Peace activists arrested by IOF in the not-occupied oPt

Israeli soldiers arresting international activists during a protest against the Israeli occupation in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, on July 13, 2012. The Israeli army arrested at least 9 Israeli and International activists during the protest. From Nabi Saleh solidarity

Foreign activists actively participate in W. Bank marches despite suppression

Palestine Information Centre
July 14, 2012

RAMALLAH– The West Bank peaceful marches against Israel’s segregation wall and settlement activities saw on Friday afternoon massive participation by young villagers and foreign peace activists despite the violence used persistently by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) to subdue their protests.

A large number of Israeli troops attacked the weekly march organized in Nabi Saleh village using tear gas grenades, wastewater and rubber bullets.

The troops deliberately fired tear gas grenades at the house of a Palestinian citizen in the village leading to the destruction of its windows and wounding journalist Mohamed Atamimi with pieces of flying glass.

The IOF arrested four foreign activists and detained senior leader of the peaceful popular resistance in Nabi Saleh village Bashir Atamimi.

The protestors were attempting to march towards the Palestinian lands annexed by the Israeli occupation authority in the village when the troops attacked them and declared the area a closed military zone.

The IOF also used excessive force to quell the peaceful march in Masarah village near Bethlehem city and prevented the protestors from reaching the segregation wall built in their village.

Many foreign activists participated in this march mainly to protest at the Israeli decision to legitimize settlement expansion and the arrest of foreign activists in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In Bil’in village west of Ramallah, a press photographer was injured in his shoulder when Israeli troops fired a barrage of tear gas grenades at the peaceful anti-wall march organized every week in the village.

Israel ‘still holds 5 foreign women activists’
By AFP
July 14, 2012

Israel was still holding five foreign women activists on Saturday who were arrested in the West Bank after a demonstration a day earlier, a police spokeswoman said.

“Five European activists arrested Friday during a demonstration in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) remain in detention,” Luba Samri told AFP.

“The five women are accused of causing disturbances during the event” in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh, she said, adding they will face a hearing later Saturday in a Jerusalem court for their eventual deportation to Sweden, Italy and Britain.

“Four others, including Israeli activist Jonathan Pollack, were also apprehended by border guards but later released Friday after a brief interrogation,” she said.

At the same time, she denied the arrest of American journalist Ben Ehrenreich of the New York Times magazine.

On Friday, an activist group said 12 people were detained by Israeli soldiers during the demonstration, including the five foreigners, Pollack and Ehrenreich.

Since 2009, Nabi Saleh has been the site of weekly demonstrations staged by Palestinian villagers, Israeli and international activists who oppose encroachment by a neighbouring Jewish settlement.

The occupation paradox
A state claiming to be democratic and enlightened does not issue military orders to deport peace activists, who wish to protest against the iniquities of the occupation.

Ha’aretz Editorial
July 15, 2012

The Israel Defense Forces top brass did not wait for the cabinet’s decision regarding the report issued this week by the Edmond Levy committee. ‏(The report ruled that the entire West Bank is not occupied territory and therefore rendered the Oslo Accords null and void.‏)

GOC Central Command Nitzan Alon has signed an order enabling the Immigration Police to operate in the occupied territories, including Area A ‏(which is under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority‏). Chaim Levinson reported in Friday’s Haaretz that the Immigration Police are permitted to search Palestinians’ houses and detain any person the officer has “reasonable cause” to suspect of being there without a permit.

The IDF spokesman commented that the order authorizes the officers to transfer foreigners staying in the territories illegally ‏(according to Israeli law‏) to Israel’s territory for the continuation of law enforcement procedures in their case.

Two years ago the Supreme Court ordered the release of two international activists, whom the Immigration Police arrested in Ramallah and wanted to deport. Justice Asher Grunis ruled the officers had no authority to act outside Israel’s sovereign jurisdiction. He also ruled that, according to the interim agreement with the Palestinians from 1995, the IDF has no authority to conduct searches in Area A for illegal sojourners. Every time it seems that terrorists who carried out attacks on Israelis had come from that area, Israel stresses that the agreement places the responsibility on the Palestinian Authority, which has taken over all the security and civilian authorities.

A state claiming to be democratic and enlightened does not issue military orders to deport peace activists, who wish to protest against the iniquities of the occupation. The new order demonstrates the contradiction between the claim that the territories are not occupied, on the one hand, and the use of military orders on the other.

If the territories are not occupied, as the Edmond Levy report says, the Immigration Police do not require a military order to act beyond the Green Line. All that remains is to apply Israeli law to all West Bank residents and give them the right to vote and stand in elections.

The penetration of a civilian Israeli authority into Ramallah exhibits the huge abyss between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declarations about wanting to advance the two-state solution, and the existing Israeli policy, which is heading toward a binational reality.