Tel Rumeida Report
by ISM Hebron, 17 May 2007
A Palestinian got arrested and brought into the Israeli settlement of Tel Rumeida between 7 and 8 o’clock this morning. Three human rights workers (HRWs) started to film the incident and the Israeli border police from a distance.
Israeli soldiers at the Tel Rumeida army post told the HRWs to leave the street.
Two Israeli settlers, the local settler bus driver and Yifrad Al Kobi, came down to where the HRWs were standing and blocked them from filming and began to shoot photos of the HRWs. The driver claimed to have orders from the army to tell the HRWs to move back.
The HRWs refused to move and after a while the police showed up. The officer whose name is Avi Dubour was very upset and did not give the HRWs any chance to explain themselves, their reasons for not moving and so on.
The Israeli officer ordered the one who was filming to give him the camera and when another HRW attempted to take the camera away to copy the tape, the officer arrested both of the HRWs. The HRWs, along with the Palestinian, were driven to Kiryat Arba Police Station and detained there for between 3-4 hours. They were not told why they were being arrested.
In the end, the HRWs were warned “not to do anything stupid and released without an interrogation” and driven back to Tel Rumeida.