Israeli Authorities Exploit Indictments to Raid East Jerusalem Village of Issawiya

Israeli police began blocking an entrance to the East Jerusalem village of al-Issawiya today (30 May). The entrance, located next to the Hebrew University, is being blockaded with large slabs of concrete.

The blockade comes nearly a week after Israeli forces, border police and intelligence officers raided al-Issawiya at 4am Monday morning (24 May).  Following the raid, Israeli forces imposed a curfew on the village. Residents were questioned and detained on both 24 and 25 May as part of a “special tax evasion operation" being conducted by Israel’s Tax Authority, wrote the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

To conduct the raid and curfew, Israeli authorities exploited the indictment of Shirin Issawi, an attorney from al-Issawiya charged on Monday, along with four others, with transferring funds to members of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad currently in Israeli prisons. Issawi, 32, her brother Madhat, 36, also from al-Issawiya, along with Samer Abdo, 42, from Beit Hanina, Sofian Zabeda, 40, from Gaza, and Salim Abdel Rahman, 29, from Abu Ghosh, have all been accused of aiding the two Islamist movements in providing financial support to prisoners jailed for suspected "terrorist" acts or affiliation.

In August 2007 the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) submitted a petition to Israel’s Supreme Court demanding an end to mobile police checkpoints used for debt collection and tax payment by the Tax Authority and National Insurance Institute. Court justices criticized the method of debt collection, saying it “constituted a misuse of police authority that resulted in a disproportionate infringement of human rights,” according to ACRI. The Supreme Court suspended the use of debt collection roadblocks until a decision was reached.

Shirin Issawi’s case was initially under a gag order, wrote the newspaper Haaretz, which claims to have a copy of Ms. Issawi’s deposition in which she complained of being tortured, imprisoned in harsh conditions and sexually harassed. The General Security Services (GSS) and Israel Prison Services are denying these allegations.