Israel: Military Judge Criticizes Police

Military Judge Criticizes Police; Releases the Bethlehem Ten

Judge Dahan of the Ofer Military Court in the West Bank ordered the release of the ten peaceful demonstrators arrested in Bethlehem last Sunday, among them PLO Executive Committee's Abbas Zaki. The judge criticized the police and prosecution saying that the protest was nonviolent, and that the only force used in it was that used by police to apprehend the demonstrators.

After five long days in an Israeli military prison, the Bethlehem Ten were finally brought in front of a judge today at the Ofer military court. After hearing the arguments of both the military prosecution and the defense, the judge, Amir Dahan, decided to release all ten on bail and without posing restrictive release conditions. The judge also voiced his criticism of the police and prosecution by asserting in his decision that “There is no dispute that the march was not violent, and that no harm was done to anyone or to property, except for the force used by police officers during the arrests”.

The Bethlehem Ten were arrested together with four Israeli activists and an international activist, during a march marking Palm Sunday and the Christian tradition of pilgrimage to Jerusalem on that day last Sunday. Demonstrators hoped to highlight Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement and freedom of religion in Jerusalem. Despite having been arrested under the exact same circumstances and suspicions, the Israelis and international were released that same evening, in a clear example of racial discrimination.

“When referring to the repression of demonstrations, Israel always claims that it is the demonstrators' so-called violence that compels the Army to use such mesures”, said Mohammed Khatib of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee. “But today even their own judge, in what is most clearly the court of the Occupation, acknowledged that any protest, any form of resistance, is met with an iron fist”.

The arrest of the Bethlehem Ten, especially that of Abbas Zaki, motivated the Fatah movement to declare an escalation in the use popular struggle strategies during these tense times. It has also brought hundreds of people to demonstrate at the Bitunya checkpoint yesterday, where demonstrators tried to break through the Separation Barrier in order to reach Ofer prison.

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