Israeli security forces have recently intensified their fight against peace activists from here and abroad who seek to protest against the occupation and identify with the Palestinian inhabitants. This week, Israeli soldiers raided the Ramallah offices of the International Solidarity Movement a number of times. They arrested two activists – one a Spanish citizen and the other an Australian. They confiscated office equipment, T-shirts and bracelets bearing the word “Palestine.” They also raided the offices of Stop the Wall and the Palestinian Communist Party in Ramallah.
According to data provided by the activists, since December, Israeli forces have undertaken more than 20 nighttime raids on the villages of Na’alin and Bil’in and have arrested more than 30 people. They are all suspected of taking part in protests against the separation fence, which invades these villages and very severely harms the inhabitants’ welfare. None of them were charged with involvement in terror operations or criminal activities to justify persecuting, arresting and deporting them.
At the same time, the Israel Police used force to suppress protests identifying with the Palestinians in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood; these Palestinians had been forced to vacate their homes. Dozens of protesters are arrested every week and brought to court. All these steps were taken to deter human rights activists from implementing their right to free speech – the life’s breath of a democratic society.
Out of a passion to root out protest, the Israel Defense Forces was sent into parts of Area A, which is under full control of the Palestinian Authority. Entering these areas breaches the Oslo Accords and damages the prestige of the moderate Palestinian leadership, that same leadership that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continually offers “good neighborliness.”
More serious is that members of the Interior Ministry’s Oz unit joined the “assault” on Ramallah. Oz repeated the trick of arresting foreign activists on the pretext that they were illegal labor immigrants. Although a Jerusalem court ordered them freed, we needed a ruling by the High Court of Justice and the intervention of the governments of the two detained activists to redress the distortion and release them.
It could be expected that a country that has ruled another nation for many years would show tolerance toward manifestations of unarmed protest against the occupation and its ills. The state should also respect the right of other countries’ citizens to show solidarity with the local people and join protests alongside Israeli and Palestinian activists.
The harassment of individuals who do not toe the line and posters in the streets that incite against human rights groups should arouse concern in the heart of every Israeli. The suppression of public protest under the transparent guise of protecting state security does not augment Israel’s international standing. Such a policy gives a bad name to “the only democracy in the Middle East.”
Officials at the top of government must instruct the security forces and the Interior Ministry to immediately stop these heavy-handed attacks on nonviolent protest.
Israel Defense Forces soldiers raided the International Solidarity Movement’s Ramallah office Wednesday for the second time this week, confiscating computers, T-shirts and bracelets engraved with the word “Palestine.”
On Sunday, soldiers arrested Ariadna Jove Marti of Spain and Bridgette Chappell of Australia at the Ramallah office. The High Court of Justice ordered the two women freed on Monday.
Yesterday’s raid took place at 3 A.M. Hours later, the ISM held a press conference, in conjunction with other pro-Palestinian organizations, at which they lashed out at the IDF’s behavior. According to the ISM, the army launched an organized campaign in mid-December, the goal of which was to break up the popular protests against the separation fence in the West Bank villages of Bili’in and Na’alin. This campaign has included arrests and other forms of harassment, the activists charged.
Chappell said the IDF apparently sees the ISM as a “challenge” to Israel, and is therefore taking action against it. She added that the army would not find anything incriminating in the group’s computers, as all its activities are strictly legal.
According to the Israeli organization Anarchists Against the Wall, the IDF has conducted no fewer than 18 nighttime raids in Na’alin alone since December, during which time it has arrested 25 people. Bili’in was subject to five raids and eight arrests.
“I don’t think there were even that many army raids in Nablus in 2002, at the height of the intifada,” claimed Jonathan Pollack of the anarchist group.
In addition to its two raids on the ISM office, the IDF also raided the offices of two other groups – Stop the Wall and the Palestinian Communist Party – this week. The activists claim that none of these groups are involved in terrorist activities; they merely organize demonstrations.
ISM, founded soon after the second intifada began in September 2000, is a very small group. It usually has less than 20 activists in the West Bank at any one time. Nevertheless, it has been heavily involved in anti-Israel protests, and is currently active in the demonstrations against house demolitions in East Jerusalem as well as the protests in Bili’in and Na’alin. It also has four activists located in the Gaza Strip.
Two ISM activists have been killed while protesting, Rachel Corrie in 2003 and Tom Hurndall in 2004; two others have been seriously wounded.
A state prosecutor admitted before the Supreme Court today that the Immigration Police illegally detained the two international activists arrested yesterday in a pre-dawn raid on the International Solidarity Movement’s Ramallah offices. The two will be released on bail.
Earlier today, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the release on bail of the two activists who were arrested on Sunday during a pre-dawn raid on the Ramallah media office of the International Solidarity Movement. During the hearing, the State Prosecutor admitted that it was illegal for the Immigration Police to receive custody of the two in the Occupied Territories, where it has no legal authority.
While the illegality of the detention of the two, Ariadna Jove Marti, a Spanish journalist, and Bridgette Chappell, an Australian student in the Beir Zeit university, by the Immigration Police is now undisputed, the overall legality of the raid remains contested.
According to Marti and Chappell, they have been questioned primarily about their overstayed visas. The Army, however, alleges that their arrests were security driven, despite the fact that the State Prosecutor could provide no evidence to support this notion.
The Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority clearly forbid any Israeli incursion into Area A for reasons not directly and urgently related to security, even in “hot pursuit”. A raid on Area A on the ground of expired visas is therefore in direct violation of the accords.
The court had ordered the release of the two on a NIS 3,000 bail each, and on the condition that they will not enter the Occupied Territories pending final decision in the case. The judges had also ordered the state to file depositions, if any exist, implicating the two as security threats for a review of the legality of their detention.
Israeli attempts to deport foreigners involved with Palestinian solidarity work are part of a recent campaign to end Palestinian grassroots demonstrations, which involves mass arrests of Palestinian protesters and organizers. Over the last ten months, the “Oz” immigration unit illegally arrested and attempted to deport four other international activists.
Eva Nováková, a Czech national and former ISM media coordinator, was arrested in Ramallah on January 11th, 2010, and deported the next day, before the deportation could be appealed. She too was arrested by the Immigration Police. Nováková’s lawyer is currently in the process of preparing an appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court to challenge the legality of her arrest.
Additionally, American solidarity activist, Ryan Olander, was twice arrested illegally by the “Oz” Immigration unit, but his deportation was prevented after a judge ruled his detention illegal. Similar appeals to the court have also annulled the deportations of other American and British activists in recent months.
A banner is hung during a demonstration against the Sheikh Jarrah evictions.
According to local residents, a settler was seen spray painting a swastika on the Ghawi tent. The truck driver yelled at the settler and called the police. When the police arrived they ignored the settler and accused neighborhood Palestinians of having painted the swastika. Palestinians painted over the swastika to prevent further accusations.
Later, at 5.30 the settler came back again and this time accompanied with another settler dressed in army uniform. This time they threatened the 87 years old Rifka Al-Kurd with a M-16 machine gun and said that they would kill her. All this was taped by the Al-Kurd daughter and the recording was shown to the police who arrived 15 to 20 minutes after the incident started. The settler who was carrying the machine gun was arrested, but one managed to escape the scene before the police arrived.
The police wrote a report on the spot in Hebrew and handed it over to Mr. Al-Kurd and less then 45 minutes after the incident began the police had left.
The occupied Al-Kurd house where the M16 incident happened. The protest tent is to the right.
Neither of the two settlers involved live in Sheikh Jarrah, but they are known by the Palestinian families from previous harassment incidents.
This event, combined with the events of last week mark a recent escalation of illegal and unjustified aggression by the Sheikh Jarrah settlers. The unexcited and light handed reaction of police against this aggression shows continued support by the Israeli government of these religious extremists and the settlements which have been condemned by the international community.
Last Sunday there was a similar incident with a settler waving a M-16 machine gun at the Palestinians.
Approximately 475 Palestinian residents living in the Karm Al-Ja’ouni neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, located directly north of the Old City, face imminent eviction from their homes in the manner of the Hannoun and Gawi families, and the al-Kurd family before them. All 28 families are refugees from 1948, mostly from West Jerusalem and Haifa, whose houses in Sheikh Jarrah were built and given to them through a joint project between the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Jordanian government in 1956.
So far, settlers took over houses of four Palestinian families, displacing around 60 residents, including 20 children. At present, settlers occupy all these houses and the whole area is patrolled by armed private security 24 hours a day. The evicted Palestinian families, some of whom have been left without suitable alternative accommodation since August, continue to protest against the unlawful eviction from the sidewalk across the street from their homes, facing regular violent attacks from the settlers and harassment from the police.
The Gawi family, for example, had their only shelter, a small tent built near their house, destroyed by the police and all their belongings stolen five times. In addition, the al-Kurd family has been forced to live in an extremely difficult situation, sharing the entrance gate and the backyard of their house with extremist settlers, who occupied a part of the al-Kurd home in December 2009. The settlers subject the Palestinian family to regular violent attacks and harassment, making their life a living hell.
The ultimate goal of the settler organizations is to evict all Palestinians from the area and turn it into a new Jewish settlement and to create a Jewish continuum that will effectively cut off the Old City form the northern Palestinian neighborhoods. On 28 August 2008, Nahalat Shimon International filed a plan to build a series of five and six-story apartment blocks – Town Plan Scheme (TPS) 12705 – in the Jerusalem Local Planning Commission. If TPS 12705 comes to pass, the existing Palestinian houses in this key area would be demolished, about 500 Palestinians would be evicted, and 200 new settler units would be built for a new settlement: Shimon HaTzadik.
Implanting new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank is illegal under many international laws, including Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The plight of the Gawi, al-Kurd and the Hannoun families is just a small part of Israel’s ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from East Jerusalem.
Legal background
The eviction orders, issued by Israeli courts, are a result of claims made in 1967 by the Sephardic Community Committee and the Knesseth Yisrael Association (who since sold their claim to the area to Nahalat Shimon) – settler organizations whose aim is to take over the whole area using falsified deeds for the land dating back to 1875. In 1972, these two settler organizations applied to have the land registered in their names with the Israel Lands Administration (ILA). Their claim to ownership was noted in the Land Registry; however, it was never made into an official registry of title. The first Palestinian property in the area was taken over at this time.
The case continued in the courts for another 37 years. Amongst other developments, the first lawyer of the Palestinian residents reached an agreement with the settler organizations in 1982 (without the knowledge or consent of the Palestinian families) in which he recognized the settlers’ ownership in return for granting the families the legal status of protected tenants. This affected 23 families and served as a basis for future court and eviction orders (including the al-Kurd family house take-over in December 2009), despite the immediate appeal filed by the families’ new lawyer. Furthermore, a Palestinian landowner, Suleiman Darwish Hijazi, has legally challenged the settlers’ claims. In 1994 he presented documents certifying his ownership of the land to the courts, including tax receipts from 1927. In addition, the new lawyer of the Palestinian residents located a document, proving the land in Sheikh Jarrah had never been under Jewish ownership. The Israeli courts rejected these documents.
The first eviction orders were issued in 1999 based on the (still disputed) agreement from 1982 and, as a result, two Palestinian families (Hannoun and Gawi) were evicted in February 2002. After the 2006 Israeli Supreme Court finding that the settler committees’ ownership of the lands was uncertain, and the Lands Settlement officer of the court requesting that the ILA remove their names from the Lands Registrar, the Palestinian families returned back to their homes. The courts, however, failed to recognize new evidence presented to them and continued to issue eviction orders based on decisions from 1982 and 1999 respectively. Further evictions followed in November 2008 (Kamel al-Kurd family) and August 2009 (Hannoun and Gawi families for the second time). An uninhabited section of a house belonging to the al-Kurd family was taken over by settlers on 1 December 2009.
Eva Nováková (right) with the Hannoun family evicted from their house in Sheikh Jarrah
The lawyer of Eva Nováková, the former International Solidarity Movement (ISM) media coordinator, who was taken from her apartment in Ramallah on 11 January 2010 and subsequently deported, filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Justice today to challenge the legality of her arrest.
The official reason given by the Israeli authorities was that Eva Nováková overstayed her visa. However, her lawyer argues that by invading Ramallah the Oz unit, which is a part of the Israeli Ministry of the Interior, acted against the law as they do not have jurisdiction over areas with full Palestinian civilian control.
“The ministry of the interior was acting outside of the sovereign territory of Israel” said Omer Schatz, the lawyer of Eva Nováková following her arrest. Today, he added that: “In the petition we filed today we argue that the unlawful kidnapping and deportation of Nováková is part of the campaign that Israeli authorities are waging against the non violent struggle against the occupation. The campaign systematically violates every rule of due process, and includes arbitrary detentions of Palestinian peace activists and illegal deportations of foreign activists, as demonstrated lately in unlawful night raids in Bilin and Ramallah.”
The appeal was filed only hours after another two international activists were illegally arrested during a night raid in Ramallah. At three in the morning, the Israeli army forcefully entered an apartment in the Area A, city of Ramallah, and arrested two activists from the ISM on suspicion of overstaying their visas. The two, Ariadna Jove Marti, a Spanish journalist, and Bridgette Chappell, an Australian student in the Beir Zeit university, were then taken to the Ofer military prison located inside the Occupied Territories, where they were handed over to the Israeli immigration police unit “Oz”.
Similarly to the case of Eva Nováková, the raid and detention of the two is in direct violation of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which clearly forbids any Israeli incursion into Area A for reasons not directly and urgently related to security.
Background information
Miss Nováková, who lived in Ramallah, Area A under full Palestinian control, was taken when 20 soldiers accompanied by immigration officers from the Oz unit invaded her apartment at 3am, on Sunday 11 January. She was taken for interrogation at Hulon and later transferred to the Givon prison in Ramle. After two hours, however, she was taken to the airport detention facility, where her phone was confiscated and she was prevented from contacting her lawyer. Despite the efforts of the lawyer to temporarily freeze the deportation, she was put on the plane at 5.30am the next day and deported to Prague, Czech Republic.
The attempts of the Israeli authorities to deport foreigners involved with Palestinian solidarity work are part of a recent campaign to end Palestinian grassroots demonstrations. The Oz immigration unit illegally arrested and attempted to deport further five international activists over the last ten months, while around ten leading Palestinian organizers have been arrested, including Jamal Juma’, Abdallah Abu Rahmah, Adeeb Abu Rahmah, Wael al-Faqeeh and Mohammed Khatib. In addition, dozens of demonstration participants have been arrested from Bil’in, Ni’lin and Jayyous.
The illegal practices of the Oz unit came to attention in the case of Ryan Olander, an American citizen, who was arrested in Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem and later released without conditions, only to be literally kidnapped by members of Oz from outside the court building. Mr Olander spent one month at the Givon prison in Ramle awaiting the decision on his deportation. On 18 January 2010, the Tel Aviv District Court judge ordered to freeze Ryan’s deportation and ruled his arrest was illegal.
Despite this, the Oz unit continues to target international activists across the West Bank. In addition to today’s arrests, they have been involved in a night raid on the village of Bil’in on 28 January. A video of the invasion, during which a leading non-violent activist, Mohammad Khatib was arrested, is available on YouTube:
