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Prominent Palestinian writer and political scientist Ahmad Qatamish was released on 13 August 2017 from Israeli prisons, after spending three months under administrative detention, without charge or trial. Qatamish was arrested by Israeli occupation forces in a pre-dawn raid on 14 May 2017, and received a three months administrative detention order on 17 May 2017. Qatamish was first arrested by the Israeli authorities in 1969 and held for a few months. He was then rearrested in 1972, this time spending 4 years in prison. After his release, Mr. Qatamish spent 17 years in hiding from 1976 to 1992 to avoid re-arrest. On 2 September 1992, however, he was arrested once more, in the presence of...
On the evening of 7 August 2017, the Palestinian Authority’s intelligence service carried out a campaign of arrests against a number of Palestinian journalists in the West Bank. Five Palestinian journalists were arrested by PA security forces, and they are: 1. Journalist Mamdouh Hamamra from Bethlehem, a correspondent for Al-Quds News Channel. 2. Journalist Amer Abu Arafa from Hebron, who works for Shehab News Agency. 3. Journalist Tariq Abu Zeid from Jenin, who works for Al-Aqsa TV. 4. Journalist Ahmad Halayqa from Hebron, who works for Al-Quds News Channel. 5. Qutaiba Qassem from Bethlehem, a freelance journalist working with several agencies. Initially, A source from the PA security...
Palestinian prisoners’ affairs institutions – the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Committee of Prisoners' Affairs and Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights – issued the following report on 8 July 2017, which indicates that, during the month of July 2017, Israeli authorities arrested (880) individuals from the occupied Palestinian territories, including (144) children, and (18) women. According to the monitoring and documentation conducted by the four organizations, Israeli occupation forces arrested 425 Palestinians from Jerusalem, 120 from Hebron and 85 from Nablus. In addition, 49 Palestinians were arrested from Jenin governorate, 47 from...
Thirteen Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) members are currently imprisoned by Israel following the occupation's arrest of PLC member Mohammad Abu Teir on Friday, 4 August 2017. Abu Teir was last released from Israeli prisons on 30 May 2017, after he spent 17 months in prison. Abu Teir was arrested from his home in Umm al-Sharayet in Ramallah, where he has lived after he was forcibly expelled from his home in Jerusalem and had his Jerusalem ID revoked. Abu Teir has spent a total of 34 years in Israeli prisons and has been repeatedly targeted by occupation forces since he was elected as a PLC members back in 2006. Democratically elected Palestinian political leaders are routinely...
The former prisoner and current hunger striking detainee Bilal Diab, who was arrested in a pre-dawn raid by Israeli occupation forces on 14 July 2017, received a six months administrative detention order, signed by the occupation military commander of the West Bank today, 25 July 2017. Diab, 32, launched an open hunger strike to demand his freedom on the same day he was seized by occupation forces. Diab has been previously arrested on multiple occasions and spent several years under administrative detention, without charge or trial. He was last released from Israeli prisons in 2015. In 2012, he embarked on a 77-day hunger strike alongside Thaer Halahleh in protest of their administrative...
The six-month administrative detention order against Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member and civil society leader Khalida Jarrar has been confirmed today, 17 July 2017, by a military judge. A confirmation hearing was held at Ofer military court, without the presence of Ms. Jarrar, who did not attend the court hearing. The military prosecution claimed that Jarrar's administrative detention is based on secret information related to her alleged affiliation with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). This claim was made without taking into consideration the fact that Ms. Jarrar is an elected Palestinian parliamentarian and a prominent human rights defender, who...
Palestinian Legislative Council member Khalida Jarrar, who was arrested in a pre-dawn raid by Israeli occupation forces on 2 July 2017, received a six months administrative detention order, signed by the occupation military commander of the West Bank today, 12 July 2017. A confirmation hearing will be held at Ofer military court on 17 July 2017. Khalida Jarrar, a civil society leader, has been a Palestinian Legislative Council Member since 2006, is head of the Prisoners' Commission in the Palestinian Legislative Council, and a member of the Board of Directors of Addameer Prisoner Support. Khalida Jarrar has been targeted by Israeli forces in recent years. She was released from prison in...
Civil society leader and President of the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees Khitam Saafin, who was arrested in a pre-dawn raid by Israeli occupation forces on 2 July 2017, received a three months administrative detention order, signed by the occupation military commander of the West Bank today, 9 July 2017. A confirmation hearing will be held at Ofer military court on 12 July 2017. Saafin had her first on 5 July 2017, where the judge decided to extend her detention to an additional 72 hours. Khitam Saafin, president of the Union of Palestinian Women's Committee has spoken internationally and participated in many worldwide events, including the World Social Forum, linking women’s...
Yesterday, 8 July 2017, The Public Prosecutor's Office in Ramallah extended the detention of Palestinian journalist Jihad Barakat for 48 hours. Addameer’s lawyer Anas Al-Barghouthi said that interrogation with Barakat was about “taking photos” of the motorcade of PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah near a checkpoint east of Tulkarem. Journalist Jihad Barakat was arrested on Thursday, 6 July 2017, at Anab checkpoint by men wearing civilian clothing riding a tourist car. They identified themselves as Preventive Security Forces and took him to the Preventive Security Service in Tulkarem. Despite attempts by Addameer’s attorney to obtain information about him and to visit him since his arrest, the...
The first hearing for Palestinian Legislative Council member Khalida Jarrar and Khitam Saafin, president of the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees, was held today, 5 July 2017, at Ofer Military Court in Ramallah. During the hearing, the judge decided to extend the detention period of Jarrar to six additional days and Saafin's to an additional 72 hour. According to Addameer's attorney Muna Naddaf, who visited Jarrar and Saafin yesterday, a large number of Israeli occupation forces surrounded their homes in Ramallah at approximately 4:00 am. Later, they were both taken to Ofer military court for interrogation, which lasted for almost 30 minutes, and after that, they were placed in a very...