Khalida Jarrar: The Israeli Occupation Must End
In a wide-ranging interview conducted shortly after her release from Israel’s Ofer and Hasharon Prisons, Palestinian National Council member, PFLP activist, and feminist Khalida Jarrar addresses the Israeli occupation, Palestinian women’s issues, and the current state of Palestinian politics. Jarrar, who is a lawyer and human rights activist prominent in Palestinian efforts to take Israel to the International Criminal Court, was working late at her home on research when she was seized by Israeli forces on 2 April 2015. In this deeply personal account, she relates the simultaneous fear and resolve she experienced during her arrest, interrogation, and 15-month-long imprisonment, and speaks of her daily routine, including going from cell to cell to greet and encourage her fellow prisoners. She muses on the interaction between social and political forces that tear at Palestinian women’s lives, and on the necessary work for women to reclaim their power. Jarrar reacts to the controversy that arose after she was hoisted on the shoulders of male comrades in a celebratory gesture at her release from prison. She speaks frankly of the political crisis in the Palestinian Left–and, in the face of the Palestinian Authority’s failure to represent Palestinians, calls for a return to the fundamentals of national struggle: reviving the Palestine National Council and electing a new PLO Executive Committee.