign and share the petition demanding the release of Dr. Yousef and the end of the use of administrative detention. Please click here to sign the petition and share widely.
Write to your local representative and raise the issue of Dr. Yousef’s case, requesting they raise it with the Government. A template letter can be downloaded here.
Write to your Foreign Minister and demand they raise the case with the Israeli Ambassador and the EU Foreign Secretary. A template letter can be downloaded here.
Write to the Israeli Commander and demand Dr. Yousef’s immediate release:

Letters should be addressed to Lt. Colonel Sharon Afek Legal Advisor to the Israeli Army in the West Bank Chief Military Attorney:

P.O. Box 10482, Beit El, West Bank
Tel: 972-2-997-7071, Mobile: 972-50-551-1782
Fax: 972-2-997-7326

Write to Baroness Ashton, EU Foreign Secretary. A template letter can be downloadedhere.
Join and promote the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Apartheid Israel. To read the call and learn more please click here.
Join and/ or step up actions against the enablers and profiteers of the Occupation, particularly G4S, which provides much of the prison infrastructure for Apartheid Israel. For some ideas please visit here.
If you would also like to contribute a message of solidarity for Dr. Yousef’s family, SFP are collating messages that we will pass on. Please email your messages here.

Motion made in federal court to dismiss charges against Rasmea Odeh

28 August 2014

PRESS STATEMENT: For Immediate Release | Rasmea Defense Committee

Press contact: Hatem Abudayyeh, 773.301.4108, hatem85@yahoo.com

Defense says charges are product of illegal investigation violating First Amendment

Attorneys representing Chicago’s long-time Palestinian community leader, Rasmea Odeh, have filed a motion and brief in Detroit’s U.S. District Court to dismiss the indictment against her. They are doing so on the grounds that the charges are the product of an illegal investigation targeting both Palestine solidarity efforts and organizing in the Palestinian community.

“Rasmea is facing up to ten years in jail and deportation. She is a Palestinian who has stood up for the Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities of Chicagoland, and to end the occupation of Palestine as well. Rasmea suffered vicious torture and sexual abuse in Israeli prisons, and the U.S. government is trying to victimize her again,” states Hatem Abudayyeh of the national Rasmea Defense Committee.

The motion tells how the FBI and the Justice Department investigated and are attempting to criminalize efforts to empower Chicago’s Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities, as well as work to build solidarity with the struggle in Palestine.

In January 2010, Chicago Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Fox, as part of his investigation into Palestine and international solidarity activists, initiated a request to the state of Israel – through the Office of International Affairs, Criminal Division, of the U.S. Department of Justice – for their records on Rasmea Odeh.

Later that year, on Sept. 24, 2010, the home of Hatem Abudayyeh, who works with Odeh in the offices of the Arab American Action Network, was raided by the FBI. Also raided by the FBI that day were the homes of six other Midwest anti-war and Palestine solidarity activists. In the following months, Brandon Fox’s name appeared as the contact person on subpoenas delivered to 23 pro-Palestine and anti-war activists, ordering them to appear before a grand jury investigating “material support of terrorism.” No one testified and, due to broad public support and a strong defense campaign, no one was indicted.

In July 2011, the Israelis sent a set of documents to Assistant U.S. Attorney Fox, purportedly supporting the claim that Odeh had been imprisoned by the Israelis. Rasmea Odeh was indicted two years later for alleged errors in filling out her naturalization paperwork.

The defense motion states, “Interestingly, the indictment was obtained by the office of the United States Attorney’s office from the Eastern District of Michigan, through a grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of Michigan. The United States Attorney in Illinois, which was the office that initiated the request for the Israeli documents and was carrying out the investigation, apparently passed the case to the office in Michigan, to divert attention from its failed efforts to criminalize…” the work of Palestinian American and solidarity activists in Chicago.

Jess Sundin, of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, says, “We want Detroit District Judge Gershwin Drain to dismiss the indictment. Rasmea is a great person who has done great things. The charges need to be dropped.”

An important hearing in Rasmea Odeh’s case is scheduled for Sept. 2, in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, at 231 W Lafayette Boulevard, in Detroit, Michigan. A picket line outside the court building will start at 2 PM EST and the hearing will begin at 3 PM EST. The Rasmea Defense Committee, United States Palestinian Community Network, and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression (CSFR) are mobilizing to fill the courthouse.

Resisting Expulsion and Deportation: Recent reports on the case of Khalida Jarrar

28 August 2014

The following new articles on the case of Khalida Jarrar include interviews, analysis, and updates on Khalida’s struggle to resist the expulsion order placed on her by Israeli occupation military forces. As of August 28, 2014, over 2,000 organizations and individuals have signed on to demand the immediate cancellation of the expulsion order – including Members of European Parliament Mike Carthy and Marie-Christine Vergiat – and thousands more have sent letters demanding the same.

Take action and learn more: Visit samidoun.net/khalidajarrar for all updates and news on the Campaign in Solidarity with Khalida Jarrar, and action items you can take.

PFLP activist refuses to succumb to Israeli expulsion threats – Bethan Staton, Middle East Eye, August 26, 2014. “In defiance of an order demanding her expulsion from the city, Palestinian politician, Khalida Jarrar remains in Ramallah again today – and she is pledging to stay. Since she received the demand that she leave to Jericho nearly one week ago, the campaign to support the leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine continues to gather momentum, with support from Palestinian, Arab and international groups.” READ MORE…
Israel ramps up pressure – Elizabeth Austwick, Alternative Information Center, August 28, 2014. “Speaking to the Alternative Information Center (AIC), Khalida Jarrar, a Palestinian Legislative Council Member who recently received a deportation order, says this is part of a clear campaign against the PFLP. “They want to punish or use some kind of measures such as arresting or deporting people” she said, to enforce a form of control in the West Bank.” READ MORE…
Palestinian MP Khalida Jarrar Resists Deportation – Free Haifa, August 26, 2014. “The occupation forces have their special way to bring you a letter, or rather to convey a message. On Wednesday, August 20, they deployed some 50 soldiers, in full combat gear, to bring a small piece of paper to Khalida Jarrar, Palestinian MP from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in her home in Ramallah. The time was also carefully chosen, 01:30 at night, in the best military tradition of terrorizing the occupied population.” READ MORE…
Israel expels PLC member Khalida Jarrar – Ahmad Jaradat, Alternative Information Center, August 21, 2014. “Dozens of Palestinian political leaders gathered at the home of Legislative Council Member Khalida Jarrar Wednesday night, prepared for possible confrontation if Israeli troops had come to arrest her.” READ MORE…
Transfert forcé par Israël de Khalida Jarrar, membre du PLC – Ahmad Jaradat, AIC, August 21, 2014. “Khalida Jarrar, membre du PLC (Palestinian Legislative Council – Le Conseil Législatif Palestinien) a eu plusieurs réunions depuis mercredi pour évaluer les possibilités face à l’ordonnance d’Israël de transfert à Jéricho. Jarrar a refusé de quitter de son plein gré son domicile de Ramallah pour Jéricho. Que va faire Israël ?” READ MORE…
Israel kills human rights defenders and their families – Adri Nieuwhof, Electronic Intifada, August 21, 2014. “Jarrar was ordered to leave Ramallah and travel to the district of Jericho where she would be required to stay for six months. The military order is supposedly based on secret information and states that Jarrar “poses a threat to the security of the region, so she must be put under special monitoring.” READ MORE…

National Lawyers Guild Call to Action: Defend Palestinian Legislative Council Member Khalida Jarrar

28 August 2014

The following call to action to support Khalida Jarrar was issued by the U.S. National Lawyers Guild, formed in 1937 as the nation’s first racially integrated bar association to advocate for the protection of constitutional, human and civil rights. NLG members met with Khalida on a recent delegation to Palestine studying the situation of political prisoners.

Take action and learn more: Visit samidoun.net/khalidajarrar for all updates and news on the Campaign in Solidarity with Khalida Jarrar, and action items you can take.

By: NLG Palestine Subcommittee

The National Lawyers Guild strongly condemns Israel’s illegal expulsion of Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Khalida Jarrar from Ramallah to Jericho, two cities within the occupied West Bank. NLG demands that Israel’s West Bank military governor rescind the outrageous order.

On August 20, 2014, in the midst of its brutal and ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip, Israel escalated its crackdown on Palestinian civil society in the West Bank by giving Jarrar 24 hours to leave Ramallah and relocate to Jericho. Under the order, Jarrar is not allowed to leave Jericho for the next six months absent permission from Israel’s West Bank military commander. Jarrar has refused to sign the order and has defied it by remaining in Ramallah. She has set up a protest tent outside the PLC office in Ramallah where she is living and working until the order is rescinded.

Jarrar was elected to the PLC in 2006 and currently leads the legislative body’s Prisoners Committee. An established and committed human rights activist, she served 12 years as the director of Addameer, a well-known Palestinian prisoners’ rights organization, and continues to sit on its board.

Even before it began its assault on Gaza, Israel began a massive crackdown on Palestinian political activists throughout the West Bank, arresting hundreds, raiding offices, and severely restricting civilian movement. Just last week, the Israeli army made 53 incursions into West Bank communities and arrested 90 Palestinians, including 48 from Jerusalem.

There is little doubt Jarrar’s expulsion is an integral part of Israel’s wider political crackdown. Specifically, the order is based on Israel’s accusation that Jarrar poses a threat to the “general security of the area.” But like other military orders that Israel issues to Palestinians throughout the occupied territories, Jarrar’s order does not specify or explain much of anything, including why Israel considers Jarrar to be “dangerous.” Nevertheless, there is likely a connection between Israel’s desire to banish Jarrar from Ramallah and her vocal criticism of the Palestinian Authority’s “security coordination” with Israel.

Jarrar’s expulsion from Ramallah clearly violates Article 42 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. As an occupying power, Israel cannot intern or otherwise forcibly relocate any Palestinian living under occupation absent a showing of absolute necessity. Israel has made no such showing with regards to Jarrar. Further, the order likely violates Article 49, which prohibits Israel from banning a Palestinian living in the West Bank from the territory.

During NLG’s recent prisoners’ rights delegation to Palestine, which Addameer hosted, NLG members met personally with Jarrar. According to NLG Palestine Subcommittee Co-Chair Andrew Dalack, who participated in the delegation, “Khalida left a lasting impression on all of us. She is a leader not by title alone, but because of her critical analysis, experience, and serious commitment to a unified Palestinian political body. Israel has targeted an effective and popular Palestinian leader in another shamelessly obvious attempt to cripple the Palestinian self-determination movement.”

Showing Israel that Jarrar has international support is critical to helping her remain in Ramallah. NLG calls on its members and other people of conscience to contact the relevant Israeli authorities per the instructions below and demand that Israel revoke Jarrar’s expulsion order.

TAKE ACTION!

Here is how you can help Khalida Jarrar:

1) Write to the Israeli government, military and legal authorities and demand the military order expelling her to Jericho be revoked immediately. Use the online alert: Send a message to the Israeli occupation forces and demand they cancel the “special supervision order” imposed upon Khalida Jarrar.

or write your own letter to the following:

Brigadier General Danny Efroni
Military Judge Advocate General
6 David Elazar Street
Hakirya, Tel Aviv
Israel
Fax: +972 3 608 0366; +972 3 569 4526
Email: arbel@mail.idf.il; avimn@idf.gov.il
Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon
OC Central Command Nehemia Base, Central Command
Neveh Yaacov, Jerusalem
Fax: +972 2 530 5741
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Moshe Ya’alon
Ministry of Defense
37 Kaplan Street
Hakirya, Tel Aviv 61909, Israel
Fax: +972 3 691 6940 / 696 2757
Col. Doron Ben Barak
Legal Advisor of Judea and Samaria
P.O. Box 5
Bet El 90631
Fax: +972 2 9977326

2) Endorse the sign-on statement demanding the cancellation of the expulsion order against Khalida Jarrar. Click here to add your individual or organizational endorsement!

3) Contact President Obama and your members of Congress. 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.

White House Comments: 202-456-1111 – Switchboard: 202-456-1414

Look up your House and Senate members’ numbers here.

Denmark: Internationalt Forum demands immediate cancellation of expulsion order on Khalida Jarrar

28 August 2014

The following statement, from the Internationalt Forum in Denmark, was sent to Israeli officials, the Israeli Embassy in Denmark, the Palestinian Embassy in Denmark, Amnesty International, and a wide range of Danish organizations, urging the immediate cancellation of the expulsion order against Palestinian leader and parliamentarian, Khalida Jarrar.

Take action and learn more: Visit samidoun.net/khalidajarrar for all updates and news on the Campaign in Solidarity with Khalida Jarrar, and action items you can take.

Open Letter

From Internationalt Forum/The Middle East Group, August 26, 2014 (Danish text below)

Immediate Cancellation of the Expulsion Order against Khalida Jarrar,

Palestinian Legislative Council Member, Prisoners’ Rights Activist and Gaza Activist

We, Internationalt Forum, the Middle East Group, strongly demand the Israeli authorities to immediately cancelling the expulsion order against Khalida Jarrar.

On August 20, 2014, the home of Khalida Jarrar in Ramallah on the West Bank was raided by about 50 Israeli occupation soldiers and she was presented with a “special supervision order” expelling her from Ramallah to Jericho and mandating that she remain there for at least 6 months. The military order was signed by an Israeli military court on the basis of unspecified and secret evidence. The order violates international law and the 4th Geneva Convention.

Khalida Jarrar refused to sign the expulsion order and has moved into a “protest tent” outside the Legislative Council building in Ramallah. She will stay there and continue her work until the decision is revoked.

Khalida Jarrar is a political leader in the PFLP (the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine). For long time she has been an advocate for Palestinian political prisoners and former executive director of Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association. She is also active in the Palestinian women’s movement. She has during the last weeks been a visible activist in the demonstrations on the West Bank against the Israeli massacre in Gaza.

We condemn the violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people by the Zionist state of Israel. We urge the immediate cancellation of the expulsion order against Khalida Jarrar.

www.internationaltforum.dk – the Middle East Group

Åbent brev

Ophæv deportationsordren imod Khalida Jarrar, palæstinensisk parlamentsmedlem,

Gaza-aktivist og advokat for politiske fanger

Vi, Internationalt Forums Mellemøstgruppe, kræver at de israelske myndigheder straks ophæver deportationsordren mod Khalida Jarrar.

50 Israelske besættelsessoldaterforetog den 20. august en razzia imod Khalida Jarrars hjem i Ramallah på Vestbredden hvor hun blev præsenteret for en ”særlig overvågningsordre” der skulle fordrive hende fra Ramallah til Jericho i mindst 6 måneder. Den militære ordre var baseret på hemmeligt og ikke oplyst bevismateriale. Denne ordre krænker folkeretten og den 4. Genevekonvention.

Khalida Jarrar nægtede at underskrive ordren og er flyttet ind i et ’protest-telt’ uden for parlamentsbygningen i Ramallah hvor hun fortsætter sit arbejde imens hun venter på at ordren bliver trukket tilbage.

Khalida Jarrar er politisk leder i PFLP (Folkefronten til Palæstinas Befrielse), ligesom hun er advokat for politiske fanger og tidligere direktør i Addameer, komiteen for politiske fanger og menneskerettigheder. Khalida Jarrar er også aktiv i den palæstinensiske kvindebevægelse. Hun har været synlig i de seneste ugers demonstrationer på Vestbredden imod Israels massakrer i Gaza.

Vi fordømmer den zionistiske stat Israels krænkelser af palæstinensernes menneskerettigheder. Vi kræver at fordrivelsesordren mod Khalida Jarrar straks bliver trukket tilbage.

www.internationaltforum.dk – Mellemøstgruppen

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