Activists Arraigned For Anti-Roadblock Activities

Canadian, German And American Activist Arraigned For Anti-roadblock Civil Disobedience

Tonight, four international activists arrested for blocking Israeli military bulldozers from rebuilding a roadblock between the village and the city of Nablus, were sent before a judge. The activists, Eva Bartlett from Fergus Ontario, Tom Murphy from Massachusetts USA, and Fabian from Erfurt Germany, were asked where they had Palestinian friends.

When they answered Nablus, Ramallah and Bethlehem, the judge ordered them not to enter these areas for thirty days. The judge also ordered that an Israeli pledge 15,000 NIS in the event that the activists decided to break the conditions.

The four are spending another night in prison and will be brought in front of a judge in the Kfar Saba court for another hearing today, Sunday, before 1:00 pm.

For video of the activists' arrest click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwrnzLjsJXQ

The activists spent the night at Ariel police station. Two of the activists, women from the UK and Canada, were forced to spend the night handcuffed and shackled at the ankles in the hallway of the police station. The protest was held after Israeli authorities had broken their promise to remove the Sarra roadblock permanently.

Israeli soldiers arrived at the village last Saturday, forcing a Palestinian villager to use his tractor to close the roadblock, despite Israeli promises that the roadblock would be permanently opened. When residents removed the roadblock once again, soldiers returned during the night, retaliating against them for having taken non-violent direct action.

The soldiers shot out water tanks, roughed up residents and interrogated them.

This incident comes only days after Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Haaretz newspaper haaretz.com/hasen/spages/898487.html that he plans to replace roadblocks in the West Bank with mobile checkpoints to ease restrictions on Palestinian daily life.

The Sarra roadblock is one of hundreds of barriers that the Israeli authorities have erected to prevent travel between Palestinian communities. According to Btselem, the Israelis have constructed 217 dirt piles at entrances to villages or to block roads, 86 fences along roadways, 12 trenches that prevent vehicles from crossing, 93 locked gates at entrances to villages, with the keys held by the army.

These physical barriers accompany the hundreds of permanent and surprise checkpoints which the Israeli army maintains inside the West Bank, limiting freedom of movement for the occupied Palestinian population.

ENDS

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led non-violent resistance movement committed to ending Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian land. We call for full compliance with all relevant UN resolutions and international law.

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