Fayha Shalash
The Palestine Chronicle / November 17, 2024
Ramallah – An exclusive interview with Khalida Jarrar’s family and lawyer reveals the deadly conditions faced by the iconic Palestinian leader in an Israeli prison.
Palestinian leader Khalida Jarrar has been held under administrative detention in Israeli occupation prisons without charge or trial since her arrest from her home in Ramallah on December 26, 2023.
The Handala Center for the Rights of Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners recently reported that Jarrar, detained in Ramla prison, is facing a systematic Israeli campaign of repression and abuse that endangers her life.
Since August, Jarrar has also been subjected to solitary confinement by the Israeli occupation authorities.
A prominent leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and a key national figure in the occupied West Bank, Jarrar has been arrested by Israel multiple times.
During her imprisonment in 2019, she suffered a devastating loss when her daughter Suha passed away at age 31 on July 13, 2021. Despite international appeals, the Israeli occupation authorities denied Jarrar the chance to bid her daughter farewell.
The 62-year-old leader, who suffers from health problems, has seen her condition worsen due to harsh imprisonment conditions and deliberate medical negligence by the Israeli prison administration.
‘Held in a grave’
Jarrar has spent five and a half years in Israeli prisons to date, alternating between administrative detention and alleged formal charges.
On August 13, the prison administration abruptly transferred her to solitary confinement in Neve Tirza Prison in Ramla without justification, her sister Salam Ratrout told the Palestine Chronicle.
“She suffers from high blood pressure, diabetes, and narrowed arteries in her head. She was suddenly told to prepare herself and then was transferred from Damon prison for women in conditions that are, to say the least, terrible,” Salam said.
During the third week of her isolation, Jarrar’s lawyer was able to visit her. Jarrar described her condition as “being held in a grave.” She explained that her narrow cell includes an inside toilet with no water, has no windows or ventilation holes, and lacks sufficient food and medical treatment.
The bed in her cell is a concrete slab with a thin mattress, forcing her to sleep on the floor. Her diabetes condition is further aggravated as she is served uncooked food, Salam added.
A former member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and a feminist activist, Jarrar has faced immense personal loss during her years of imprisonment. In addition to losing her daughter, she was also unable to bid farewell to her father in 2022. Less than a month after her release in September 2022, her mother passed away.
“Prisoners spend their entire lives in detention without knowing what their charge is. Neither international institutions nor laws have succeeded in forcing Israel to end this injustice,” Salam said.
The Handala Center confirmed that Jarrar has endured extremely harsh conditions during 93 days of solitary confinement. “The freedom fighter finds nothing but to lie down next to the door, a place where she can breathe with the least amount of oxygen, in a tragic scene that reflects the cruelty to which the prisoners are exposed,” the center stated.
The center has called for urgent intervention by international and human rights organizations to save Jarrar and other Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
‘I am dying every day’
The Addameer Foundation for Human Rights revealed that the Israeli occupation authorities recently extended Jarrar’s solitary confinement for another month, bringing her isolation into its third month.
Her lawyer quoted her as saying, “I am dying every day. The cell is like a small closed box that doesn’t allow air to enter. There is only a toilet in the cell and a small window above it, which was closed one day after I was transferred.”
“They didn’t leave me any breathing space, and there is only a small opening that I sit next to most of the time to breathe. I am suffocating in my cell and I am waiting for hours to pass so that I may find oxygen molecules to breathe and stay alive.”
Jarrar further described her ordeal: “What increased the tragedy of my isolation was the high temperatures. In short, I am inside an oven at the highest temperature. I cannot sleep because of the high heat. And they were not satisfied with isolating me under these conditions. “
“They deliberately cut off the water in the cell, and even when I ask for a refill of my bottle of water, they bring it after at least four hours.”
A war crime
Arrests like Jarrar’s are often used to remove Palestinian leaders from the political scene for extended periods. Administrative detention, which allows for imprisonment without charge or trial, can be renewed indefinitely at the discretion of the Israeli authorities.
International laws oppose administrative detention, a practice Israel inherited from the British Mandate. Despite this, Israel continues to employ it, flagrantly violating international law.
Legal expert Issam Abdeen, who has worked with the Al-Haq Human Rights organization, explained to the Palestine Chronicle that administrative detention constitutes two crimes: a war crime and a crime against humanity. He emphasized that Israeli occupation courts justify this form of detention under the pretext of war, which is a severe breach of international law.
“There are more than 30 racist laws targeting Palestinians currently being discussed in the Israeli Knesset,” Abdeen said. One of these laws seeks to expand the scope of administrative detention and amend the orders of the Prison Service, driven by the extremist far-right Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir.
“Unfortunately, the arrest requests for Israeli leaders from the International Criminal Court didn’t include what is happening in Israeli prisons and detention centers, which is shocking and a stark indicator of double standards,” Abdeen concluded.
Fayha Shalash is a Ramallah-based Palestinian journalist
