Activists Liberated: Israeli Court Condemns Raids

Activists Liberated: Israeli Supreme Court Condemns Illegal Incursions Into Area A

Below is a description of today's events in the Israeli Supreme Court and how the case of two internationals was heard there. This is a case that will set a precedent for internationals who come to Palestine in the future. Hopefully, it will help internationals be more effective resisting the occupation, unfettered from the fear of terrifying night raids and illegal arrests. Legal battles, such as this one, are important, but are quite expensive. Please throw fundraising parties, host talks and ask for donations or organize local, fundraising concerts.

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.

"They did find our weapons and they confiscated them. These weapons were not the old and evil ones that the IDF waved about wildly after barging into our apartment, they were our cameras. These let the world see the rapacious violence that the occupiers visit upon the Palestinians and they were quite dangerous to Israel's institutionalized domination," said Chappell.

"We are somewhat of a security risk. I hope that our presence makes the ethnic cleansing happening Palestine that much more difficult. In light of the illegal raid that led to our incarceration, it seems as if the type of "security" the IDF is attempting to perserve equates to keeping their injustices secure from the eyes of the world," said Marti.

Internationals have not been the only people targeted in the expanding popular resistance to the occupation. Last night, Stop the Wall's office was raided in the military vehicles surrounded their offices and soldiers proceeded to confiscate computers, media equipment and documents. The office is located in Ramallah and is yet another example of illegal incursions into Area A perpetrated by the Israeli Occupation Force.

This harsh repression extends beyond organizations resisting the occupation and repression. Palestinian, nonviolent activists have also been targeted. Wa'el Faqueeh of Nablus was arrested over seven weeks. His crimes consist only of encouraging farmers to plant olive trees and other crops in an act of protest to the lands illegally usurped by Israel to be used by settlements. Wa'el's story is one of many. Over the past two months dozens of nonviolent activists, international and Palestinian, have been incarcerated on fallacious grounds. This is evidence of the fact that Israel sees the burgeoning nonviolent resistance as a threat to their brutal expansionist desires. In spite of Israel's attempt to squash the popular struggle, Palestinians and internationals emerge more united, committed and determined to create justice in an unjust land.

ENDS