Israel arrests Palestinian MP in pre-dawn raid

Israeli forces arrested a prominent Palestinian parliamentarian early on Thursday morning, in a raid on her West Bank home.

MENA

2 min read

Naela Khalil

02 April, 2015

Khalida Jarar was arrested in a pre-dawn raid on Thursday [Getty]

Khalida Jarrar, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine's political bureau and a long-time advocate for the rights of Palestinian prisoners, was detained at her home in al-Bireh, near Ramallah, in a pre-dawn raid by armed forces with dogs.

"Dozens of soldiers raided our house around at around 1am," her husband, Ghassan Jarrar, told al-Araby al-Jadeed.

"They used force to smash the front door, held me in a separate room, and interrogated my wife, Khalida Jarrar, in another room."

They used force to smash the front door, held me in a separate room, and interrogated my wife.
- Ghassan, husband of Khalida Jarrar MP

In August, Israeli forces ordered Jarrar not to leave the city of Jericho for six months, for undefined "heavy security reasons".

The order sparked an international campaign by human rights groups, resulting in the order being reduced to one month.

"I heard the officer in charge of the raid say in a loud voice, 'We warned you last year, but you didn't listen to our orders'," said her husband.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) called for an international campaign against Jarrar's arrest. She is a feminist leader and a former executive director of Addameer, an NGO that supports the human rights of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

The PLO said Jarrar's arrest was "an act of revenge".

"It confirms the occupation's pattern of violating agreements and rules that ban the arrest or deportation of any citizen such as Jarrar who has parliamentary immunity, as recognised around the world," read a statement.

Jarrar, a mother of two, has been senior political leader of the PFLP since the group's Secretary-General Ahmad Saadat was arrested in March 2006.