Palestinian scholar, feminist, leftist and former parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar is currently being held in solitary confinement in the Zionist Neve Tirza prison in extremely harsh conditions. She has been held in isolation for the past 16 days. Like her detention itself — she is jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, alongside nearly 4,000 of the 9,500 Palestinians imprisoned by the occupation regime — no reason or excuse has been proffered by the occupation authorities to justify her ongoing isolation.
In a message from Neve Tirza, conveyed by her lawyers, Jarrar said:
“I die every day. The cell is like a small closed box where no air enters. There is only a toilet in the cell with a small window above it, which was later sealed just one day after my transfer. They left me no space to breathe, and even what is called the ‘ashnav’ (peephole) on the cell door was sealed. There is only a small opening where I sit most of the time to breathe. I am suffocating in my cell, waiting for the hours to pass, hoping to find some oxygen particles to breathe and stay alive.”
Jarrar, who suffers from several health problems, continued:
“What worsened the misery of my isolation is the high temperatures. I am, in short, inside an oven at its highest setting. I cannot sleep due to the extreme heat, and not only have they isolated me in these conditions, but they have deliberately cut off the water in the cell. Even when I request to fill a water bottle to drink, they bring it after at least four hours. As for going out to the prison yard, I was allowed only once after eight days of isolation, and they deliberately delay the delivery of the poor-quality meal for hours.”
Khalida Jarrar is detained in a very small isolation cell, measuring only 2 by 1.5 meters, where the only available space is occupied by a mattress. The cell also contains a tiny bathroom with a toilet and a shower. It is completely sealed off, with no window for ventilation or fresh air.
Jarrar was seized from her home in the morning hours of 26 December 2023 as part of mass arrests by Zionist forces in the West Bank of occupied Palestine during the genocide in Gaza. She was almost immediately ordered to administrative detention, which was renewed on 24 June 2024.
She is currently a scholar and researcher at the Muwatin Institute at Birzeit University. In fact, she was scheduled to appear on 27 December at a panel convened by Jadaliyya on imprisonment in the time of genocide; she was seized from her home only one day before.
She is now one of 87 Palestinian women prisoners held in Damon prison, and at least 19 jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. The Palestinian women prisoners include a pregnant woman, the mothers and sisters of martyrs, students, journalists, lawyers and activists. They are among at least 9,500 Palestinians held in Zionist jails — not counting the thousands who have been taken captive from Gaza by the genocidal invading soldiers and whose names and numbers have not been reported.
Jarrar, a historical leftist political leader with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been imprisoned on multiple occasions by the occupation regime, including in 2015, when her administrative detention without charge or trial drew global protests before she was then transferred to the occupation military courts. She is a lifelong advocate for the liberation of political prisoners and was targeted specifically for her statements and advocacy for the liberation of Palestinian prisoners.
In 2019, she was once again seized by the occupation regime. While she was imprisoned, her daughter Suha tragically passed away. She was denied the right to see Suha’s body and attend her funeral before she was released again in 2021. During both of her times of imprisonment, she established independent educational programs to teach the imprisoned minor girls the high school education they were denied as well as the adult women prisoners their rights under international law.