Tag: Deportation

Israeli forces arrest two foreigners in West Bank

Reuters

7 February 2010

Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib said the arrest of Spaniard Ariadna Jove Marti and Australian Bridgette Chappell in the city of Ramallah violated interim peace accords that gave Palestinians self-rule in parts of the West Bank.

An Israeli army spokesman said the two women “were known to have been involved in illegal riots that interfered with Israeli security operations,” apparently in reference to the protests against the barrier.

Both in their 20s, the women were activists with the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement (ISM), established in 2001 to mobilize international support for Palestinian activism against Israeli occupation.

“They were arrested in Ramallah on the grounds of staying in Israel illegally,” the military spokesman said, in apparent reference to tourist visas they received on entering Israel, which controls access to the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad last week urged Israel to end incursions in West Bank areas which according to arrangements established under the Oslo peace process fall under full Palestinian control.

Ryan Olander, an ISM activist who shared an apartment with the two women, said around 12 members of the Israeli security forces had arrested the pair in the early hours of the morning.

Palestinian and international activists say Israel, apparently concerned about plans for wider demonstrations, has stepped up a campaign of arrests against protest organizers in the last two months.

The Israeli authorities deported a leading ISM activist last month, the organization said. Eva Novakova, from the Czech Republic, had also been arrested in Ramallah.

Protesters stage weekly demonstrations in various Palestinian villages against Israel’s construction of West Bank walls and fences that have denied them access to their land.

Israel says the barrier, which the World Court has deemed illegal over its construction in occupied land, has stopped suicide bombers in the past and can be removed in the future if the security situation improves.

Army raids Ramallah to arrest international activists in violation of Oslo Accords

7 February 2010

For Immediate Release:

Ariadna Jove Marti

Israeli soldiers raided a Ramallah apartment around 3AM to arrest a Spanish and an Australian activist over expired visas in direct violation of the Oslo Accords.

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 International Solidarity Movement (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”.

Bridget Chappell

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. Even the conduct of “hot pursuit” is disallowed in non-security related matters, which overstayed visas are.

The arrests tonight follow the unlawful detention and deportation of Czech citizen Eva Nováková under similar circumstances last month. Her arrest stirred controversy over the misuse of the “Oz” unit inside the Occupied Territories, despite them having no authority in the area.

According to Ryan Olander, an American solidarity activist who was at the scene during the raid, around ten soldiers forcefully entered the apartment and demanded to see the passports of everyone who was present and informed the two of their detention on the grounds of overstayed visas. The soldiers confiscated cameras, a computer, pro-Palestinian banners and ISM volunteers’ registration forms.

Following the arrests Olander said that, “This raid is a continuation of Israel’s attempts to quash the grassroots movement against the Occupation. This is a cynical and unjust attempt to hide the reality of the Occupation and further bar access to information from the international community”.

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. Nováková’s lawyer is currently in the process of preparing an appeal to the Israeli High 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.

Israel Expels Top Ma’an Journalist

Ma’an News Agency

January 21, 2010

Bethlehem – Ma’an – A week after he was detained and then questioned over news stories criticizing Israel, a top Ma’an journalist was deported on Wednesday.

Jared Malsin, chief English editor at the Bethlehem-based news network, had been fighting to attend a hearing on a deportation order issued last Tuesday in Tel Aviv after a vacation in the Czech Republic.

Malsin, an American citizen, says he was pressured by Interior Ministry staff into dropping a legal challenge  and was subsequently placed onto a El Al flight to New York early Wednesday. “I had no idea I was waving anything, no clue,” he said, telling Ma’an that Israeli officials provided him a document to withdraw his case without an attorney present, and offered a misleading explanation over what he was signing.

Malsin said he wrote a note indicating that he was leaving the facility “without personal coercion.” “But none of this was my decision,” he emphasized in a phone interview minutes after arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York early Thursday morning, rejecting reports that he left Israel voluntarily. “There’s no such thing as a voluntary deportation. I was deported, period.”

Malsin said he was under the impression that the “agreement” allowed him to leave the airport while his case continued. Indeed, his attorney, Castro Daoud, said he had recently informed Malsin that he would seek such a ruling from District Court Judge Kobi Vardi. On Tuesday, Judge Vardi ordered a hearing to consider the decision to deport the journalist.

Explanations from official Israeli government representatives were contradictory. Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Hadad told The Associated Press that Malsin raised security suspicions during an investigation upon his arrival. The same day, however, she was also quoted by Reuters as denying Malsin was refused a visa for political or security reasons.

Allegations referenced in court documents were that Malsin had been uncooperative and had violated his visa status during an eight-hour interrogation, the pretext for which was never clear, that ultimately resulted in the deportation of his girlfriend, Faith Rowold.

Among the Interior Ministry’s complaints, according to documents obtained by Ma’an and others, were that Malsin had authored articles “inside the [Palestinian] territories,” including some “criticizing the State of Israel.”

International press association have strongly backed the journalist.

“We condemn this intolerable violation of press freedom,” said Aidan White, the head of the International Federation of Journalists, the largest union of media professionals worldwide. “The ban of entry in this case appears to be as a reprisal measure for the journalist’s independent reporting and that is unacceptable.”

“This kind of interference has no place in a democracy,” he added.

Czech pro-Palestinian activist returns home after expelled by Israel

Ha’aretz

12 January 2010

A Czech pro-Palestinian activist returned to Prague on Tuesday after she was expelled from Israel, officials said.

Israel Defense Forces soldiers and immigration police detained Eva Novakova, 28, in a raid on her home in Ramallah in the West Bank on early Monday, said the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian group where she worked before her expulsion.

The group said in a statement posted on its website that Novakova became its media coordinator three weeks earlier.

The activist was expelled for “breaching the rules of her stay,” the spokesman for the Czech Republic’s Foreign Ministry, Milan Repka, said. He said that Novakova overstayed her visa.

Novakova’s lawyer, Omer Shatz, called the Israeli action against his client politically-motivated.

“This arrest is part of the continued and illegal use of the immigration police against activists, for political purposes,” the statement by the pro-Palestinian group cited him as saying.

Israel stages night-time Ramallah raid to arrest an international solidarity activist

UPDATE: Eva has now been deported. She was forced on a plane back to Prague at 6am this morning (Tuesday the 12th).

11 January 2009

For immediate release:

A raid was conducted in Ramallah’s city centre tonight to apprehend Eva Nováková, a Czech citizen, who took on the role of the International Solidarity Movement’s media coordinator three weeks ago.

Israeli soldiers raided the Ramallah home of Eva Nováková tonight at 3 am near the Manara square. The operation to apprehend Nováková, the ISM’s new media coordinator since three weeks ago, was carried out by a force of both soldiers and members of the “Oz” immigration police unit. During the raid, the army occupied a number of rooftops at a location adjacent to the Palestinian Police Ramallah headquarters. She is currently being held in Givon detention center awaiting deportation to the Czech Republic.

This recent military raid into Palestinian-controlled Area A comes amidst Palestinian discontent over continued incursions and arrests. Nováková’s Attoreny Omer Shatz stated: “The Israeli immigration police work under the authority of the Israeli ministry of the interior, and as such have no jurisdiction in the Occupied Palestinian territories. This arrest is part of the continued and illegal use of the immigration police against activists, for political purposes”

This raid follows an extensive arrest wave targeting grassroots activists and oragnizers throughout the West Bank. Such raids have been conducted in the villages of Bil’in – where 32 residents have been arrested in the past six month, Ni’ilin – where 94 residents have been arrested in the past 18 months, the cities of Nablus and Ramallah and East Jerusalem. The past three weeks have seen raids on ex-ISM bases in both Bil’in and Ni’lin also.

Among those arrested in this recent campaign are five members of the Bil’in Popular Committee have been arrested in suspicion of incitement, including Adeeb Abu Rahmah, who has already been held in detention for almost six months and Bil’in’s Popular Committee coordinator, Abdallah Abu Rahmah.

Prominent Nablus grassroots activists, Wael al-Faqeeh (Nablus) as well as Jamal Juma (East Jerusalem) and Mohammed Othman (Jayyous) of the Stop the Wall NGO, involved in anti-Wall and boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigning have also been arrested recently. All three are currently being held on secret evidence and with no charges brought against them.