Palestine: Arresting

Protesters in the supermarket

Good news first  - Abed from Kufr Qaddoum was released on the 24th October. Boom! The judge hasn't yet let us know exactly why he was released, but it seems likely that it was because GB and I were released - despite having the same evidence against us. Today marks the start of Eid, the biggest Muslim festival, so he has been released just in time to celebrate with his family.

We had a demonstration the next day calling for a boycott of Israel, until they end their apartheid strategy and occupation of Palestine - where better to have this but in a settlement supermarket? We arrived with a group of Palestinians, Israeli and international activists in the carpark of the Rami Levi superstore, which is in the illegal Israeli settlement of Sheer Binyamin, just north of the Palestinian city of Ramallah. Bearing our flags and 'boycott occupation and its products' placards, we marched down the aisles chanting "1234 occupation no more, 5678 Palestine will be a state", between the cereals and sweets. Surreal - the shoppers were shocked.

The army inevitably arrived, as we were leaving peacefully. The whole group left the supermarket and started walking to the exit of the settlement. Soldiers at this point decided that they wanted to stop us, cutting off the exit - they essentially wanted to arrest us for being a part of a flashmob. No one had committed any crimes, not even going so far as to knock down a pyramid of tins or steal a penny sweet.

However, we were forced to spend the next half an hour or so trying to prevent arrests from occurring. To stop this, we were 'de-arresting'. This is just as 'sophisticated' as it sounds - if the soldiers are trying to take someone, we try to take them back. It's not a violent way of resisting, but often provokes violence from the Israeli forces. The police were grabbing anyone and everyone - I can't count how many we prevented being arrested. A man who was passed out on the ground had a sound grenade thrown metres from his head.

The police pounced on us, grabbing my friend Elyana from next to me, while we were stopping another ISMer from being arrested. Four of them dragged her away while another group immediately shoved me back, preventing me from getting past. They were brutal, dragging at her clothes, yanking her in different directions and hitting her, while I could do nothing but watch, shell-shocked (every day here just adds to the anger that's piling up in me).
 
Another activist from Poland was arrested under similar circumstances, while trying to de-arrest Bassem Tamimi. Bassem was only released from an Israeli prison in April, having spent 13 months there, accused of 'taking part in illegal gatherings'. He is an organiser of the resistance against the Israeli occupation in the village of Nabi Saleh. The Israelis HATE him - as demonstrated by them breaking his ribs as they did successfully arrest him. Another Palestinian man was arrested - but in a happy reversal, was released the next day.

The Palestinians were separated from the international activists after their arrest. I spoke to Elyana today and she told me that a judge ruled that she and the other activist should be released (well duh, they didn't do anything) - but the police didn't much like this decision and decided to go rogue. Instead of setting them free, they decided it would be much better to threaten them with pepper spray and bundle them into the waiting immigration authority vehicle (circling like vultures). The Israeli authorities use this tactic to try to bypass their own (albeit often atrocious) legal system and deport activists without trial. Elyana was denied contact with her lawyer. Hearing how easily the police bypassed the system makes me realise genuinely how lucky GB and I were not to be deported.

So, for Eid celebrations today - Abdelateef is at home, reunited with his family and new wife. So is the other Palestinian who was released yesterday. Elyana and the other activist are currently in a dirty cell near Ben Gurion airport, awaiting a trial. Bassem is in another cell, nursing his broken ribs. Majd from Kufr Qaddoum is separated from his freed brother, in yet another cell. And this is just a glimpse - hundreds more Palestinian political prisoners are being held in Israel for their actions against the occupation.

So overall, it feels pretty hard to say Eid Saeed (happy Eid).