Palestinian feminist, activist and parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar was sentenced on Monday, March 1, to two years in prison by an Israeli military court. The military court at the Ofer military base situated northwest of Jerusalem pronounced her guilty of “inciting violence” and being a member of a “banned organization.” They also slapped her with a fine of approximately USD 1,200 (4,000 Shekel). Jarrar, a prominent member of the Palestinian leftist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), has been under administrative detention since October 2019 without charge or trial.
Jarrar has been arrested many times over the years, the first being in 1989, the second in 2014 and the third in 2017. After spending 20 months in jail, she was released in February 2019.
In many of the arrests, she was never formally charged or brought to trial, while in others, she was accused of incitement and membership of the PFLP among other things. She has also been banned by Israel from traveling outside the occupied West Bank since 1998.
According to a statement by the Israeli military, Jarrar was convicted of the offense of holding office in the PFLP, which Israel considers a terrorist organization. She had reportedly agreed to a plea bargain deal in exchange for a two year prison sentence. She is yet to serve eight months as she has already been under detention for the remaining duration of the prison sentence. Responding to the court verdict, the prisoners’ rights organization Addameer in a statement said that it “proves that Israel works against political opposition to the occupation, and uses its military court system to force its policy of domination and harm to the Palestinian people.”
In a statement following her plea deal, her lawyers said that “Since the beginning of the arrest, the occupation authorities and their media have spread lies about the arrest of Jarrar in a miserable attempt to hold them responsible for the military operation in Ain Boubin,” referring to the death of a 17-year-old Israeli in an attack which the authorities allege was done by the PFLP.
