PIJ detainees elect Anas Jaradat committee chief in occupation prisons

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
1 Aug 2023 23:42

The prisoners of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement in the Israeli occupation prisons elect, despite all the strict restrictions imposed by the prison administration, Palestinian prisoner Anas Jaradat as head of the leadership committee in occupation prisons.

PIJ prisoners elect Anas Jaradat to lead them.

The Palestinain prisoners of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement in Israeli occupation prisons, elected prisoner Anas Jaradat as the general president of the Supreme Emergency Committee for Palestinian Prisoners of the PIJ prisoners for the 2023-2025 session.

The 2023-2025 session bore the name of the martyred captive Sheikh Khader Adnan, who was martyred during the Battle of Empty Stomachs last May.

The prisoners chose the head of the commission, in addition to the members of the commission, from among the PIJ cadres and leaders in occupation prisons for over 20 years.

Prisoners Thabet Mardawi, Saeed Tubasi, Sameh Al-Shobaki, Muhannad Al-Sheikh Ibrahim, Hamza Al-Hajj Muhammad, Abd Obaid, Anas Jaradat, Arafat Al-Zeer, Abdul-Jabbar Al-Shamali, Anwar Alyan, and Maher Hamdi Al-Hashlamoun were elected to become members of the committee.

The electoral cycle faced several challenges, among which were the strict restrictions imposed by the Israeli prison administration, in addition to the increased number of PIJ cadres in multiple Israeli occupation prisons; many of whom remained in solitary confinement.

Understanding Supreme Emergency Committee for PIJ Prisoners

The leadership body for the prisoners is chosen through elections, which leads to the election of the General Conference, which in turn chooses the Shura Council, which in turn elects the members of the leadership body, and the body elects a president and his deputy and forms committees.

The Commission's tasks include monitoring the affairs of PIJ prisoners, staying abreast of the administrative, organizational, cultural and mobilization situation in all occupation prisons, and thus approving the steps taken by prisoners in addressing the decisions of the occupation authorities against them and instructing prisoners to take steps during the Battle of Empty Stomachs.

About Captive Anas Jaradat

Captive Anas Ghalib Jaradat, 42 years old, is one of the most prominent commanders of the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the PIJ in Jenin.

The prisoner was born on 6 December 1981, in the village of Sila Al-Harthiya, in the city of Jenin, located in the Occupied West Bank. Jaradat studied in the village's schools but later dropped out of after receiving his preparatory degree, and became self-employed.

At the beginning of the Al-Aqsa intifada, he joined the ranks of the Resistance in the Al-Quds Brigades after he was influenced by his uncle, the captive resistance leader, Sheikh Sami Al-Jaradat, who was renowned for having established the blueprint for Hanadi Jaradat's heroic operation "Haifa".

On 11 May 2003, Jaradat was arrested in Jabal Abu Dahir, after confrontations erupted as the IOF surrounded his home where he and a number of Resistance fighters were positioned.

Jaradat, now that he has been elected, has become the successor of the martyred PIJ commander Iyad Sawalha. The two had previously worked to mobilize and plan for Resistance operations that had shaken the Israeli occupation to its core.

One of the most significant operations they had planned was Operation Kirkuk, which killed 14 IOF members, and Operation Megiddo, which killed another 18 IOF members and wounded dozens more.

In addition, the two were known to have been behind the famous "ٌRed Jeep" operation, which Israeli Occupation President Shimon Peres, at the time, referenced, saying that if the operation were to succeed, "it would have changed the region."

Jaradat was sentenced to 35 life sentences plus 35 years' imprisonment, reaching a total of 3,500 years' imprisonment. The PIJ commander remains in captivity and continues to be considered one of the most important cadres of the captive movement and one of the key PIJ prisoners.

During his detention, captive Jaradat was subjected to the most horrendous forms of torture and punishment by his jailers; most notably by the director of Asqalan prison, who decided not to give him medication for the illnesses he had suffered as a result of the torture he had endured.

But all this did not prevent him from obtaining a high school degree and a bachelor's degree in history, from Al-Aqsa University.