by Lisa
30 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement West Bank
During a settler tour around the old city in Hebron on Saturday, where dozens of Israelis were guided around in a sort of parade, a Palestinian man named Yousef Salim Issa Al Batch, passed by and was stopped by Israeli police. He had a small fruit knife in his pocket and had forgotten his ID. As a result he was arrested and taken to the police station at the Kiryat Arba settlement at 4:15 PM.
Earlier in the day Al Batch had been cutting apples with a small knife and forgot to take it out of his pocket. When stopped by the police he was asked for his ID. He did not have it with him, and so, Al Batch called his mother to ask her to give him the ID number. The officer who had stopped him suggested that this would be acceptable so long as Yousef had not been in any trouble in the past. If he did have a previous record with Israelis, they would have to bring him to the police station.
Although Al Batch has never been arrested before and never been in trouble, the police officer decided to bring him to the police station anyways.
Al Batch was released at 8:30 PM after his cousin paid 1,000 shekels in cash to the police.
His cousin, Amer, called International Solidarity Movement on Sunday evening and said with an anxious voice:
“This is not normal, I think it’s pocket money for the police men”.
Lisa is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).