Palestinian Factions Condemn Detention of MP Khalida Jarrar

Israeli forces detained Palestinian lawmaker and member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Khalida Jarrar, after raiding her home early Thursday, April 2. Jarrar’s daughter, Yaffa, told Ma’an news agency that Israeli forces surrounded the home in the al-Irsal neighborhood of al-Bireh near Ramallah around 3:00 a.m., and demanded to see her mother. The forces informed Khalida Jarrar that she was under arrest after searching the home, and confiscating two computers and a mobile phone.

Khalida Jarrar (left) with a member of the European Parliament, Martina Ardenson (Sinn Fein, Ireland) in Ramallah, September 2014.

Khalida Jarrar (left) with a member of the European Parliament, Martina Ardenson (Sinn Fein, Ireland), in Ramallah, September 2014. (Photo: Sinn Fein)

Head of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, Fares Qaddura, denounced Jarrar’s arrest as a “vengeful act” in response to her refusal to agree to the Israeli army’s decision to expel her from the Ramallah district to Jericho several months ago. Indeed, the detention of Jarrar by Israeli forces has evoked criticism from several Palestinian factions, many of whom concur with this explanation for her present detention.

On August 20, 2014, approximately 50 Israeli occupying soldiers surrounded Jarrar’s home in Ramallah. An Israeli army captain then handed Jarrar an expulsion order signed by the Israeli Military Governor in the West Bank. The order stated that Jarrar must immediately leave her city of residence, Ramallah, and transfer to the district of Jericho from which she is forbidden to leave for a period of six months. The order also stated that Jarrar could only leave the district of Jericho with the express permission of the Israeli military commander of the West Bank. Accompanying the order was a map outlining the boundaries of Jericho district. The order stated that, based on “secret information,” Jarrar is considered a threat to the security of the area. She was given 24 hours to leave Ramallah. Jarrar refused to sign the August order.

This week’s expulsion order is based on Military Order 1651 Article 297 (2009) and accuses Jarrar of being “dangerous to the general security of the area.” As is standard with Israeli Military Orders and the decisions of Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, GOC Central Command, the order does not explain or clarify the danger that it claims Jarrar poses. The order violates Article (42) of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which is applicable to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and states that “The internment or placing in assigned residence of protected persons may be ordered only if the security of the Detaining Power deems it absolutely necessary.” The order also violates Article (49) of the Geneva Convention, which prohibits under any circumstance the forced collective or individual transfer of protected persons, or removing them from an occupied territory to another territory under control of the Occupying Power.

Jamil al-Majdalawi, a Legislative Council lawmaker, said that “Israel does not miss a chance in its attempt to break the will of the resistance, the people’s resistance and their leadership, and Khalida Jarrar is one of those symbols of resistance.’

Following the initial detention order in August, prisoner rights groups Addameer noted that a raid of Jarrar’s home indicates that the Palestinian Authority (PA) was complicit in her arrest, as any raid on areas in Area A – approximately the 20 percent of the West Bank technically under full Palestinian control according to the Oslo Accords – had to be taken in coordination with the PA. “By allowing Israeli occupying forces to enter Ramallah means that in effect the so-called ‘security co-ordination’ between Palestinian Authority security forces and the Israeli occupying forces allowed for the expulsion of an elected representative of the Palestinian people, an elected representative who has continuously called for an end to such ‘coordination,’” the group said.

According to the daily newspaper Al-Ittihad, the Palestinian People’s Party also condemned Jarrar’s detention, arguing that Israel is willingly ignoring all international laws in detaining Jarrar who is an active member in several women’s committees as well as the prisoners’ committee in the legislative council.

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