PALESTINIAN organisations vowed to step up the fight for the freedom of all political prisoners today as Khalida Jarrar was released after two years behind bars.

The leading Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) figure and member of the now-defunct Palestinian Legislative Council was released at the Salem checkpoint west of Jenin city on Sunday afternoon.

She served 20 months under an Israeli “administrative detention” order, whereby she was held in prison without trial and without knowing the charges against her.

Straight away Ms Jarrar made her way to the cemetery where her daughter Suha had been buried after she died suddenly in Ramallah in July.

Israel had refused to release her to attend the funeral, despite mass protests and appeals.

“They forbade me from participating in the funeral of my beloved daughter and from planting a kiss on my daughter’s forehead,” she said at the cemetery. “They denied me her farewell. The last time I hugged Suha was the night of my arrest in 2019.”

A PFLP spokesman expressed deep sadness at Ms Jarrar’s loss of Suha, adding, “we are happy that [she] is free from the occupation’s prison.”

Ofer Cassif, a Hadash party MP in the Israeli Knesset, said he had spoken to Ms Jarrar and congratulated her on her release from prison.

“I expressed our support for a just peace and the struggle of the Palestinian people for liberation, and we arranged to meet soon,” he said.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner’s Solidarity Network said: “The moment of her release is one of joy for everyone around the world who supports the just cause of the Palestinian people and the international movement for liberation and justice. 

“Today her steadfastness, strength and leadership must give us occasion not only to celebrate her return home but to redouble our efforts for Palestinian liberation and return.”