JERUSALEM: An Arab-Israeli former lawmaker entered prison Sunday to begin a two-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to smuggling mobile phones to Palestinian detainees, a prisons spokeswoman said.
Basel Ghattas of the Arab-dominated Joint List resigned his seat in the Israeli Parliament as part of a plea bargain reached in March.
The 61-year-old admitted handing phones and SIM cards to Palestinian inmates.
Prosecutors dropped charges of terrorism and endangering state security, for which he could have faced up to 10 years in prison.
“I enter prison with my head held high and I will continue my battle for prisoners’ rights,” Ghattas said before entering Gilboa prison in northern Israel, in comments broadcast on army radio.
Israeli media have reported that 12 mobile phones were found on two prisoners in searches after Ghattas visited the high security Ketziot prison in December, using his parliamentary immunity to avoid being searched.
One of the prisoners is serving time for kidnapping and murdering an Israeli soldier in 1984, the Ynet news website said.
Ghattas has said his actions were motivated by “humanitarian and moral positions toward prisoners.”
Lawmakers of the Joint List, the third largest bloc in Parliament with 13 seats, frequently clash with Israeli authorities.
Ghattas’s party, Balad, is especially critical of Israeli policies.
Its three lawmakers triggered outrage among Jewish Israelis last year by meeting relatives of Palestinians authorities say were killed while carrying out attacks.
Arab Israelis make up some 17.5 percent of the country’s population and are descended from Palestinians who remained on their land after the creation of Israel in 1948.
They hold Israeli citizenship but most see themselves as Palestinians.
Palestinian lawmaker rearrested
Israeli authorities have re-arrested a prominent Palestinian lawmaker in an overnight raid over her leadership in a movement Israel considers a terrorist organization, officials said Sunday.
Khalida Jarrar was arrested in the raid in the Ramallah area in the occupied West Bank, Israel’s army said.
The 54-year-old was released in June 2016 after 14 months in an Israeli jail for allegedly encouraging attacks against Israelis.
Jarrar is a senior figure in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Marxist party considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the US and the EU.
Many of its leaders are in custody and Jarrar has been jailed multiple times.
Israel’s army alleged that “after her release she returned to the activity in the PFLP terror organization,” calling her one of its senior leaders in the West Bank.
“She was apprehended for her involvement in the PFLP and not because of her membership in the (Palestinian Parliament),” an army spokeswoman said.
Israeli authorities said they had also arrested Khatim Khativ, whom they said was a senior PFLP leader as well.
Jarrar is a member of the Palestinian Parliament, which has not met since 2007 after elections a year earlier were won by Hamas.
A number of Palestinian lawmakers are currently detained by Israel.
Addameer, a prisoners’ support and rights group, said a total of 11 people had been arrested in the raid, including Jarrar and Khitam Saafin, who it identified as chairwoman of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees.
“The arrest of Khalida Jarrar constitutes an attack against Palestinian political leaders and Palestinian civil society as a whole,” it said in a statement.
“It also constitutes one arrest in the context of continuous arrest campaigns against Palestinians.”
Basel Ghattas of the Arab-dominated Joint List resigned his seat in the Israeli Parliament as part of a plea bargain reached in March.
The 61-year-old admitted handing phones and SIM cards to Palestinian inmates.
Prosecutors dropped charges of terrorism and endangering state security, for which he could have faced up to 10 years in prison.
“I enter prison with my head held high and I will continue my battle for prisoners’ rights,” Ghattas said before entering Gilboa prison in northern Israel, in comments broadcast on army radio.
Israeli media have reported that 12 mobile phones were found on two prisoners in searches after Ghattas visited the high security Ketziot prison in December, using his parliamentary immunity to avoid being searched.
One of the prisoners is serving time for kidnapping and murdering an Israeli soldier in 1984, the Ynet news website said.
Ghattas has said his actions were motivated by “humanitarian and moral positions toward prisoners.”
Lawmakers of the Joint List, the third largest bloc in Parliament with 13 seats, frequently clash with Israeli authorities.
Ghattas’s party, Balad, is especially critical of Israeli policies.
Its three lawmakers triggered outrage among Jewish Israelis last year by meeting relatives of Palestinians authorities say were killed while carrying out attacks.
Arab Israelis make up some 17.5 percent of the country’s population and are descended from Palestinians who remained on their land after the creation of Israel in 1948.
They hold Israeli citizenship but most see themselves as Palestinians.
Palestinian lawmaker rearrested
Israeli authorities have re-arrested a prominent Palestinian lawmaker in an overnight raid over her leadership in a movement Israel considers a terrorist organization, officials said Sunday.
Khalida Jarrar was arrested in the raid in the Ramallah area in the occupied West Bank, Israel’s army said.
The 54-year-old was released in June 2016 after 14 months in an Israeli jail for allegedly encouraging attacks against Israelis.
Jarrar is a senior figure in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Marxist party considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the US and the EU.
Many of its leaders are in custody and Jarrar has been jailed multiple times.
Israel’s army alleged that “after her release she returned to the activity in the PFLP terror organization,” calling her one of its senior leaders in the West Bank.
“She was apprehended for her involvement in the PFLP and not because of her membership in the (Palestinian Parliament),” an army spokeswoman said.
Israeli authorities said they had also arrested Khatim Khativ, whom they said was a senior PFLP leader as well.
Jarrar is a member of the Palestinian Parliament, which has not met since 2007 after elections a year earlier were won by Hamas.
A number of Palestinian lawmakers are currently detained by Israel.
Addameer, a prisoners’ support and rights group, said a total of 11 people had been arrested in the raid, including Jarrar and Khitam Saafin, who it identified as chairwoman of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees.
“The arrest of Khalida Jarrar constitutes an attack against Palestinian political leaders and Palestinian civil society as a whole,” it said in a statement.
“It also constitutes one arrest in the context of continuous arrest campaigns against Palestinians.”
