Embryo- With half a body, the Israeli occupation returned Palestinian prisoner Wafa Jarrar (49 years old) to the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank, nearly 10 days after she was arrested from her home in the Al-Marah neighborhood during a massive military operation on May 21.
Hours after her arrest, news spread that Jarrar was injured during the explosion of the military vehicle – in which she was detained – with a homemade explosive device, according to the occupation army’s claim.
Zaytouna Jarrar, Wafa’s daughter, says, “There were difficult moments. We were feeling anxious and tense, and we were following the incoming news quickly. We felt fear and helplessness because we were unable to obtain confirmed information, until we received news from the responsible authorities in the authority that Wafa was injured in the explosion of an Israeli jeep.”
Provocative arrest
In the house that the occupation soldiers stormed to arrest Jarrar, her daughter told Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “During the storming of Jenin and its camp, and at about six in the evening, an Israeli military force arrived at the entrance of the house, and after breaking the external surveillance cameras, the crazy knocking on the door began.”
Zaitouna and her mother were alone in the house, and she tried to wear the hijab while Wafaa wore prayer clothes. Immediately after the soldiers stormed in, they began destroying everything and forced them to sit in the corner of the room. A soldier asked her mother, “Are you Wafaa Nayef Jarrar?”, and when she answered him yes, he told her. “I’m going to destroy your beautiful house.”
The army’s actions were “very provocative.” For 20 minutes, the Israeli soldier sought to manipulate the family’s calm and stability, by breaking glass artifacts, vandalizing the contents of the house, and confiscating mobile phones. Some of the soldiers deliberately stole gold jewelry and some money. When Jarrar was arrested, the officer told her that she would be investigated and not Her arrest.
Al-Zaytouna adds, “Thanks to God, my mother was strong and in high spirits. She walked in front of the soldiers with her usual confidence, and after she got into the military jeep, she said to me, ‘I’m fine, don’t worry about me.'”
She confirms that the situation was difficult for her because she was the only one with her mother in the house and witnessed everything that happened, and because Wafa suffers from several diseases such as the thyroid gland and other problems.
Hours after her arrest, the Israeli Military Liaison reported that Jarrar had been seriously injured as a result of an explosive device exploding in the military jeep. The occupation army did not provide precise details about her health condition after her injury, or even the condition of the soldiers who were with her in the jeep.
Misleading
The family considered that keeping Jarrar inside the military jeep from the moment of her arrest until the bombing occurred, as “deliberately” by the occupation to keep her inside a war zone witnessed by the Jenin camp, which was then subjected to a military attack and widespread clashes.
Throughout the ten days that Jarrar was detained by the occupation, her family received information indicating that she had fallen into a coma in an Israeli hospital. The occupation deliberately misled the family by conveying incomplete information about their health status at times, and at other times by not receiving any information.
In a statement, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club held the occupation responsible for Jarrar’s life. Saying that he took her to the hospital in the city of Afula inside, and that she was in a critical condition and unconscious, and that he was delaying informing the lawyer and family of her medical reports.
After issuing an order to arrest her administratively (without an indictment) for a period of 4 months, sending medical reports to the family stating the need to amputate her legs, and asking her children to sign the amputation decision, the occupation allowed the lawyer to visit the wounded Jarrar, and informed her family of the seriousness of her health condition and Israel’s deliberate neglect of her treatment.
Zaitouneh said, “The lawyer was only allowed to see my mother’s face without entering the room, and they told him that she was in a coma and that the amputation of her legs would be below the knee, and that she was suffering from broken ribs, but we discovered upon her arrival at Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin that they had hidden from us many facts about her injury.” “.
Only two days after the amputation, Israel decided to lift Jarrar’s administrative prison sentence, release her, and hand her over to the Palestinian side on Thursday, May 30. This was considered by her family and the Prisoner’s Club to be “an Israeli evasion of responsibility for her treatment.”
In the hospital in Jenin, it was found that Jarrar suffered fractures in her rib cage, a fracture in the 12th vertebra of the spine, and the amputation of her legs above the knee, in addition to an obstruction in the left side of the lung due to the accumulation of fluids in it, and she suffered from a blood infection.
Tragic news
Her son, Hudhaifa Jarrar, told Tel Aviv Tribune Net that the hospital administration and the doctor supervising her condition decided to conduct a rapid intervention after the first examination, and she was transferred to intensive care and provided with treatment, to reduce fluids from the lungs and avoid infection in the blood.
He added, “Thanks to God, only 24 hours after her release, her health condition improved, the fluid in her lungs subsided, and she was able to open her eyes. Now the doctors are waiting for her condition to improve in order to conduct an MRI so that a date for spinal surgery can be scheduled.”
Hudhayfah (who lives in Turkey) adds that the news of his mother’s injury was a tragedy for him, especially since he is far from her, and he receives her news through phone calls with his brothers. He confirms that the news will be more difficult for his imprisoned father, Abdul-Jabbar Jarrar, especially with his also poor health condition in the occupation prison.
Hudhayfah explains that his father was arrested 3 months ago, and he suffers from heart disease and needs a knee joint replacement, so he uses a crutch permanently.
Since his arrest, the prison administration has taken away his crutch, making his movement very difficult. “We know that the prisoners suffer from poor health care and food provided to them, so we are very concerned about my father’s condition if he hears the news,” says Hudhayfah.
Wafaa Jarrar is the wife of Abdul Jabbar Jarrar, the leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and the mother of four children. She is the founder and coordinator of the Association of Families of Martyrs and Prisoners in Jenin. She is considered one of the well-known faces in the governorate and is present in the funeral homes for the martyrs and in the vigils demanding the release of the bodies detained by the occupation.
Wafaa Jarrar previously ran for the “Jerusalem is Our Date” list for the legislative elections, and her husband was arrested last February and is serving a 6-month administrative prison sentence. He also spent 16 years in occupation prisons.