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ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-CONFLICT-POLITICS
Israel extends detention of Palestinian MP
JERUSALEM, July 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Israeli authorities have extended the
detention without trial of a Palestinian politician by four months, ensuring
she will remain behind bars for more than a year, the army said Thursday.
Khalida Jarrar, 55, was arrested on July 2, 2017 for being a senior member
in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a movement
considered a terrorist organisation by Israel, the United States and the
European Union.
The extension was decided on Monday by a military court but was made public
Thursday.
Details of the accusations against her are secret, as is customary with
Israeli administrative detention orders, which allow detention without trial
for renewable six-month periods.
A legislator in the largely defunct Palestinian parliament, she was given
a six-month administrative detention order in July 2017.
The detention was extended in December by another six months “after
security personnel found she still poses a substantial threat,” the Israeli
army said then.
Many PFLP leaders are in custody and Jarrar has been jailed multiple
times.
She had only been released in June 2016 after 14 months in an Israeli jail
for allegedly encouraging attacks against Israelis.
Israel says administrative detention is intended to allow authorities to
hold suspects while continuing to gather evidence, with the aim of preventing
attacks in the meantime.
But the system has been criticised by Palestinians, human rights groups
and members of the international community who say Israel abuses the measure.
BSS/AFP/RY/1715 hrs