Soldiers detain Hamas-linked Abed al-Jaber Fuqaha in his Ramallah home. Fuqaha, who was released from administrative detention a year ago, has spent a total of seven years in prison. He is the seventh Palestinian lawmaker in Israeli custody.
By Noam Rotem
Israeli forces arrested Palestinian parliamentarian Abed al-Jaber Fuqaha in his home in the al-Masyoun neighborhood of Ramallah during an overnight raid Monday. According to members of Fuqaha’s family, soldiers burst into their home in the early hours of the morning, beat and took him into custody.
Fuqaha, a Hamas affiliate in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), was released from administrative detention a year ago, and has spent a total of seven years in Israeli prison. In 2014 he joined a mass Palestinian hunger strike to protest against prolonged detention without charges or trial.
Fuqaha is the seventh Palestinian legislator in Israeli custody, along with Ahmad Sa’adat, the secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who is serving a 30-year sentence; Marwan Barghouti, who is serving four consecutive life sentences; Hatem Hafisha and Hassan Yousef who are being held in administrative detention, Jerusalem resident Muhammad Mahmoud Abu Tir, and PFLP lawmaker and feminist activist Khalida Jarrar.
Jarrar was sentenced to 15 months in prison last December after spending eight months in prison, some of which were spent in administrative detention.
According to Palestinian prisoners’ rights group, Addameer, 7,000 Palestinians are currently being held in detention by Israel.
Noam Rotem is an Israeli activist, high-tech executive and author of the blog o139.org, subtitled “Godwin doesn’t live here any more.” This article was first published in Hebrew on Local Call. Read it here.
