International activists arrested in West Bank raid
ISMer | 07.02.2010 23:24 | Palestine | World
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”.
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”.
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.
What can you do?!
1. Call or fax the Embassy of Spain in Tel Aviv and ask that they contact
the Israeli authorities to challenge Ari's detention and possible
deportation. Numerous inquiries about Ari's case will make it difficult for
the embassy to ignore the arrests. You can contact them by calling (+972)
3696 5210, or faxing (+972) 3695 2505.
2. Call or fax the Embassy of Australia in Tel Aviv and ask that they
contact the Israeli authorities to challenge Bridget's detention and
possible deportation. You can contact them by calling (+972) 3695 0451,
faxing (+972) 3696 8404.
3. Make a donation towards legal costs and lawyer fees for Ari and Bridget (
http://palsolidarity.org/donate).
****
4. Contact the Israeli Ministry of the Interior to demand Ari and Bridget's
immediate and unconditional release. You can email the Minister at
eyishay@knesset.gov.il,
fax the Minister at 00972 2666 2909 or call 00972 2640 8406 / 00972 2640
8407.
5. Go to Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement. See http://www.ism-london.org.uk/index.php for more details.
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.
What can you do?!
1. Call or fax the Embassy of Spain in Tel Aviv and ask that they contact
the Israeli authorities to challenge Ari's detention and possible
deportation. Numerous inquiries about Ari's case will make it difficult for
the embassy to ignore the arrests. You can contact them by calling (+972)
3696 5210, or faxing (+972) 3695 2505.
2. Call or fax the Embassy of Australia in Tel Aviv and ask that they
contact the Israeli authorities to challenge Bridget's detention and
possible deportation. You can contact them by calling (+972) 3695 0451,
faxing (+972) 3696 8404.
3. Make a donation towards legal costs and lawyer fees for Ari and Bridget (
http://palsolidarity.org/donate). ****
4. Contact the Israeli Ministry of the Interior to demand Ari and Bridget's
immediate and unconditional release. You can email the Minister at
eyishay@knesset.gov.il, fax the Minister at 00972 2666 2909 or call 00972 2640 8406 / 00972 2640
8407.
5. Go to Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement. See
http://www.ism-london.org.uk/index.php for more details.
ISMer
Additions
Urgent: Stop the Wall offices raided
08.02.2010 13:56
Eyewitnesses told Stop the Wall that yesterday night at 1 am some 10 military jeeps, hummers and an armoured bus belonging to the Israeli military and their intelligence services invaded Ramallah and came to the Stop the Wall offices.
They raided the offices and searched them for three hours. They confiscated computer hard disks, laptops, video cameras and paper documentation, CDs, video cassettes.
This attack on the Stop the Wall offices comes after Jamal Juma’, the coordinator of Stop the Wall, and Mohammad Othman, youth coordinator with Stop the Wall, had been arrested and released after significant international – including official European - pressure.
Currently, there are some 40 anti-Wall activists for their grassroots mobilizing and international advocacy efforts in Israeli jails.
Only the night before, the Israeli military had arrested two international human rights defenders from their homes in Ramallah, who were supporting the Palestinian call for human rights with their activism in the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
Stop the Wall considers this as part of the continuous attack on the popular grassroots movement and the struggle of the Palestinian human rights defenders for Israeli accountability.
We call on the international community, and in particular the European Union, to step up pressure on Israel to ensure respect of international law and human rights and end its repression of Palestinian and international human rights defenders working on the ground.
Stop the Wall urges the European Union to:
-Continue and intensify its efforts to protect human rights defenders in Palestine through all available channels and the swift development of more effective protection mechanisms;
-Review the EU-Israel Association Agreement in light of Israel’s blatant violation of Article 2 (Human Rights Clause) of the Agreement and the failure of the political dialogue between the EU and Israel to achieve any tangible progress in terms of respect of human rights by Israel; as a first step we ask the EU to condition the negotiation of a new Action Plan within the framework of the EU-Israel Association Agreement on an end to Israeli repression of human rights defenders and implementation of international law and human rights by Israel;
-Bear in mind that the root cause of the repression – the struggle by human rights defenders against the Wall and the occupation – has to be tackled. Therefore, we call on the European Union and its member states to ensure respect for the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the illegality of the Wall. The adoption of this opinion through UN General Assembly resolution ES-10/15 has been fully supported by the European Union.
They raided the offices and searched them for three hours. They confiscated computer hard disks, laptops, video cameras and paper documentation, CDs, video cassettes.
This attack on the Stop the Wall offices comes after Jamal Juma’, the coordinator of Stop the Wall, and Mohammad Othman, youth coordinator with Stop the Wall, had been arrested and released after significant international – including official European - pressure.
Currently, there are some 40 anti-Wall activists for their grassroots mobilizing and international advocacy efforts in Israeli jails.
Only the night before, the Israeli military had arrested two international human rights defenders from their homes in Ramallah, who were supporting the Palestinian call for human rights with their activism in the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
Stop the Wall considers this as part of the continuous attack on the popular grassroots movement and the struggle of the Palestinian human rights defenders for Israeli accountability.
We call on the international community, and in particular the European Union, to step up pressure on Israel to ensure respect of international law and human rights and end its repression of Palestinian and international human rights defenders working on the ground.
Stop the Wall urges the European Union to:
-Continue and intensify its efforts to protect human rights defenders in Palestine through all available channels and the swift development of more effective protection mechanisms;
-Review the EU-Israel Association Agreement in light of Israel’s blatant violation of Article 2 (Human Rights Clause) of the Agreement and the failure of the political dialogue between the EU and Israel to achieve any tangible progress in terms of respect of human rights by Israel; as a first step we ask the EU to condition the negotiation of a new Action Plan within the framework of the EU-Israel Association Agreement on an end to Israeli repression of human rights defenders and implementation of international law and human rights by Israel;
-Bear in mind that the root cause of the repression – the struggle by human rights defenders against the Wall and the occupation – has to be tackled. Therefore, we call on the European Union and its member states to ensure respect for the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the illegality of the Wall. The adoption of this opinion through UN General Assembly resolution ES-10/15 has been fully supported by the European Union.
ISMer
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