‘Targeting Steadfastness of Palestinian Women’ – Israel Detains Wife of PFLP Leader, Ahmad Sa’adat

Abla Sa’adat, the wife of imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat, was detained by Israel. (Photo: via social media)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Abla Sa’adat’s  detention “comes as part of a systematic policy targeting leaders of the national and women’s movement, as well as their families, in a desperate attempt to deter them from continuing their struggle against the occupation.” – PFLP

Israeli occupation forces have detained Abla Sa’adat, the wife of imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat, Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), after raiding their home in Al-Bireh, in the occupied West Bank.

Abla Saadat was detained along with three other women; Tahreer Jaber, Doaa al-Qadi, and journalist Qutaiba Hamdan, as well as several men amid a large-scale invasion in the early hours of Tuesday, according to two Palestinian prisoner organizations.

The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission and the Palestine Prisoners Society said in a joint statement that at least 30 Palestinians were detained in various governorates in the occupied territory in 24 hours.

‘Systematic Policy’ – PFLP

The PFLP has condemned the arrest of Abla Sa’adat as “a new crime targeting the steadfastness and struggle of Palestinian women.”

Her detention “comes as part of a systematic policy targeting leaders of the national and women’s movement, as well as their families, in a desperate attempt to deter them from continuing their struggle against the occupation,” the movement said in a statement.

Palestinian Leaders in Israeli Prisons: Who Is Ahmad Sa’adat?

The Front added that her arrest highlights “the criminal policies of the occupation towards Palestinian women, who are continuously subjected to abuse and imprisonment, as is happening with the activist comrade Khalida Jarrar, who remains in solitary confinement and is subjected to further abuse and repression.”

However, said the movement, “Such crimes will not weaken the determination of our people nor affect the will of the fighters who continue their resistance despite all of the occupation’s failed attempts to break them.”

Others Detained

Israeli forces also detained the director of Salah al-Din Elementary School for Boys in Halhul, Musa Abu Sakout, and the guide, Arif Mar’i, after raiding their homes, according to Palestinian sources.

In Haris, in the town of Salfit, Mohammed Ibrahim Souf and Osama Shamlawi were detained. Osama Shamlawi is the brother of Ali Shamlawi, a Palestinian prisoner serving 15 years in Israeli detention.

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The total number of Palestinians detained in the occupied West Bank since October 7 has risen to over 10,700, according to the prisoner organizations. This figure includes those detained from their homes and at military checkpoints.

High-Profile Prisoner

Born in 1953, Ahmad Sa’adat, also known as Abu Ghassan, took over as Secretary-General of the PFLP in August of 2001, after Israel assassinated his predecessors by using an Apache helicopter to fire a missile into the office of Abu Ali Mustafa in Ramallah.

In 2002 he was arrested by the Palestinian Authority but eventually fell into the hands of the Israeli forces who said they would imprison him for at least 30 years, then proceeded to transfer him in and out of solitary confinement.

Read more about his imprisonment here.

(PC, WAFA, Al-Mayadeen)