Israel Places Palestinian Leader Khaleda Jarrar Under Administrative Arrest

Palestinian activist Khaleda Jarrar. (Palestine News and Information Agency WAFA)
Palestinian activist Khaleda Jarrar. (Palestine News and Information Agency WAFA)
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Israel Places Palestinian Leader Khaleda Jarrar Under Administrative Arrest

Palestinian activist Khaleda Jarrar. (Palestine News and Information Agency WAFA)
Palestinian activist Khaleda Jarrar. (Palestine News and Information Agency WAFA)

Israel has transferred prominent Palestinian activist Khaleda Jarrar into administrative detention for six months, announced the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) on Thursday, bringing the total number of females under administrative detention to ten.

Jarrar, aged 60, was apprehended on December 26, with a history of multiple arrests preceding the recent detention, as stated by the PPS.

Utilizing an old British law, Israel has the authority to hold Palestinians in administrative detention for up to six months without trial. This term can be indefinitely renewed based on the alleged existence of a confidential file on the detainee.

"The Occupation released her in 2021. During her arrest, she lost her daughter and was deprived of bidding farewell to her. During her arrest in 2017, she lost her father," the statement read.

Israeli authorities refrained from providing comments on the transfer of multiple detainees, including Jarrar, into administrative detention.

The PPS drew attention to a concerning surge in the number of administrative detainees in Israeli prisons, reaching the highest count since the Intifada in 1987. The figure stood at 3,291 detainees at the end of December, surpassing both sentenced captives and those in pretrial detention.

In a separate statement, the PPS reported that Israeli occupation forces had detained at least 28 citizens in the West Bank on Wednesday and Thursday, including some individuals with prior captivity experience. This brings the total number of arrests since October 7 to 5,810.



Biden Says ‘Working’ to Get People Back to Homes on Israel-Lebanon Border

US President Joe Biden (C) meets with his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 20, 2024. (AFP)
US President Joe Biden (C) meets with his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 20, 2024. (AFP)
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Biden Says ‘Working’ to Get People Back to Homes on Israel-Lebanon Border

US President Joe Biden (C) meets with his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 20, 2024. (AFP)
US President Joe Biden (C) meets with his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 20, 2024. (AFP)

US President Joe Biden said Friday he was working to allow people to return to their homes on the Israeli-Lebanon border, in his first comments since a wave of explosions targeting the Hezbollah party sent tensions soaring.

Biden added that it was crucial to keep pushing for a Gaza ceasefire to underpin regional peace, despite a media report that his administration had given up hope of securing a truce before he leaves office in January.

Speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting in the White House, Biden told reporters he wanted to "make sure that the people in northern Israel as well as southern Lebanon are able to go back to their homes, to go back safely."

"And the secretary of state, the secretary of defense, our whole team are working with the intelligence community to try to get that done. We're going to keep at it until we get it done, but we've got a way to go," Biden said.

It was Biden's first reaction since the violence shifted dramatically from Gaza to Lebanon, with thousands of Hezbollah operatives' pagers and walkie-talkies exploding earlier this week.

The blasts -- which Hezbollah blamed on Israel -- killed 37 people including children and wounded thousands more. Israel has not commented on the explosions.

Months of near-daily border clashes have killed hundreds in Lebanon, most of them fighters, and dozens in Israel, forcing thousands on both sides to flee their homes.

Biden also denied that a ceasefire to end Israel's war in Gaza following the Hamas October 7 attacks was unrealistic, following a Wall Street Journal report that officials believe it is now unlikely.

"If I ever said it's not realistic, we might as well leave. A lot of things don't look realistic until we get them done. We have to keep at it," Biden said.