Roughly one hundred demonstrators gathered in the Old City of Hebron today, near the Beit Hadassa Jewish-only settlement and the military checkpoint warding off the Shuhada Street. The demonstration was part of the ongoing Open Shuhada Street campaign held by the local Youth Against Settlements group, which consist of weekly protests and advocacy work.

Following a short session of chants and speeches denouncing the occupation and settlements and demanding freedom of movement in Hebron, protesters began marching towards the allies of the Old City, which they found were blocked by Israeli soldiers.

As demonstrators approached, demanding their right to walk the streets of their own city, soldiers violently attacked the demonstration and nabbed a Swedish national, three French nationals and an Israeli, who all came to stand in solidarity with the people of Hebron. Protesters reacted to the provocation by sitting on the ground, affirming their right to be present in the public space. The chanting, now also demanding the release of the arrestees, continued as the soldiers stood scowlingly with their guns and batons at hand.

Eventually, the crowd began to retreat in order to hold a similar vigil in front of the Kiryat Arba police station, where the arrestees were held. At that point, and for no apparent reason, one of the soldiers threw a concussion grenade at the dispersing crowd.

Once in front of the police station, protesters began chanting again, when at some point a soldier attacked Issa Amro, one of the Youth Against Settlements coordinators, accused him of a bogus and ridicules charge of assault, and dragged him into the police station.

Amro had already been detained once earlier today, when on his way to the demonstration, but was eventually released. This time the police decided to keep Amro under custody, despite a video showing he was attacked rather than attacking. The three French solidarity activists were also held overnight, and will be brought in front of a judge tomorrow.

In the Occupied Territories, Israel uses two different sets of legal systems - Israeli law, and military law. While Israelis and internationals, even when arrested in the Occupied Territories, are subject to Israeli law, are arrested according to its procedures and are then tried in normal Israeli courts, Palestinians are subject to military law and its procedures, and are tried in the military courts system, even on strictly civic matters such as demonstrations. While Israeli law only allows the police to hold a person for 24 hours before a judicial review of the arrest, Palestinians are subject to military law, which allows eight days of detention before any judicial review. That is why Issa Amro is expected to remain in jail for that period, while those arrested with him, under the same circumstances and for the same allegations have either been released or will be brought in front of a judge tomorrow.

Shuhada is the main street of Hebron's Israeli controlled H2. It was initially closed to Palestinian shops and vehicular traffic in 1994 after the Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein killed 29 and injured 150 Palestinians when he opened fire in the Ibrahimi Mosque (Tomb of the Patriarchs). The army cited fear of Palestinian retaliatory attacks as its rationale for closing the street, thereby punishing the victims once more. This main artery of the street and the former site of the market place was reopened to traffic (but not commerce) in 1997 in accordance with the Hebron Protocol. In 2000, with the begining of the second Intifada, the Shuhada Street was completely closed to Palestinians, this time also to pedestrians. The street was effectively "sterilized" in 2002 by closing it off to all forms of all Palestinian movement.

In 2004, Palestinians appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court against restrictions on their movement in H2. In November 2005, the State replied that Shuhada Street is open to all regular traffic, only closed to shops and vehicles, admitting that there were legal problems during the preceding years with the closure of areas all over Hebron without warrants (Since 2005, the State has produced warrants to impose various restrictions of movement in 21 areas around the city).

In reality, areas marked on State and military maps as open to various forms of traffic and commerce are actually closed. A 2005 'Children of Abraham' video demonstrated that soldiers regularly prevent Palestinians from walking in areas that are indicated as open to traffic, and that some areas without any indications of closure on the maps are actually sealed with razor-wire and concrete slabs. A letter of complaint on the matter was only address by the military in December 2006, stating that the street had been closed in error. The next Friday, the street was opened and on that Sunday, Palestinians were allowed to cross but only after being detained for two hours in both directions while international volunteers escorting them were arrested for disturbing the peace. The street was closed de facto by military orders and it was later revealed, via soldiers' testimonies, that soldiers received orders to prevent people from wanting to be there.

In 2007, the Supreme Court discussed the case again. In a preemptive move, the military unsealed the welding on the doors to homes on Shuhada Street the night before the Supreme Court decision was made, and gave the families special permission to come out of their houses. In court, the Army declared that the street is generally closed to Palestinian movement by an oral warrant from a General in the central command, because all business and homes are closed anyways.