Zeina Barbar of al-Quds jailed by Israeli occupation after father’s 21-year sentence

By Humaira Ahad

The beautiful love story of Majd Barbar and Fatima still echoes in the streets of occupied Jerusalem Al-Quds, a story that has become part of local folklore, part of the resistance against occupation.

This love is strong enough to endure the pain of separation imposed by the Zionist occupation.  

"I married my husband for love. When you love someone, you will wait an entire lifetime for them," Fatima was quoted as saying, describing her life-long commitment to Barbar.

Majd and Fatima’s love story began in their teenage years when they met at a summer camp. According to family members, it was love at first sight. 

They got married and had two children, Muntaser and Zeina. However, there was a twist to the tale.

After barely two and a half years of the marriage that was becoming increasingly blissful, their life took a vicious turn when the Zionist regime arrested Barbar on March 30, 2001. 

Barbar was accused of participating in resistance activities in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

On the day of his arrest, Muntaser was almost two years old, and Zeina was only 15 days old.

After her husband's incarceration, Fatima was left with the heavy burden of raising their two children all alone, as a single parent. She ensured they grew up with a deep sense of belonging to their occupied homeland and love for their family.

Zeina and Muntaser were raised on stories of their father’s courage. Fatima would spend hours showing them pictures of Barbar and telling them about his struggle for a free Palestine.

The 21 years of painful separation finally ended on March 29, 2021. The Ras Al-Amoud neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem presented a festive look. Upon hearing news of Barbar’s imminent release, Fatima organized a wedding-like celebration in her neighborhood.

Extended family, neighbors, and friends filled the streets. Women wore traditional Palestinian thobes, while the men sported red kaffiyehs.

The rhythmic sounds of the darbuka drum echoed through the streets. Fatima wore a special dress, handwoven in Gaza for the occasion of her reunion with the beloved.

“I still can’t believe he’s here,” Fatima said after her husband’s release, overwhelmed with emotion after more than 20 years of separation.  

A viral video from 2021 showed Zeina, then 20 years old, running to embrace her father in an emotional reunion.

However, Zeina’s joy was short-lived; her father was re-arrested by Israeli forces the very next day. Later that same year, the regime also arrested Zeina, a graduate of Birzeit University.

On July 9, Zeina was arrested again in the Old City of occupied Al-Quds, and she has been behind bars ever since. On September 3, the occupation regime extended her arbitrary detention after she refused an unjust "release" under extraordinarily restrictive conditions.

These release conditions often include exorbitant bail payments, house arrest requiring constant supervision by family members, and bans from social media, among other restrictions.  

Zeina’s brother, Muntaser, has also been arrested multiple times by Israeli authorities. His first arrest came in 2020 while his father was still in prison, serving his 21-year sentence.

Muntaser was abducted again on July 19, just ten days after his sister's arrest.

On September 3, Israeli forces also raided the siblings’ alma mater, Birzeit University. They assaulted the university’s security staff, tampered with Student Council belongings, and confiscated property.

"This brutal and recurrent invasion is a continuation of the Israeli occupation’s systematic policy aimed at devastating education in Palestine, targeting students and teachers in various ways, and attacking academic institutions,” the university said in a statement.

Since the Israeli regime occupied East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank in 1967, it has arrested an estimated one million Palestinians, according to a 2022 United Nations report.  

As of April 2024, more than 9,500 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons, according to the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, a Palestinian NGO.  

In August, Israeli rights group B’Tselem reported that Israel has engaged in systematic prisoner abuse and torture since the launch of the genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza last October, subjecting Palestinian detainees to arbitrary violence and even sexual abuse.

At least 27 Palestinians have been tortured to death in Israeli prisons during this time, though some human rights groups have put the number at more than 70.

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