Bail denied for female Palestinian lawmaker held by Israel

Bail denied for female Palestinian lawmaker held by Israel

RAMALLAH, Palestine: A lawyer for a female Palestinian lawmaker detained by Israel says a military court has rejected an order to release her on bail.

Earlier this month, a military judge ruled that Khalida Jarrar should be released. Her lawyer, Mahmoud Hassan, said Sunday that prosecutors appealed the order, and a court said she must remain behind bars until her trial on June 22.

She was arrested at her West Bank home in April and later charged with inciting violence.

Hassan says Jarrar, 52, a political leader of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was arrested for "her political stance, not for any security threat."

The court denied bail, saying she had breached court orders in the past, incited to violence and urged the abduction of soldiers.

Palestinian left-wing groups urge Egypt to reopen Rafah crossing

Palestinian left-wing groups urge Egypt to reopen Rafah crossing

GAZA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Two Palestinian left-wing groups on Sunday called on Egypt to reopen Rafah crossing point on the border between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Rafah terminal has been totally closed since March 11, said leaders of the two groups, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).

Rabah Muhana, a senior PFLP leader, said in an emailed press statement that the Palestinians understand the national security needs of Egypt, especially in the Peninsula of Sinai.

"But the national, legal and humanitarian duties of Egypt towards the Palestinians and Gaza are to reopen Rafah crossing point permanently and resolve all the remaining problems," said Muhana.

The Gaza PFLP leader urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Islamic Hamas movement to resolve their disputes, bridge the gaps between them, and agree on reopening the only crossing for Gaza to the outside world.

Meanwhile, Zeyad Garghoun, Gaza leader of the DFLP, also said in a press statement sent to Xinhua that Palestinians look for a bigger Egyptian role to relax the suffering of the populations in the Gaza Strip.

"The concerned parties must look for a mechanism that leads with reopening Rafah crossing because it is the only exit and entrance for Gaza populations and connects the outside world with us," said Jarghoun.

Since the beginning of this year, Egypt has just temporarily reopened Rafah border crossing for five days only, while the Gaza-based Ministry of Health warned that there are 4,000 patients who are in need of outside treatment.

Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt has been facing difficulties to be permanently reopened since the ouster of Islamist Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, to which Hamas is loyal.

Palestinian demonstrators carry the portrait of Khalida Jarrar

Palestinian demonstrators carry the portrait of Khalida Jarrar, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), during a protest outside the compound of the Israeli Ofer Military Prison, near the West Bank town of Betunia, on May 28, 2015. Jarrar, who was set to be released this week, was put under administrative detention pending retrial said to be next month. AFP PHOTO / ABBAS MOMANI

 

From:  http://www.gettyimages.fi/detail/news-photo/palestinian-demonstrators-carry-the-portrait-of-khalida-news-photo/474955974

Solidarity rally for Khalida Jarrar on 23 May in Ramallah

Solidarity rally on Saturday May 23 in downtown Ramallah on Palestine's occupied West Bank for PFLP's MP Khalida Jarrar, who is still being detained by the Israeli occupation:

Israel court orders Palestinian woman lawmaker freed on bail

Everyone will be able to see the pro- Apartheid Israel bias in this Associated Press article in not only in what is written in it, but in what is not being mentioned in for example in the case of Ahmed Saadat - the murder of his predecessor by Israel.

Israel court orders Palestinian woman lawmaker freed on bail

OFER MILITARY BASE, West Bank (AP) — An Israeli military judge ruled Thursday that jailed Palestinian legislator Khalida Jarrar, a well-known West Bank firebrand, should be released on bail, but ordered her held for at least three more days pending a possible appeal.

Jarrar, 52, has been a vocal campaigner for pursuing war crimes charges against Israel at the International Criminal Court, where Palestinian membership went into effect April 1.

Jarrar was arrested from her West Bank home on April 2, in what her husband said was a pre-dawn raid by dozens of masked Israeli soldiers who climbed over courtyard walls and broke down the door.

She has been charged with inciting to violence and with membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small leftist PLO faction banned by Israel.

Jarrar, a mother of two daughters pursuing advanced degrees in Canada, shuffled in leg shackles into the makeshift courtroom on the Ofer military base Thursday. She told reporters that her detention is meant to silence her, but that "we will continue our struggle until we end this occupation."

Her case has drawn widespread attention, in part because of the timing of the arrest. Defense lawyer Mahmoud Hassan said the charges stem from speeches and public appearances going back two and three years, raising questions about why she is being prosecuted now.

"It's clear this is a political trial," he said. In her three decades of activism, Jarrar was only held once before by Israel, for a month in 1989, her husband said.

Jarrar is the only woman among 16 Palestinian legislators currently held by Israel, including 13 from the Islamic militant group Hamas, uprising leader Marwan Barghouti from the mainstream Fatah movement and PFLP chief Ahmed Saadat, imprisoned for his role in the killing of an Israeli Cabinet minister a decade ago.

The military judge, Maj. Haim Belilty, read the charges Thursday, saying Jarrar participated in marches in which she incited to violence and encouraged the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.

Belilty said she should be freed on 20,000 shekels ($5,000) bail, but gave the prosecutor three days for a possible appeal.

PFLP Official: Israel Seeking to Use Regional Developments to Impose Will on Arabs

PFLP Official: Israel Seeking to Use Regional Developments to Impose Will on Arabs

TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior official with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) warned that Israel is using the developments and crises in the region to its benefit and seeks to use them as a pretext to impose more peace accords on the Arab states.

"The present plots in the region are aimed at diverting the Muslim states' attention from their main priority that is the conflict with Israel and turn the Zionist occupiers into an effective partner and ally of certain regional states and involved parties," Kayed al-Ghul told FNA on Thursday.

"No doubt, the consequences of the regional developments is not concealed to anyone and these events persuade the extremist cabinet of Netanyahu to hatch plots to settle Arab-Israeli conflict through a regional solution in a way that it will impose peace accords on the Arab countries and normalize relations with them," he added.

In relevant remarks in April, Iranian Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said that the US has created the terrorist groups in the region to reduce security threats to Israel and impair the face of Islam.

"The ISIL, Boko Haram and al-Nusrah have been created in line with the US strategy of religion against religion, which seeks to impair the divine face of Islam," Pourdastan said.

"The American and European people's high tendency towards Islam and (the necessity for) protection of the Zionist regime's security have caused the US to create the terrorist groups," he added.

Khalida Jarrar's appearance in Israeli occupation's military court

The imprisoned Palestinian MP Khalida Jarrar from PFLP appeared in Israeli occupation's military court at Ofer prison on occupied West Bank today 21 May.

 

Preliminary rumour told of great news, that she was ordered to be released, but then came news that she would be released next week and then that release has been postponed until "resumption of the military prosecutor", which apparently means appeal by the occupation military prosecutor against the release.

Jarrar's imprisonment has been claimed to be the Israeli occupation's revenge for her support for Palestine's membership in the International Criminal Court.

Beirut ICRC HQ sit-in for Khaleda Jarrar and all Palestinian political prisoners

Beirut ICRC headquarters sit-in for Khaleda Jarrar and all Palestinian political prisoners

On Monday morning Khiam Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine organized a sit-in in front of the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Beirut, Lebanon, in solidarity with captive MP Khaleda Jarrar, member of the Political Bureau of the PFLP, and with all Palestinian political prisoners and also the Lebanese Georges Abdallah, imprisoned in France for over thirty years. 

 The sit-in called for the release of MP Jarrar and all the political prisoners and a note of this and a list of all Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli occupation's prisons was handed to ICRC representative. Several Lebanese parties took part in the protest.

More (in Arabic):

 الشعبية ومركز الخيام لتأهيل ضحايا التعذيب ينظمان وقفة تضامنية مع المناضلة جرار أمام مقر الصليب ببيروت

On the 67th anniversary of Nakba, we reject the colonization of Palestine and uphold our national and historic rights

On the 67th anniversary of Nakba, we reject the colonization of Palestine and uphold our national and historic rights

 

Today we mark 67 years on the great crime of the modern era, when the Zionist gangs in full view of the world uprooted the Palestinian people from their ancestral homeland to impose a state of oppression, racism and colonization on the ruins of the Palestinian homeland. From that day until today, our people continue to uphold their historic rights and the justice of their cause, rejecting all forms of compromises and deals that seek to legitimize occupation and confiscate the rights of our people to freedom, return and independence.
Over 67 years, the Zionist project has attempted to obliterate Palestinian Arab identity and falsify facts and history, supported by US imperialism and the forces of injustice and aggression on the political, military, economic and media fields. However, the reality of our history is of the continuous struggle of our people against the Zionist invasion, blocking attempts to destroy Palestinian Arab consciousness and impose a false history, and preserving our rights to all of Palestine in the minds and hearts of our people from generation to generation, despite all of the years passed since the Nakba and despite our displacement in all corners of the world.

This year, Nakba Day comes in the light of several developments experienced by the Palestinian people and the Palestinian national liberation movement. The Gaza Strip is subjected to brutal siege and aggression by the racist, fascist state that has not ceased since its inception to commit such attacks as part and parcel of the Zionist settler colonial project in Palestine; the aggression and war crimes which targeted all of our people in the strip, leaving thousands dead, thousands more wounded and displaced persons, and destroyed homes. These crimes cannot be separated from the ongoing attacks on our people in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the racist practices of the occupation attacking the political, economic and social rights of our people in 1948 occupied Palestine, nor the ongoing siege ad suffering experienced by our people since the Nakba in refugee camps and in diaspora, who are facing new attacks and projects seeking to liquidate the Palestinian cause.

This anniversary also comes at a time of continued division, fragmentation and confusion on the Palestinian political scene, with all of the concomitant risks to our liberation movement, and which exacerbates the suffering of our people and weakens their ability to resist and struggle as parties to division hold the interests of our people secondary to factional interests. The Arab nation is also facing severe internal conflicts in some countries, and there are plans to divide the region and utilize conflicts and division by the enemy in order to strengthen the Zionist settler colonial proect through the Judaization of Jerusalem, accelerating the settlement projects, the systematic attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque and the mass arrests targeting Palestinians of Jerusalem, while attempting to define itself internationally as a “Jewish state” while tightening the siege on Gaza, disrupting and preventing reconstruction.

On the 67th anniversary of the Nakba, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine emphasizes:

First, we fully reject the results of the Nakba and insist on the implementation of our full historical rights to liberation and return on the entire land of Palestine;

Second, we uphold the right of return, of self-determination and establishing our independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and reject and resist any and all attempts to limit or modify the right of return as the core of the Palestinian cause and a right recognized fully in international legitimacy and the bridge to liberation and the historical rights of our people in Palestine;

Third, we reject and resist liquidationist political projects aimed at undermining our national liberation movement and reject the approach of negotiations which has led to nothing but the weakening of our movement and cause at regional and international levels. We refuse all attempts to return to negotiations. It is important to continue to demand international action on Palestinian rights and the binding implementation of Palestinian rights and relevant United Nations resolutions;

Fourth, the acceleration of national reconciliation and ending the division is important to restore national unity and to strengthen the steadfastness of our people to confront the Zionist project, based on a comprehensive national strategy of resistance and political and organizational national partnership.

Fifth, the growing international boycott movement in solidarity witht the Palestinian people’s liberation struggle as well as the efforts to support Palestinian rights and full representation in the United Nations, is critical in building an international isolation of the occupier and holding its leaders accountable. It is critical to take the battle to the Inrernational Criminal Court, as the political and legal battle must be fought against the occupier, without accepting any limitation or undermining of the full right of our people to resist colonialism and occupation with all forms of resistance, including and particularly armed struggle, as a legitimate right that is upheld in international law.

Sixth, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) must assume its responsibilities to provide all services to Palestinian refugees wherever they are as an international body set up for this purpose. Palestinian refugees must not receive reduced services under any justification or excuse so long as they are refugees and have not returned to their homeland.

On the anniversary of the Nakba, we salute our people in occupied Palestine ’48 who persevere and resist displacement and expulsion today; our people in the refugee camps and everywhere in diaspora in particular our people in Yarmouk refugee camp exposed today to criminal attacks by armed groups; we salute the martyrs of the Arab nation who fell to liberate the land and people of Palestine and all of our people who have sacrificed their lives for our rights; we salute our prisoners of freedom who sacrifice for all of our freedom.

PFLP calls for an end to security coordination, political arrests 

 

NABLUS, (PIC)-- The senior leader in the Popular Front for the Palestinian Liberation (PFLP) Zaher  Shishtri called for the implementation of the PLO Central Council’s decisions to stop security coordination with the occupation, halting political detention policy, and establishing a democratic society.

Shishtri strongly condemned PA security forces spokesperson’s recent statements in which he claimed that Palestinian security services never arrest any Palestinian for his political affiliation.

He stressed the urgent need to criminalize political arrest policy in West Bank and to immediately put an end to the continued arrests and summons over political affiliation.

"Establishing a democratic society based on freedoms and away from political arrests would only guarantee a strong national unity that ends internal division and faces Israeli violations," he said.

Meanwhile, the political detainee Islam Hamed, 30, continues his hunger strike for 27 days running protesting against his continued detention in PA jails despite a court’s decision that ordered his release two years ago.

Dozens of West Bankers are currently held in PA jails for their affiliation to a political party or point of view.

PFLP: Syrian Army to Begin Fresh Operations to Control Yarmouk Camp Soon

PFLP: Syrian Army to Begin Fresh Operations to Control Yarmouk Camp Soon

TEHRAN (FNA)- Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Spokesman Anwar Raja disclosed that the Syrian army will soon usher in fresh military operations to take full control of Yarmouk Palestinian Refugee Camp in Damascus countryside.

"The Syrian army's military operations to win full control over Yarmouk camp is imminent," Raja told FNA on Friday.

He noted that Yarmouk camp has been under terrorists' attacks for over two years now, and said, "This is while more than 1 million Syrian citizens and 180,000 Palestinians resided there." Last month, Palestinian Ambassador to Damascus Anwar Abdulhadi voiced his concern over the deteriorating conditions of the civilian population in Yarmouk, and urged Iran to make immediate moves help to put an end to the siege of the Palestinian refugee camp.

"I request … the Iranian officials to help the Palestinians of Yarmouk refugee camp, who have been forced to flee due to the tragic conditions of the camp caused by the presence of militant groups," Abdulhadi told FNA.

Starvation deaths in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus have increased dramatically.

Palestinian forces inside Yarmouk are largely surrounded by the ISIL fighters who have captured large swathes of the camp since an assault that began earlier this month.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, confirmed that "hundreds" of people had been evacuated from the camp.

In early April, a group of 14 Palestinian factions backed a joint military operation with the Syrian government to expel the ISIL terrorists from the Yarmouk refugee camp in Southern Damascus.

The factions support “a security solution that will be carried out in partnership with the Syrian state,” Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official Ahmed Majdalani said.

Also in early April, the ISIL was reported to be in control of a “large part” of the camp after fighting with Palestinian groups also opposed to President Bashar Assad’s forces.

An agreement last year between terrorists and the government, backed by Palestinian factions, led to an easing of the siege, but humanitarian access has remained limited.

PFLP holds “Loyalty to Resistance” festival

PFLP holds “Loyalty to Resistance” festival

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) on Friday held the “Loyalty to Resistance & Return’s Martyrs” festival marking the 67th anniversary of the Nakba in Jaramana in Damascus Countryside.

“Nakba” is an Arabic term meaning “catastrophe” which refers to the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent displacement of the Palestinian people.

Deputy Secretary-General of the PFLP Abu Ahmad Fuad lashed out at some Arab countries which he said had signed accords with the Zionist Entity “just to protect their tribes and kingdoms.”

Commenting on the situation of Yarmouk, a refugee camp near Damascus where thousands of Syrian and Palestinian citizens are besieged by terrorist organizations including ISIS which overran the camp with the help of Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists, he said that the Front supports any solution that ensures the return of the locals to the camp and keeps the Palestinian camps in Syria away from the raging crisis.

A number of participants said that the right to return is sacred and all 67 years of instability that followed Nakba will not fragment the Palestinians or blur their national identity.

 

Comrade Abu Aker’s Administrative Detention Renewed

Comrade Abu Aker’s Administrative Detention Renewed 

Zionist occupation authorities extended the administrative detention of Comrade Nidal Naeem Abu Aker, 49, a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in Dheisheh refugee camp of Bethlehem, for a four-month period for the fourth consecutive time.

The military judge in the Zionist military court in Ofer approved the decision issued by the occupation security authorities on the basis of secret evidence, however; the representative of the military prosecution claimed that Abu Aker poses a threat to the security of the region in where he lives besides being one of the leaders of the PFLP.

Abu Aker was arrested by Israeli occupation forces in late June 2014, during a mass arrest campaign against Palestinians in West Bank, and held in administrative detention Abu Aker has previously been arrested several times with a total of twelve years, including nine years in administrative detention without charge or trial.
Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said that the arrest of Nidal Abu Aker, a member of its General Assembly and presents a program about Palestinian political prisoners in al-Wihda local Radio, came on the basis of a political decision, therefore; it is an illegal decision, just like all administrative detainees. The Syndicate also called for the need to act to his immediate release.

Fifteen detainees of the Palestinian Journalists and Media staff detained by the occupation forces, most of them held under administrative detention, last of whom Palestinian journalist Amin Abu Warda, who was arrested from his house in Balata refugee camp and held in administrative detention about two weeks ago.

The Democratic Rally of Journalists also said that the renewal of the detention order comes in the framework of the continued attacks by occupation on Palestinian journalists in order to discourage them from performing their professional and national duty to expose his crimes and baring his policies, calling on the Arab and International Federations of Journalists to exercise effective pressures on the Israeli occupation government to halt its hand from journalists and the media and to release Palestinian Journalist Abu Aker and all journalist prisoners.

Khalida Jarrar’s administrative detention limited; imprisonment and military charges continue

Khalida Jarrar’s administrative detention limited; imprisonment and military charges continue
 

The administrative detention of Khalida Jarrar, imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarian and political leader, was officially limited on May 4 by Israeli military order, reported her lawyers with Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association on May 5. Jarrar remains imprisoned, charged before Israeli military courts with twelve purely political charges that include membership and leadership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the left wing Palestinian party Jarrar represents through the Abu Ali Mustafa bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council. Other of the charges include advocating for the release of Palestinian political prisoners and speaking at public events.

Israeli military officials have already stated their intention to continue to imprison Jarrar while she is tried on these political charges by an Israeli military court. Israeli military courts convict 99.74% of the Palestinians who appear before them and in no way meet international standards for a fair trial. Palestinians can be charged for violating any Israeli military order, including for membership in or “services to” “prohibited organizations,” which include all major Palestinian political parties. “Services” can include attendance at public events or calling for freedom for imprisoned Palestinians. Administrative detention is imprisonment without charge or trial on the basis of secret evidence for indefinitely renewable one to six month periods. It is in violation of international law and human rights norms. 401 Palestinians have been issued administrative detention orders by the Israeli military so far in 2015.

“Whether Khalida Jarrar is being detained under administrative detention or for Israeli military trial, she is facing one framework of repression, racism and mass incarceration targeting Palestinian political life and expression. Both systems of detention are part and parcel of maintaining military control and occupation over the Palestinian people, and both are arbitrary forms of political detention and imprisonment that target Palestinian leaders and organizers,” said Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

The order was issued a day before a scheduled hearing on her administrative detention on May 6. Another scheduled hearing on April 29 at Ofer Military Court on the twelve charges against her was postponed as well with no action.

Addameer’s statement follows in full:

PLC Member Khalida Jarrar‘s administrative detention order limited, trial continues

Thursday 05 May 2015 – occupied Ramallah

This morning, the defense team of Palestinian Legislative Council Member Khalida Jarrar was made aware that her administrative detention military order was limited to end on 04 May 2015. The administrative detention lasted for one month and two days.

The decision by the military commander to limit her administrative detention order indicated specifically that shortening the order does not undermine other arrest orders against Mrs. Jarrar, suggesting that the prosecution will continue to request that she is remanded until the end of her on-going trial.

The cancellation of her administrative detention order does not prevent the military prosecution to use secret information against Mrs. Jarrar to justify her remaining in detention until the end of trial.

Mrs. Khalida Jarrar was arrested on Thursday, 2 April 2015 after a raid on her home in Ramallah and received a 6-month administrative detention order on Sunday, 5 April 2015. A list of charges was also issued against her on 15 April 2015. The twelve charges against her revolve around her role as a PLC member and political leader and for her campaigning for prisoners. Addameer considers the arrest of Mrs. Jarrar to be a political one, and calls for her immediate release.

Addameer also raises concerns about the health of Mrs. Jarrar in her continued detention. Medical tests have indicated that Mrs. Jarrar has multiple ischemic infarctions and hypercholesterolemia. Based on medical records from the Palestine Medical Complex, she has been admitted to hospitalization due to epistaxis where she was treated to stop continuous bleeding. She has also been previously treated for deep vein thrombosis numerous times.

Mrs. Jarrar has had a travel ban imposed on her movement since 1998, and she has only been permitted to travel on one occasion for medical treatment in 2010, following legal proceedings and diplomatic pressure.

Addameer’s position is that the prosecution’s recent actions confirm the political nature of Mrs. Jarrar’s arrest. The prosecution appears to be exhausting all legal procedures within its power to keep Mrs. Jarrar in detention. Addameer also affirms that this is a politically motivated arrest which contravenes international law, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, with regards to rights to political opinions and inherent civil rights.

Currently, Mrs. Jarrar is one of 12 PLC members held in detention, 6 of whom are held under administrative detention.

Khalida Jarrar is 52-years old and has been a Palestinian Legislative Council member since 2006. She also heads the subject of prisoner’s issues in the Palestinian Legislative Council, and is also deputy chairperson of the Board of Directors of Addameer. 

Take Action to support Khalida Jarrar:

1. Click here: Send a message to the Israeli Occupation Forces and demand the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar.It is important that the occupation learns that Khalida has supporters around the world who will not be silent in the face of this injustice.

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. Send a letter to Khalida Jarrar – help support her and show her jailers that the world is with her!

5. Use the Campaign Resources to inform your community, parliamentarians and others about Khalida’s case.

6. 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. 

7. 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.  

Khalida Jarrar Solidarity Campaign: Free Khalida Jarrar!

Khalida Jarrar Solidarity Campaign: Free Khalida Jarrar! Stand with Khalida. Stand with Justice. Stand with Palestine.

UPDATE, April 26: Khalida Jarrar’s April 29 hearing was postponed; a new date will be announced in the coming days.

A flashmob protest in Brussels on April 26 called for Khalida’s freedom. Pictures at the link.

The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz ran a staff editorial urging Jarrar’s release, following up on a lengthy April 24 interview with Khalida’s husband, Ghassan Jarrar.

A new website, http://freekhalidajarrar.org, has been launched, focusing on Khalida Jarrar’s case, with input from Samidoun and other Palestinian prisoner and solidarity organizations.

UPDATE, April 22: Khalida Jarrar was named “Truthdigger of the Week” by activist journalist site Truthdig, which highlighted her case:

These measures—including the aggressive persecution of Jarrar, an elected official—are Israel’s message to the Palestinian people not to challenge its power. As Israel attempts to silence and break her down, what makes Khalida Jarrar, our Truthdigger of the Week, so dangerous is her speaking truth to this power.

Jarrar’s daughter, Yafa, conducted an interview on Canadian radio station CKCU, which can be listened to online here: http://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/425/21653.html

Activists in Brussels planned a flashmob for April 26, focusing on freedom for Khalida Jarrar, to be attended by Joke Callevaert, a Belgian lawyer who observed Khalida’s military court hearing. Jarrar herself met with Palestinian lawyer Hanan al-Khatib, denouncing her arrest as having “no legal justification” and highlighting the harsh conditions for Palestinian prisoners, particularly the use of the metal “bosta” for the 9-hour trip to Ofer military court from HaSharon prison.

UPDATE, April 17: The Portuguese Assembly of the Republic (national Parliament) voted on April 17 to adopt a solidarity vote urging the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar, a measure proposed by the Portuguese Communist Party and supported by the Socialist Party, Greens, and the Left Bloc.

The vote followed a letter by 58 Members of European Parliament urging Jarrar’s immediate release and EU action to pressure Israel for her freedom.

April 17 also marked Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, where Jarrar’s case was highlighted by protesters and activists around the world.

UPDATE, April 15: The Israeli military court in Ofer convened a hearing on the case of imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarian, feminist and leftist political leader Khalida Jarrar, whose case has garnered widespread international support since her arrest on April 2. Jarrar had previously rejected an Israeli order to deport her from her home in Ramallah to Jericho, achieving a victory and the cancellation of the order.

Jarrar had previously been ordered to six months’ administrative detention; the hearing on April 15 was a rescheduling of the prior hearing on April 8, ostensibly to confirm the military order of administrative detention without charge or trial. Instead, on the April 15 hearing, the administrative detention order was confirmed; in addition, the military court leveled 12 entirely political charges against Jarrar, all of them related to her public speeches and political activities and advocacy for Palestinian political prisoners. It must be noted that nearly all Palestinian political parties and organizations, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, are banned by the Israeli military occupation, by military order, and membership in those parties, attending public events, engaging in television interviews or giving public speeches may be prosecuted by the Israeli military occupation.

The military court hearing was attended by representatives of the European Union, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and Amnesty International, in addition to other observer lawyers. “We were surprised by the prosecution, which explicitly said last week there were no grounds to detain her until the end of proceedings,” said Jarrar’s lawyer, Sahar Francis in Haaretz. “The indictment strengthens our argument that the imprisonment is vindictive.”

Despite the indictment, the military judge retained the administrative detention order, in order to continue to imprison Jarrar without trial and without providing any reasons to continue her detention and deny her release on bail. Her next hearing, on whether she will be imprisoned until trial on the charges, will be held on April 29, followed by a hearing on administrative detention May 6.

UPDATE, April 12: Khalida Jarrar’s hearing at Ofer Military Court was postponed by one day, to April 15 at 11:00 am, reported Addameer.

Support for Khalida’s freedom has continued to grow: the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights addressed her case; Amnesty International issued an urgent appeal about her detention; Human Rights Watch published a bulletin on her case; CODEPINK sent an action alert, while in France and Brazil, more political parties and organizations expressed their support for her freedom.

UPDATE, April 8: Khalida Jarrar’s administrative detention confirmation hearing at Ofer Military Court was postponed for six days, until April 14, reported Addameer. There were 14 items of “open evidence” (aside from the secret evidence not presented to Jarrar or her lawyers) not provided to her defense lawyers; they requested and received the postponement until April 14.

Now, more than ever, action is necessary in order to escalate the pressure to free Khalida Jarrar. More actions to support Jarrar:
SFP joins Nablus action calling for Jarrar’s freedom
France: Young Communists call for Jarrar’s freedom
Sweden: Free Khalida Jarrar, Proletaren
Portugal: Demand Immediate Liberation of Khalida Jarrar
Protests in US and Palestine call for freedom for Jarrar
Danish, French, Italian Solidarity; Ha’aretz editorial and PCHR call to free Khalida
Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees urge solidarity with Jarrar

Take Action to support Khalida Jarrar:

1. Click here: Send a message to the Israeli Occupation Forces and demand the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar.It is important that the occupation learns that Khalida has supporters around the world who will not be silent in the face of this injustice.

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. Send a letter to Khalida Jarrar – help support her and show her jailers that the world is with her!

5. Use the Campaign Resources to inform your community, parliamentarians and others about Khalida’s case.

6. 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.

7. 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, April 5, 2:30 pm: Khalida Jarrar, Palestinian leader, parliamentarian and feminist, has been issued a six-month administrative detention order imprisoning her without charge or trial, at the behest of the Israeli military commander in the West Bank, reported Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association – Jarrar’s lawyers – on April 5.

Mahmoud Hassan, lawyer with Addameer and director of its Legal Unit, reported that a military court session at Ofer will confirm the order on Wednesday, April 8, 2015. Jarrar is the former Executive Director of Addameer and Vice President of its Board of Directors, as well as the chair of the Palestinian Legislative Council Prisoners’ Committee and a member of the Palestinian national follow-up committee for the International Criminal Court.

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.

UPDATE, April 5: 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.

More statements in support of Khalida Jarrar:
Widespread Palestinian support, statements from the PLO (Hanan Ashrawi); the PFLP; the Progressive Labor Union Action Front; Islamic Jihad; the DFLP; Hamas; People’s Party; Palestinian Prisoners’ Society; Issa Qaraqe; Ahrar Center and the Prisoners Center for Studies
Bahrain: Wa’ad National Democratic Action Society demands freedom for Khalida Jarrar
Khalida Jarrar’s PLC bloc, the Abu Ali Mustafa bloc, demands her release

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:
EH Bildu (Euskal Herria Bildu), a Basque left political party with representation in the European Parliament, demands immediate release of Khalida Jarrar
Association France-Palestine Solidarite: Khalida Jarrar doit être libérée
Canada – National Education Committee on Israel/Palestine on Khalida Jarrar
Canada, Toronto – Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid calls for action for Khalida Jarrar
Denmark – Internationalt Forum: Freedom for Khalida Jarrar!

Italian language alert: http://kanafani.it/?p=882
French language alert: http://www.couppourcoup31.com/2015/04/la-militante-palestinienne-khalda-jarrar-a-ete-arretee.html
Spanish language alert: http://samidoun.net/2015/04/espanol-lider-palestina-diputada-khalida-jarrar-fue-arrestada-por-fuerzas-de-ocupacion-israeli/

Protests in solidarity with Khalida Jarrar:
London, April 2: Video, Protest to Free Palestinian Prisoners, focusing on Khalida Jarrar and child prisoners
Albuquerque, April 6: Emergency Protest to Free Khalida Jarrar

UPDATE, April 2: Khalida Jarrar has been held in Ofer under investigation. Her investigation period has ended and she will be transferred to HaSharon prison. Her detention may be extended on Sunday. A military prosecutor will either submit charges, hold her under administrative detention, or release her. Khalida is in the Palestinian National Commission for the followup of the International Criminal Court.

Israeli media have reported that, according to Ma’an News, “Jarrar was detained for being the leader of a ‘terrorist organization’, and had encouraged ‘terror activities’ over the last few weeks.”

Reports on Khalida Jarrar’s arrest (small selection among numerous reports):
“She speaks the truth:” Palestinian leftist parliamentarian arrested in early morning raid, Charlotte Kates, Mondoweiss
Ashrawi: Jarrar’s Arrest Is a Politically Motivated Violation of Her Parliamentary Immunity, Palestine News Network
Israel arrests leftist lawmaker Khalida Jarrar, Middle East Eye
Palestinians condemn Israel’s arrest of prominent leftist lawmaker Khalida Jarrar, Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada
Leftist Palestinian Lawmaker Jarrar Arrested by Israeli Forces, TeleSUR English
Israeli soldiers arrest feminist Palestinian lawmaker, Haggai Matar, +972 Mag
PFLP member Khalida Jarrar detained for ‘inciting terror activity’, Ma’an News

BREAKING NEWS: April 2, 2015 – Khalida Jarrar’s Ramallah home was raided by dozens of armed Israeli occupation forces. Khalida’s husband was locked in another room as the Palestinian parliamentarian and leader was forcibly taken from her home and arrested by Israeli forces. Take action now to demand her immediate release.
LATEST UPDATE: As of September 16, 2014, Khalida Jarrar has achieved victory! Occupation military court lowered the expulsion order from six months to one month; with one month having passed since the date of the order, the expulsion order has been lifted. Congratulations to Khalida Jarrar and thank you to the thousands around the world who made a critical difference! Victory for Khalida Jarrar – on the road to victory for Palestine!
2000+ organizations and individuals stand with Khalida Jarrar
Resisting Expulsion and Deportation: Recent reports on the case of Khalida Jarrar
National Lawyers Guild Call to Action: Defend Palestinian Legislative Council Member Khalida Jarrar
Denmark: Internationalt Forum demands immediate cancellation of expulsion order on Khalida Jarrar
Middle East Eye: PFLP activist refuses to succumb to expulsion order
Palestinian Civil Society calls on UN Secretary-General to intervene in case of Khalida Jarrar
Audio Interview: Yafa Jarrar on Palestine, organizing and Khalida’s case

Khalida Jarrar, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and longtime advocate for Palestinian political prisoners, was given an internal expulsion order by Israeli occupation soldiers who invaded her Ramallah home at 1:30 am on August 20, 2014 ordering her expelled from Ramallah to Jericho within 24 hours. Click here to take action and stand with Khalida!

Approximately 50 soldiers surrounded Jarrar’s home, delivering the “Special Supervision Order” that ordered her to Jericho within 24 hours, and to stay within the city limits of that city for an initial period of six months. The Order (unofficial translation here) comes from an Israeli military court, is based on secret evidence and offers nothing more than allusions to “intelligence information” to justify this forced expulsion and transfer.

Jarrar refused to sign the expulsion order, saying “you, the occupation, are killing our Palestinian people. You practice mass arests, demolish homes, kidnap people from their homes and deport them. It is you who must leave our home.” She has moved to stay in a “protest tent” outside the legislative council building in Ramallah.

Masao Adachi, “Artist of Fasting”: New work by radical filmmaker at Asian Arts Theatre in September

After a career ranging from politicised “pink films” with Wakamatsu Productions and developing the fūkeiron (landscape theory) of filmmaking, to propaganda for the PFLP and then joining Fusako Shigenobu’s Japanese Red Army (a period referred to rather euphemistically by the Asian Arts Theatre blurb as “28-year-long activities in Lebanon devoted to the independence of Palestine”).

He was ultimately arrested in Lebanon and extradited to Japan in 2000, where he served a short sentence. Perhaps no one more than Adachi represents the conflict between being an activism and being an artist, and the attempt to reconcile the two.

More at: Masao Adachi, “Artist of Fasting”: New work by radical filmmaker at Asian Arts Theatre in September

60 political detainees held in PA jails

60 political detainees held in PA jails

The PA Security Services continue to detain 60 Palestinian citizens over their political affiliation. Most of the political detainees are members and supporters of Hamas movement, the Committee of Political Detainees’ Families said in a report issued on Sunday...
 
An activist in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-PFLP has been held in PA jails since April 2009, while three members of the Islamic Jihad movement have been detained since March 2010.

More at:  60 political detainees held in PA jails

Palestinians in Gaza rally and march in support of Yarmouk under attack

Palestinians in Gaza rally and march in support of Yarmouk under attack

The National and Islamic Forces in Gaza organized a mass march in support of the struggling Palestinian people in Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria, who are now threatened with the massacre at the hands of the criminal gang ISIS. Thousands attended the march in Nuseirat with broad participation from many Palestinian organizations, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The march was led by a vehicle calling out slogans and songs of solidarity with Yarmouk camp, and marched through Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza.

Participants carried Palestinian flags and signs in solidarity with fellow Palestinians in Yarmouk, emphasizing the urgent need to stop the bleeding of our people and remove ISIS from the camp. The marchers called on Palestinian leadership to take action to end the suffering of Palestinians in Syria. Imad Al-Helou, speaking on behalf of the National and Islamic Forces, said “today, we all stand here together to say that Yarmouk camp will not fall, and will defeat all of the conspiracies targeting our people in Yarmouk, the capital of the diaspora.” He also emphasized the need to end the bloodshed in the camp practiced by armed groups, and to end the siege of Yarmouk camp, which has prevented the entry of aid and food, and for urgent Palestinian action to defend and save Yarmouk camp, which remains home to thousands of Palestinian refugees, despite the fleeing of over 160,000 people from Yarmouk. 

“We demand the expulsion of armed extremists from the camp and an end to the conspiracies against our people inside and outside Palestine. We need to resolve this issue through implementing the right of return of Palestinian refugees and ensuring this remains our highest priority.”

Comrade Hani Khalil of the PFLP said “today, we stand in recognition of the steadfastness of our people in Yarmouk camp and together with their suffering and tragedy in light of the ongoing and escalating crimes committed by groups such as ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra against Palestinian refugees in Yarmouk. This is part of a process of human and political extermination directed against Palestinian refugees.” He said “we must break the siege on the camp and liberate the camp from these groups, and aid the return of displaced persons to their homes inside the camp,” calling for a joint force of Palestinian factions to liberate the camp.

Barakat: US-backed Saudi forces committing war crimes in Yemen – action is needed

Barakat: US-backed Saudi forces committing war crimes in Yemen – action is needed

Comrade Khaled Barakat said that “what is happening today in Yemen is a complete failure of the Saudi and US plans to restore a puppet regime that serves their interests.”
Addressing the role of the US in the aggression on Yemen, he said “the US imperial strategy under Obama – as differentiated from the US imperial strategy under George W. Bush – is one that considers that Arab regimes should do the actual fighting, rather than US soldiers. Internally, Obama and the US government do not have the political support to send US soldiers to Yemen; indeed, his election was primarily based on exploiting popular sentiment against US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

“The US strategy today is for Arab regimes to conduct the fighting themselves – but using the same F-16s, missiles, drones and technology, produced and supplied by the US, to exert their destructive force against the people of the region. Their Saudi puppets that are, armed with US weaponry, the strongest military among the Arab Gulf states will be backed completely by US technology, logistics and support, including intelligence, in order to restore their dominace – and reassert the role of Al-Qaeda and other right-wing forces in Yemen,” said Barakat.

 More at: Barakat: US-backed Saudi forces committing war crimes in Yemen – action is needed

Truthdigger of the Week: Khalida Jarrar

Truthdigger of the Week: Khalida Jarrar

By Roisin Davis

Every week the Truthdig editorial staff selects a Truthdigger of the Week, a group or person worthy of recognition for speaking truth to power, breaking the story or blowing the whistle. It is not a lifetime achievement award. Rather, we’re looking for newsmakers whose actions in a given week are worth celebrating.

In the middle of the night April 2, less than 24 hours after Palestine obtained membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC), dozens of Israeli soldiers burst into the Ramallah home of the prominent Palestinian lawmaker and leftist activist Khalida Jarrar and seized her.

Insofar as we believe the Israeli authorities, Jarrar is the most dangerous woman in the Middle East.

Given her leadership in cementing the Palestinian bid to join the ICC treaty—which covers the Israel-Gaza conflict last summer in which more than 2,100 Palestinians were killed—this may well be the case. Palestinian leaders have described accession to the ICC as a key means to “internationalizing” the conflict, with their membership to the Hague-based court paving the way for prosecution of Israel for war crimes.

Jarrar, a 52-year-old mother of two who suffers from serious health issues, has been declared a security risk for decades without ever being charged with any criminal offense.

She is a senior lawyer for the PLO and a member of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. She was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in 2006 and heads its committee on prisoners, and she serves as the Palestinian representative on the Council of Europe.

She has long been a vociferous opponent of Israel’s policy of security coordination, is one of the region’s most prominent feminist voices and is a tenacious advocate for the rights of Palestinian political prisoners.

A member of several women’s rights organizations, Jarrar has worked with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and is vice chair of the board of the Palestinian human rights organization Addameer.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, she was arrested for breaching travel restrictions imposed in August that banned her from leaving the Jericho area. Rejecting the “special supervision order,” she set up a protest tent outside the PLC office in Ramallah, where she had been living and working and which was frequented by numerous Palestinian and international delegations.

In the words of a Haaretz editorial, she was held in “vindictive administrative detention” and charged April 15 by an Israeli military tribunal on a dozen seemingly trumped-up political charges. An open letter signed by 58 members of the European Parliament describes the move as “a clearly political attempt to undermine Palestinian leadership and thwart Palestinian attempts to pursue justice in the International Criminal Court.”

The letter states:

“The arrest of Jarrar and other Members of the Palestinian Parliament and their transfer from occupied territory into Israel are not only in violation of Articles 49 and 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention but also blatantly violate international conventions and practices regarding the immunity of elected officials. Palestinian parliamentarians are frequently held in administrative detention without charge or trial, or tried in military courts that are mechanisms to produce a political result and in no way meet standards for a fair trial.”

Jarrar now joins 16 other elected Palestinian lawmakers held in Israeli jails, and her arrest means that more than 10 percent of Palestinian parliamentarians have now been detained by Israeli forces. More than half of those have not stood trial or been charged.

She also joins some 424 administrative detainees held by the Israeli state without legal process. According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, 181 were held at the same point last year. Since 1967, Israel has detained and imprisoned more than 800,000 people from the occupied Palestinian territory.

An April 7 statement issued by several human rights organizations expressed “grave concern” for the welfare of Jarrar, who must take medical lab tests every three days because of chronic conditions affecting her brain and circulatory system. The ban imposed on her movement since 1998 means that she has been allowed to travel on only one occasion for medical treatment, in 2010 following diplomatic intervention and legal proceedings. It is unlikely that Jarrar will receive the necessary medical care in Israel’s HaSharon Prison, where she is being held indefinitely.

Jarrar “apparently dared to violate the foolish order,” the Haaretz editorial explained, “and for that she is being punished now with administrative detention. This is how Israel seeks to deter every Palestinian public activist—not to mention one involved with advancing the processes in the International Criminal Court—from realizing his or her rights.”

“If Jarrar broke the law, Israel must put her on trial and prove she committed a crime. If, on the other hand, the reason for her detention is revenge, she must be released immediately.”

When Palestinian leaders applied to join the ICC, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared they had chosen “a path of confrontation” and that Israel would “not sit idly by.” Soon afterward, the Israeli government stopped the transfer of about $400 million in tax revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority between January and March 2015. As a result, 160,000 Palestinian government employees were paid only 60 percent of their salaries for three months.

These measures—including the aggressive persecution of Jarrar, an elected official—are Israel’s message to the Palestinian people not to challenge its power. As Israel attempts to silence and break her down, what makes Khalida Jarrar, our Truthdigger of the Week, so dangerous is her speaking truth to this power. 

Shishtari: Arrest of Jarrar part of systematic policy of targeting resistance leaders

Shishtari: Arrest of Jarrar part of systematic policy of targeting resistance leaders

The arrest of Palestinian leader and parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar is a clear part of the Zionist policy of systematic targeting of the leaders of Palestinian resistance, said Comrade Zaher al-Shishtari, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

One of the most important reasons for the arrest of Jarrar is her resistance to the order expelling her to Jericho seceral months ago and the resulting campaign of support and solidarity on a Palestinian, Arab and international level, Shishtari said.

In an interview on Al-Quds TV, he said that “it is clear that the occupation is expanding its aggression against our people, and the arrest of PLC member, Comrade Khalida Jarrar, is meant to deliver a message to the Palestinian people and to the Popular Front that they are being targeted by occupation forces.”

He urged national Palestinian action to seriously resist all Zionist crimes, from the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem, to settlement building, to the targeting of the Palestinian people and national leaders, including pursuing action at the International Criminal Court to prosecute the political and military officials of the occupation as war criminals.

Comrade Shishtari praised Jarrar, noting her consistent struggle against the occupation and defense of the just cause of the Palestinian people whether as a deputy in the PLC or a leader of the PFLP. He also demanded that the Palestinian Authority end security coordination with the occupation.

Reviewing the Palestinian positions and statements issued following the arrest of Jarrar, he emphasized that this indicates a clear Palestinian consensus against the escalating arrests, and noting that this must be met with real unity and earnest work to end Palestinian internal division and confront the occupation.