Burning tires in front of the gate in the wall. Picture credit: Joseph Dana

The Army arrested a Red Crescent medical team this afternoon in the West Bank village of Ni'ilin. The medical team attended the weekly protest against the wall and continued Israeli settlement expansion. Roughly thirty Palestinians accompanied by Israeli and international supporters approached the concrete wall around one in the afternoon. the protesters burned tires on one portion of the wall and the army responded with a volley of tear gas. Soldiers then entered the village farmlands with weapons drawn. The majority of the protesters were able to retreat into the village leaving only the Red Crescent medical team, one Israeli camerawoman from the human rights organization B'Tsleem and one Palestinian photographer. They were surrounded and detained.

Following the detention, the army spokesman office issued the following statement to the media, which was repeated by several Israeli media outlets: "Riots in Judea and Samaria, 7 rioters arrested in Ni'ilin". But how can a medical team and two photographers be considered "rioters"? After a couple of hours all of the detainees were released without charge.

An international protester spray painting the wall. Picture credit: Joseph Dana

For the past couple of months, the army has declared Ni'ilin and the neighboring village of Bil'in "closed military zones" on Fridays. This directive by the military governor of the West Bank is designed to intimidate the protest movement and can be used to arrest anyone simply for being in the said area on Friday. The order has recently expired, giving the army no grounds to hold the detainees from Ni'ilin today. However, the detainees were led by soldiers over the wall, and presented with a new closed military zone order, effective Friday, Aug 27th, from 10am to 10pm. The aerial photograph attached to the order encompassed a section of Ni'lin's agricultural land adjacent to the wall, not as extensive as the area designated "closed military zone" in the six month military order that was imposed on Ni'lin and Bil'in (and has since expired). The medics and camera people were in fact detained outside of the designated area.

Ni'ilin has been protesting the separation wall and confiscation of their agricultural land for the past two years. The International Court of Justice considers “the construction of the wall, and its associated régime, contrary to international law”. Five Palestinians have been killed due to excessive Israeli repression measures and hundreds have been injured in the course of the unarmed protests. Many of the leaders of the popular struggle movement have been imprisoned for long periods using Kafkaesque Israeli military legal system in an effort to crush the unarmed struggle. The protest has continued weekly despite the repression. This is the second time in the recent months in which the army has arrested Red Crescent medics during the protest in Ni'ilin.