IMPRISONED MOTHERS
DAILY RESISTANCE AND INCARCERATED LOVE
Yesterday, Friday, March 21, Mother's Day was celebrated in several Arab countries, from Lebanon to Egypt, including Palestine. On this occasion, we wanted to pay tribute to the resilience of Palestinian mothers imprisoned in Zionist jails, to the mothers of prisoners who are waiting for the return of their children detained by the occupation and the collaborating Palestinian Authority, and to Palestinian female resisters as a whole, those who carry within them the roots of the national liberation struggle.
Palestinian mothers imprisoned, these resisters often snatched in the middle of the night from their children, families, and comrades by the occupation forces, are subjected to starvation, physical and psychological torture, medical neglect, and all the violences inflicted by the Zionist regime on Palestinian prisoners. They are also subjected to collective isolation, as they have not been able to receive visits from their children since October 7, 2023, and are almost completely cut off from the outside world, with news reaching them only through new prisoners and the rare visits from lawyers.
In parallel, we also wish to pay tribute to the mothers of martyrs and prisoners. Those who wait for their incarcerated children, those whose sons are sentenced to life terms totaling several hundred years, those who fight for the prisons doors to burst open and for the Resistance to reunite torn families. Those who organize marches, rallies, and sometimes hunger strikes in support of prisoners, in resonance with the struggles waged inside the prisons. Those who await the return of their child's frozen body, a block of ice emerging from the bowels of colonial morgues. Those who hope to recover the bones of their son or daughter buried in the cemeteries of numbers. The mothers of prisoners, the mothers of martyrs, compasses of resistance, symbols of dignity, pride, struggle, and steadfastness.
Today, 25 women are currently imprisoned by the occupation forces in colonial prisons. Among them are 14 mothers, including a mother of two martyrs, prisoner Haneen Jaber from Tulkarem, and a prisoner suffering from cancer, fidad' Assaf from Qalqilya. Alongside them are two sisters, Iman and Afnan al-Zahour from Hebron, as well as a mother and her daughter from Nablus imprisoned together: Dalal Halabi and her daughter Islam. We also recall that at Damon prison are incarcerated Aya Khatib from Palestine 48, imprisoned since before October 7, and Siham Abu Salem, a 71-year-old from Gaza who was imprisoned with her two daughters, Rabab and Suzan.
Aya Khatib, aged 35, from the town of Arara in the occupied territories of 48, was imprisoned on September 18, 2023, for a duration of four years after two years of house arrest. Accused of collecting funds "and transferring them to the resistance in Gaza", Aya denied these accusations, emphasizing that the money was intended for charitable works to help patients in Gaza and the West Bank receive appropriate medical treatments and to support students in continuing their education. Alongside Shatela Abu Ayad, Aya Khatib is among the prisoners who were not released in the last two prisoners exchange agreements in November 2023 and January 2025.
Siham Abu Salem (Umm Khalil), from Khan Younis (Gaza), 71 years old, is the oldest Palestinian female prisoner. She was arrested with her two daughters, Rabab and Suzan, in early 2024 at the hospital where they had sought refuge, hoping to be safe during the genocidal offensive launched by the Zionist army on Gaza. After a short period, her daughter Rabab was released. Siam and her second daughter, Suzan, were transferred to Damon colonial prison. On February 26, 2025, Suzan was released along with another female prisoner from Gaza, Asmaa Shatat, as part of the last batch of prisoners freed during the first phase of the Toufan Al Ahrar exchange agreement.
Siham became the last remaining female Gazan prisoner in Damon colonial prison.
