PA arrests a Palestinian woman for helping Gazans

A Palestinian woman was arrested by Palestinian Authority security forces earlier this month accusing her of sending funds to help impoverished families living in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Suha Jbara from Turmus Ayya village north of occupied Ramallah was detained on 3 November, her family was given no information about her whereabouts.

The 30-year-old mother of three who holds dual US and Panama citizenship was transferred to Jericho city prison is thought to have been interrogated on the grounds of assisting the transfer of financial aid to the Gaza Strip for families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces after the PA suspended their salaries. Suha’s family reported that she suffers from a critical medical condition and not receiving sufficient medical attention.

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The family’s lawyer was not permitted to visit her in prison, while the family have said Suha has been tortured and there are marks of physical violence on her body.

A court in Jericho ordered that she been held for “interrogation”.

The PA had told her family that she was being held in an effort to stop Israeli occupation forces from arresting her, however they fear that her continued detention will highten the likeliness that she will be held by Israel upon her released from the PA’s prisons.