Israel cracks down on dissent | +972 Magazine
Israel
has come down hard on dissent, with more than 1,000 Palestinian
citizens of Israel arrested by during Operation Protective Edge.
Mya Guarnieri's latest.
More than 1,000 Palestinian citizens of Israel were
arrested by Israeli police during Operation Protective Edge, according
to a lawyer representing a number of the detainees. While some were
arrested for protesting the Israeli military incursion into Gaza, dozens
were held without charge.
Maisa Arshid, an attorney for dozens of the detainees, says that 20
to 30 Palestinians were picked up by Israeli police every week in the
Nazareth area alone. “All of them are accused of participating in
illegal demonstrations,” she says. But, she adds, “Part of these demos
were permitted by the police themselves.”
In many cases, there is no evidence that the accused has participated in a protest other than a policeman’s word.
Arshid adds that police frequently held people for short periods
without registering the detention, likely putting the number of those
who were picked up by the police even higher than 1,000.
Israeli
policemen arrest protesters as Palestinians living in Israel and
left-wing activists protest against the Israeli attack on Gaza in
downtown Haifa, July 18, 2014. Israeli police arrested 28 activists, as
protesters took to the streets and blocked roads calling for an end to
the attack. (Fiaz abu-Ramele/Activestills.org)
