Irish protestor arrested by Israeli police

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday August 07, 2002 17:34 by MG

Israeli police have arrested a 25-year-old Irish citizen during a peaceful protest against the Israeli occupation near the West bank city of Nablus. Salah Afifi, an architect from Ranelagh in Dublin, was one of 30 members of the International Solidarity Movement taking part in the protest on a road built solely for the use of Jewish settlers living on Palestinian land.

Mr Afifi was taken to a police station in the Jewish settlement of Ariel, according to Colm Breathnach, another Irish ISM member who is currently in Nablus. Mr Breathnach said he will probably be transferred to an Israeli prison and deported back to Ireland.

Mr Afifi was one of eight people arrested during the protest at the Huwarda junction just south of Nablus. His mother is Irish and his father Palestinian, but this was the 25-year-old’s first ever visit to Palestine, where he has relatives living in Ramallah.

Earlier today, the International Solidarity Movement joined a large crowd of local Palestinians who blocked the settler road in protest at the ongoing Israeli curfew of Palestinian towns and cities.

Israeli soldiers and police, accompanied by settlers, arrived on the scene shortly after the protest began and some minor scuffles ensued. The Israelis then physically attacked many protestors and one US citizen is believed to have been knocked unconscious.

The demonstrators eventually resorted to a sit-down protest in front of an Israeli jeep to prevent the removal of detainees and this is when Mr Afifi is believed to have been arrested.

The usual Israeli policy is to deport pro-Palestinian protestors to their home countries as soon as possible.