Category: Press Releases

Kiriat Arba Police arrest one Human Rights Worker; IDF assault Human Rights Workers and steal cameras and passport in Tel Rumeida, Hebron

UPDATE: This morning (6th December), the Tel Rumeida Project HRW was released from Kiriat Arba police station without conditions. He was never brought to Jerusalem as the police had threatened.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

One Human Rights Worker from The Tel Rumeida Project was arrested in Tel Rumeida, Hebron, at 17:10 earlier today. He had been asking soldiers from the Israeli military why they had blocked a Palestinian pathway with barbed wire – a pathway that has been opened by an Israeli court order 4 months ago.

The soldier responded by physically assaulting the HRWs, taking their passports, and confiscating two video cameras that were legally being used by the HRWs to document Israeli military’s violation of the previous court order. Soldiers were holding one of the HRWs in a headlock as they ripped the camera away from him. The HRWs called the Hebron Police, who immediately arrested one of the HRWs and took him to the Kiriat Arba Police Station. They did not inform him of any accusations against him.

After having deleted the contents of the tape, the soldiers later returned one of the cameras and two of the passports, but kept one video camera and one passport. The HRW without a passport was informed by the police to come and collect her passport and the camera at the Kiriat Arba Police Station. When she got to the police station, the police would not let her in, telling her that the Israeli soldiers had her passport.

At 19:40, soldiers returned the passport and the second video camera to the HRWs in Tel Rumeida, after having deleted that tape as well. The Israeli military specifically deleted the evidence that incriminated the soldiers, the documentation of the assault and the theft. Other recordings were left intact.

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and the Tel Rumeida Project provides an international presence to support the daily Palestinian non-violent struggle against attacks from Hebron’s violent settler community. During the last 3 months, The Israeli military and the Police in the area have repeatedly been trying to get the Human Rights Workers out of Tel Rumeida, by arresting them without reason, issuing false Closed Military Zone Orders and trying to break in to their apartment without a warrant.

Another one of the HRWs who was arrested a few weeks ago, and later released without charge, was threatened with deportation by a Police Officer. He said: “We were there last week when you were arrested. That was strike one. This would be strike two. Strike three and you’re going back to your home country.” Threats with deportation are a common part of the daily harassment that HRWs have to endure in Tel Rumeida from the Hebron Police and the IDF.

ISM Media Office +972 2 297 1824 www.palsolidarity.org
Tel Rumeida Project +972 54 557 3154 www.telrumeidaproject.org

Human Rights Worker Refuses Deportation, Put in Solitary Confinement in Tzohar Detention Center, Israel

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Andrew Macdonald, a Human Rights Worker from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), is still being held in solitary confinement at the Tzohar Detention Center in Israel. Even though he has been threatened by the Prison Commander, he maintains that “deporting people from Palestine is a matter for Palestinians to decide, not for Israelis.”

“You are making me nervous – I have not been nervous for 3 years. But I can make you nervous too. You are playing games with me, but I can play games with you to.” These were the words of the Prison Commander Yuvral just before he threatened to take Andrews cell phone away from him. This is not the first time Andrew has been threatened; the Israeli Authorities have repeatedly used intimidation to try to pressure him to leave the country. Previously, a police officer from the Special Operations Unit threatened to drug him if he did not comply.

Before his arrest, Andrew worked in Tel Rumeida, Hebron, where ISM and the Tel Rumeida Project provides an international presence to support the daily Palestinian non-violent struggle against attacks from Hebron’s violent settler community. During the last 3 months, The IDF and the Police in the area have repeatedly been trying to get the Human Rights Workers out of Tel Rumeida, by arresting them without reason, issuing false Closed Military Zone Orders and trying to break in to their apartment without a warrant.

Andrew Macdonald has been in custody for 10 days since his arrest on 24th of November 2005, and in solitary confinement for 3 days since his arrival to Tzohar Detention Center this Thursday at 21:30. He is kept in a 2×2 meter cell and is not allowed to see other prisoners. Last night the prison staff kept the light in his cell on until 2 AM, depriving him of his sleep.

ISM Media Office +972 2 297 1824 www.palsolidarity.org
Tel Rumeida Project +972 54 557 3154 www.telrumeidaproject.org

Palestinians to Hold Press Conference to Call for Release of the Four CPT Hostages in Iraq

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Harmeet Sooden. Picture taken in January on a farm outside Jenin where he was helping to plant olive trees.

Tomorrow (Monday the 5th of December) Ikram al Sabri, the head Mufti of Palestine joined by personal Palestinian friends of Harmeet Sodeen, James Loney and Tom Fox, three of the four Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) hostages being held in Iraq will hold a press conference to call for their release unharmed. They will be joined by other notable Palestinian figures, as well as a speaker from CPT Hebron. The press conference will take place in the Palestine Media Centre in Al-Bireh, Ramallah at 11am.

The full list of speakers will be:

Ikram al Sabri, the head Mufti of Palestine
Mohammed Ayyesh, a Palestinian non-violent activist from Balata camp, Nablus
Ferial Abu Hakil, the Headmistress of Qataba school, Hebron
Christan Anderson a representative of CPT Hebron

There will be a time for questions after a short statement from each of the speakers. The press conference will be held in Arabic. All media are welcome.

Copies of written statements by the following groups calling for their release in Arabic and English will be available: the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the National and Islamic Forces in Hebron, Palestinian National Initiative, The Popular Committees Against the Wall and Settlements and The Forum of Muslims Scholars (Rabata Olama al-Muslimin).

Venue:
Palestine Media Center, Al-Quds-Nablus st., Al-Abraj Al-Watanieh building, 3rd floor, PO Box 4252, Al-Bireh

Time:
11am promptly.

For more information:
ISM Media office: 02 297 1824 or 057 572 0754

Human Rights Worker refuses deportation; Threatened by Police Officer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

At 01:15 on Thursday morning, Andrew Macdonald, a Human Rights Worker from the ISM, refused deportation from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. The refusal is a protest against the State of Israel’s policy of deporting Human Rights Workers from the Occupied Territories of Palestine.

After the refusal, a police officer from the Special Operations Unit, threatened Andrew, saying that they were going to drug him and use handcuffs and leg shackles to force him on the next available plane. They also threatened to put him in jail for two months if he would not comply. Currently, Andrew is being held at the Tzohar Detention Center near the Rafah crossing to Gaza.

The arrest took place last Thursday at 15:00 in Tel Rumeida, Hebron. Andrew had just finished escorting Palestinian children to school. ISM together with the Tel Rumeida Project provides an international presence in Tel Rumeida that supports the daily Palestinian non-violent struggle against attacks from Hebron’s violent settler community.

Andrew Macdonald’s own comment is: “Something very odd is happening here. In order to eject people from Israel, they are snatching people out of Palestine, and forcing them into Israel. It’s not for Israelis to decide who can stay in Palestine, it’s for Palestinians to decide.”

For more details:

ISM Media Office +972 2 297 1824
Tel Rumeida Project www.telrumeidaproject.org

Palestinians demonstrate for release of Western activists kidnapped in Iraq

A demonstration will be held in Rammallah today at the Al Manara square 3:00 PM to call for the release of the four kidnapped peace activists in Iraq.

Speakers at the demonstration will include a representative of the Palestinian Islamic Forum, Shawkat Samha The Mayor of Jayouss (where Harmeet and Tom volunteered), Mustapha Barghouti head of the Palestinian Initiative and Kadura Fares of the National committee against the wall and settlements.

Another demonstration will be held in the village of Tawani, tomorrow at 1:30, where American Tom Fox served as a volunteer.

The four workers for the group Christian Peacemaking Teams – an American, a Briton and two Canadians – were shown in a video released by an Iraqi militant group on Tuesday. Three of the four CPT (Christian Peace Maker Teams) activists Kidnapped in Iraq spent time in the West Bank aiding the Palestinians in CPT and ISM (International Solidarity Movement).

Calls for there release have been made by Head Mufti Akrema Sabri, The Al Aqsa Martyr Brigades, The Palestinian National and Islamic Forces in Hebron, The Popular Committees Against the Wall and Settlements and the Palestinian Islamic Forum.

For more information call the ISM media office:
02 2971824 or 057572054

For information on the Tawani demonstration:
Jumaa: 050 529 8161
Dianne: 054 636 2577