Update on Yonatan Pollack

Israeli activist Yonatan Pollack, member of Israeli Anarchists Against Walls was arrested in a non-violent demonstration against the Annexation Barrier in the town of Salfit in the West Bank on June 9th. Two activists who were arrested with him were released with light conditions, while Yonatan was kept overnight and offered condition of a three-month bar from the Occupied Territories. He refused to sign the conditions and was brought in front of a judge on June 11th. The judge did not reduce the conditions and Yonaton signed the conditions on advice of his lawyer.

Last Monday, July 4th, Yonatan’s lawyer Gaby Laski appealed the conditions. The judge said that he ‘couldn’t be bothered’ with the case and that Yonatan was lucky, as he (the judge) disagreed with the basic premise of the appeal.

In addition, however, the judge ruled that the period of ban from the Occupied Territories was too long and reduced it to one month. In practice, this means that Yonaton will be able to return to the territories in just a few days.

The Israeli authorities have recently been attempting to ban veteran activists from the Occupied Territories for lengthy periods of time.

Ezra, an Israeli activist with Taayush, who has been extremely active in the last few years in the South Hebron area, was arrested at a flying checkpoint on his way back to Jerusalem after a peaceful demonstration against the annexation barrier at the village of Imnazeil in the South Hebron Hills.

The police originally wanted to bar Ezra from entering the Occupied Territories for a period of three months for allegedly ‘pushing a soldier’. This for a charge that is entirely unverifiable and, according to Ezra, also untrue. Ezra went to court on Saturday, July 2nd, accompanied by around twenty Israeli and international activists. A discussion never took place and Ezra agreed to a thirty day bar from the area 300m away from the Barrier in the South Hebron area.