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Farewell to the youngest of the bunch

A detained mother, a single father, a sister abroad, and lastly, the youngest of the bunch who was taken away by a heart attack two months before the release date of her mother.

Jerusalem24 – 24FM- Hala Zuheiri (translation Rula Zughayer) –  the Israeli authorities do not only control Palestinians’ lives, but also their deaths. The death of the young Suha Jarrar was not an ordinary event. Not only because of her young age or the heartbreak of her youth, but for her being the daughter of Palestinian political prisoner Khalida Jarrar as well.

Suha Ghassan Jarrar, 31, at her office in Al-Haq (Source: social media)

A detained mother, a single father, a sister abroad, and lastly, the youngest of the bunch who was taken away by a heart attack two months before the release date of her mother.

Despite many calls on the media not to report the news until the captive Khalida Jarrar was informed, this did not happen, as Jarrar learned that her daughter had died by chance while listening to a radio station.

The Israeli authorities rejected the lawyers’ request for her early release because her sentence expires next September, even though there is what allows this under Israeli law.  They also refused to allow Khalida to participate in her daughter’s funeral.

Jarrar was allowed to make only one phone call, and even the conditions of this call lacked humanity, as it took place in the administration office inside the prison, and does not offer privacy during its conduct, where there are officers and jailers with her in the office, and it does not give enough time to talk. An experience she had previously lived through when her father died during her previous arrest in 2017.

Khalida was allowed to talk to her husband Ghassan, but was prevented from checking on her daughter Yaffa.

In the audio recording below, a group of lawyers that includes Hanan Al khatib, Hiba Musalha and, Mahmood Hassan, talk about their visit to inform prisoner Jarrar in her prison cell about the death of her daughter. (Please note the recording is in Arabic)

In an earlier report done by 24FM to follow up the conditions of the prisoners during the pandemic. We had contacted with Suha Jarrar who expressed her concerns about her mother’s health who suffers from chronic diseases from the first place. She told 24FM, “my mother suffers from chronic diseases and she’s not young, the feeling of not knowing and worrying is what we experience the most, and I don’t recall the last time I heard anything about her.”

Suha didn’t have any other tool except the “Radio” to contact with Khalida. The family talks on radio shows and Khalida listens only.

Back then she stated “we spoke so heartedly in details, to the extent I asked my mother to bring a tissue with her in case they let her make a phone call with us, so that she holds the phone with it, since the only way the virus could affect the prisoners is through the prison guards themselves.”

In 2017, the family managed to take a family picture of the four of them all together: Ghassan, Khalida, Yaffa and Suha.  This opportunity never happened again. As for the mother’s last birthday, it was the sixth birthday that Suha doesn’t spend with her mother.

A farewell from across the screen

Khalida Jarrar (Photo source: SAMIDOUN)

The local and international demands on releasing Jarrar didn’t meet any response from the Israeli authorities, as they refused to let her bury and bid farewell to her daughter.  Instead, they let her send a flower wreath. Whereas, Palestine TV broadcasted the funeral of Suha, to give her mother the chance to bid farewell, even if it was via screen.

The university lecturer Abdul-Rahim Al-Shaikh wrote on his Facebook page, “in addition to Israel’s control over life and death’s policies of the Palestinians within the historical borders of Palestine and even outside it sometimes. The settlers’ state completely controls the life and death policies of the prisoners inside its racist jails. It deprives prisoners form participating in bidding Farwell to one’s family. O God, across Palestine TV screen. And in many cases, it prevents to held condolence ceremonies by the captives in the different sections of the same prison… Death Inside, Death outside and death in death.

It is noteworthy that the Prisoner Jarrar spent a total of 5 years in the prisons of the Israeli, including 20 months in administrative detention, and after her arrest in 2019, she is now sentenced to two years imprisonment for working with a “prohibited” organization, and this sentence ends next September.

Mohammad Hamayel

Ramallah based journalist, Mohammad graduated from Al-Quds University with a B.A. in Media and Television. He has covered the 2015 Jerusalem Intifada as well as the Great March of Return for international media outlets. currently an editor/presenter at Jerusalem24. A UN alumni and a follower of global events and politics, especially American affairs.

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