RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian security services raided the International Red Cross office in Ramallah on the evening of Dec. 18, hours after three parliamentarians decided to stage a sit-in there to protest President Mahmoud Abbas' decision to strip them of their parliamentary immunity. The decision affected these three parliament members — Jamal Tirawi, Najat Abu Bakr and Shami Shami — as well as dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan and Nasser Juma.
Abu Bakr told Al-Monitor they wanted to stage their sit-in in the Palestinian Legislative Council, but were unable to do so given the deployment of security forces around the parliament building, so they and a fourth parliamentarian, Jihad Tamliyah, decided to head to the IRC.