Suhaib Zahda, a prominent Palestinian activist from Hebron, was arrested and interrogated by the Palestinian Authority’s Preventive Security Service after seeking permission to stage a protest over rising fuel prices, salary cuts, and corruption, according to Lawyers for Justice, an independent group of Palestinian lawyers based in Ramallah.
Zahda was arrested after he arrived at the Hebron Governorate to request approval for a peaceful demonstration, the activist group said, adding that his detention was indicative of restrictions on freedom of expression and the right to protest. The PA is targeting activists for voicing dissent, it said.
Zahda’s plans to protest coincide with an unfolding fuel crisis across the West Bank. In recent weeks, long lines have been seen at gasoline stations in Palestinian cities as residents seek to secure fuel supplies due to concerns over possible shortages and rising prices. Palestinian human-rights advocates have called for his immediate release.
Arrest a part of PA's intimidation campaign
His arrest is seen by many Palestinians as a continuation of the PA’s campaign to silence and intimidate critics and political opponents.
Zahda’s case is not an isolated incident, but rather, it is part of a broader policy by the PA leadership to suppress criticism and prevent protests, since it fears that either could fuel opposition and undermine its rule, according to Palestinian activists.
His detention was a “political arrest,” they said, and the PA has been cracking down on activists and journalists for expressing their opinions.
Over the past decade, political activists have reportedly been detained, arrested, summoned, and occasionally interrogated for social-media posts in which they expressed views that do not align with the PA’s position or criticized its alleged corruption, they added.
Death of activist Nizar Banat
One high-profile case was that of Nizar Banat, a well-known political activist who opposed the PA. He was pronounced dead shortly after a raid by PA security officers on his house in Dura, south of Hebron, in 2021.
Zahda, a colleague of Banat, played a key role in organizing the labor protest movement in 2018 against a proposed social security law, which he and other critics said had failed to guarantee Palestinian employees’ savings or protect their pensions. At the time, he said the movement had collected 100,000 signatures to pressure the PA government into canceling the law.
Zahda was previously interrogated and detained several times by both Palestinian and Israeli authorities.
Although he was released, some Palestinians said his arrest had cast doubts about PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s intentions to hold free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections.