This first-person account, written by the partner of a Palestinian prisoner, brings to life detention conditions in Israeli prisons that have been well documented by human rights and other organizations. It highlights the particular dangers these carceral facilities pose to the men, women, and children being held—many in so-called administrative detention, without trial or charge—during the Covid-19 pandemic. Part reportage and part cri de coeur, this testimonial touches on the most immediate and existential aspects of imprisonment for Palestinians in Israeli prisons: poor sanitary conditions and insufficiency of Covid-19 mitigation measures, as well as systemic medical negligence, such as the withholding of medical care at a time of heightened threat and greater vulnerability.

In a wide-ranging interview conducted shortly after her release from Israel’s Ofer and Hasharon Prisons, Palestinian National Council member, PFLP activist, and feminist Khalida Jarrar addresses the Israeli occupation, Palestinian women’s issues, and the current state of Palestinian politics. Jarrar, who is a lawyer and human rights activist prominent in Palestinian efforts to take Israel to the International Criminal Court, was working late at her home on research when she was seized by Israeli forces on 2 April 2015. In this deeply personal account, she relates the simultaneous fear and resolve she experienced during her arrest, interrogation, and 15-month-long imprisonment, and speaks of her daily routine, including going from cell to cell to greet and encourage her fellow prisoners. She muses on the interaction between social and political forces that tear at Palestinian women’s lives, and on the necessary work for women to reclaim their power. Jarrar reacts to the controversy that arose after she was hoisted on the shoulders of male comrades in a celebratory gesture at her release from prison. She speaks frankly of the political crisis in the Palestinian Left—and, in the face of the Palestinian Authority’s failure to represent Palestinians, calls for a return to the fundamentals of national struggle: reviving the Palestine National Council and electing a new PLO Executive Committee.