Denied a final goodbye

In July 2021, thousands gathered in Ramallah to bury activist Suha Jarrar. One person was missing – her mother, Khalida Jarrar. Imprisoned for nearly two years, Israeli authorities refused Jarrar’s repeated requests to say goodbye to her daughter. 

Jarrar – one of the most prominent Palestinian political leaders - has, like many Palestinians, faced repeated arrest and detentions, having spent over 6 years of her life in prison. International Women’s Day 1989 marked her first arrest. She was detained most recently in December 2023 under administrative detention - a procedure that can be repeatedly renewed, without a formal charge ever being made. During these repeated imprisonments, Jarrar has also been denied the right to mourn the passing of her mother, father and most recently her son, Wadia.

The 62 year old has been held in solitary confinement for the last 5 months, and faces a systematic Israeli campaign of repression and abuse that endangers her life.

Jarrar described her current condition as “being held in a grave… 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.’

To read more about Khalida Jarrar see: https://palestinianfeministcollective.org/free-khalida-jarrar-end-the-global-prison-industrial-genocide/