The arrest of 4 Palestinian activists during a sit-in in front of “Maale Adomim”
The Israeli forces arrested four Palestinian activists on Monday during a sit-in in front the settlement of “Maale Adomim” to protest against the narrowing of the entrance of the village of Bethany by the Civil Administration in favor of the settlers. Locals of the villages of Abu Dis and Bethany along with Palestinian activists protested in front of the settlement of “Maale Adomim” demanding to reopen the lanes that have been closed in the main street in order to facilitate the movement of “Kidar” settlers. The Israeli forces surrounded them and tried to provoke them resulting in verbal clashes between the two sides and some pushing. The forces arrested Thaer Anis, head of Fateh Youth in Jerusalem, and Hani Halabieh, spokesman of Popular Resistance Committees, Nour Shabaneh and Omar Fawaz; they also assaulted Hiba Araiqat who is a member of the Local Council in Abu Dis. The Civil Administration lately narrowed down the main street that connects the southern part of the West Bank with the northern part and made it only one lane instead of two. Sufian Bassa, head of Bethany Local Council, said in a public statement that the street used to fit two cars and the Israeli narrowed down the street in favor of the Israeli cars coming from the settlement of “Kidar” and to avoid interaction with the Palestinian cars noting that the settlers cars only form 1% of the Palestinian cars in the area. Bassa also pointed out that a joint committee between Israelis and Palestinians has been formed to discuss the issue.
