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ISM Reports: Nablus.Six More Activists Arrested-Including two from UK

ISM Media Office | 10.07.2003 15:23 | World

The Latest Updates From The Freedom Summer Campaign.
Two British Activists Among Six Arrested In Nablus.

1. 6 International Peace Workers Arrested by Israeli Army
2. Update on Arrests of Internationals in Jenin
3. Clarification of Earlier ISM Release
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6 International Peace Workers Arrested by Israeli Army

Nablus
10 Jul 03
Palsolidarity


6 PEACE WORKERS ARRESTED BY ISRAELI ARMY

[NABLUS] Six international peaceworkers participating in The ISM
Freedom Summer in Palestine campaign were arrested this afternoon in
the city of Nablus, on the West Bank.

The arrested are:

Daniel Knutsson from Sweden
Avi Zer-Aviv from Canada
Aviv Kruglanski from Israel
Alex Perry from the UK
Thomas Pellas from France
Saul Reid from UK

The group had removed 2 earthen roadblocks in the Nablus area and
were working on removing the 3rd today when Israeli soldiers
suddenly drove army jeeps toward them at high rates of speed. The
soldiers chased after a bulldozer, driven by a Palestinian and
containing 2 internationals as passengers, which had been
participating in the road block removal. One soldier entered the cab
of the bulldozer and remained there while a jeep followed the
bulldozer en route to a nearby military base, as ordered by the
soldiers. International volunteers blocked the road to the military
base in an effort to prevent the confiscation of the bulldozer by
the Israeli military. Other internationals surrounded the driver and
started to walk him step by step back toward Nablus. At this point
the soldiers threatened to start shooting people if they continued
to move.

The group negotiated with the DCO and agreed to replace the 2
roadblocks that had been removed in exchange for allowing the
driver, the bulldozer, and the internationals to return to Nablus.

After one roadblock had been replaced and the second was being
rebuilt, the deal suddenly altered and the soldiers declared that
the internationals would not be permitted to return to Nablus after
all since he suspected that they were with the ISM. Another deal was
negotiated whereby 11 internationals would remain outside the city
and 6 others would return to Nablus to collect the personal
belongings of all the volunteers, then they would all leave the
city.

Suddenly the soldiers declared that they were going to arrest the
bulldozer driver and take the bulldozer. The internationals again
moved to surround the bulldozer. At that point Daniel, Aviv and Alex
were arrested and taken away in a jeep. Soldiers declared that they
would arrest all of the internationals. Avi, Thomas and Saul tried
to block the path to the rest of the internationals and they too
were arrested.

All 6 were handcuffed and transported by Israeli bus to Ariel police
station.

Photos can be viewed at  http://www.palsolidarity.org/index.php?
page=reports/writings/10Jul03_NablusPalsolidarity.htm


For more information call

Kelly : 00972 55 735 158
Seif: 00972 59 33 52 71

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2.
Update on Arrests of Internationals in Jenin

A hearing will be held at 6:00 PM in Rishon Lezion district court to
demand the release of the internationals arrested in Jenin on
Tuesday:

Tobias Karlsson, Stockholm SWEDEN
Fredrick Lind, VanLose, DENMARK
Bill Capowski, NY and PA (State College), USA
Tariq Loubani, CANADA


A deportation hearing was held today but their attorney was denied
access to the court. The hearing this evening is to demand their
release from illegal detention and the holding of hearings without
legal representation.

Please help us protest the planned deportation of these
international peace activists. Call, email, and fax the Minister of
Interior at:

Minister of Interior Abraham Poraz
Tel: +972-2-6701402 or +972-2-629-4701
Fax: +972-2-566-6376 or +972-2-629-4750

Minister Mr. Avraham Poraz sar@m...
Director Mr. Mordechay Mordechay mankal@m...
Spokeswoman Ms. Tova Ellinson dover@m...
Public Relations Ms. Nechama Pluga-Zecharia pniot@m...

For further information contact:

Neta 972 64 405 783
Eric 972 277 4602

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3.

Clarification of Earlier ISM Release

In a press release earlier today entitled 'INTERNATIONALS AND
PALESTINIANS ATTACKED BY ISRAELI SOLDIERS'

It was stated:

'Israeli soldiers have taken the Mayor of Til and his colleagues are
violently detaining the internationals.'

The Mayor's colleagues were not violently detaining the
internationals. The Israeli soldiers were. The sentence should have
read:

'Israeli soldiers have taken the Mayor of Til and his colleagues and
the soldiers are violently detaining the internationals.'

We apologize for the confusion.



For the latest information on ISM see  http://www.palsolidarity.org

The latest volunteer reports are available at
 http://www.palsolidarity.org/index.php?page=journals_reports_main.php


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