Update on Detained Anti-Prawer Demonstrators in the North and the Naqab

• In Haifa: All 27 demonstrators detained by police have been released, some to house arrest

• In Be’er Sheva: 10 of 26 demonstrators arrested in Be’er Sheva remain in detention, 5 adults and 5 minors; 11 criminal indictments filed

On Saturday, 30 November 2013, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Haifa, Hura and Jerusalem to protest against the Prawer Plan, which would forcibly displace tens of thousands of Bedouin citizens of Israel from the unrecognized villages in the Naqab (Negev) in southern Israel. The Prawer Bill, the legislative arm of the Prawer Plan, is currently being debated in the Knesset each week, after passing a first reading on 24 June 2013.

Police officers were deployed in huge numbers at the demonstrations and they responded brutally, assaulting and arresting dozens of protestors. In Haifa, a total of 27 demonstrators were detained, and in the Naqab a total of 26. 

Update: Haifa Detainees

On Sunday 1 December 2013, the Haifa Magistrates’ Court released six demonstrators without condition, and decided to place 13 of the remaining detainees under house arrest until Thursday 5 December. The court stayed their release pending a decision by the police on whether or not to appeal. On the evening of 1 December, the police announced their intention to appeal. 

Also on 1 December 2013, the Haifa Magistrates’ Court decided to transfer two minors who had been detained to house arrest for five days. The police also appealed this decision; the Haifa District Court upheld the decision of the lower court and the minors were released. Further, on the night of 30 November and on 1 December, police released six demonstrators directly after interrogation.

On 2 December, Adalah appealed against the decision to court to place peaceful protestors under house arrest for any length of time, requesting their release without condition.

At a hearing on 2 December, the Haifa District Court decided to release all the detained demonstrators; some were transfered to house arrest for between 3-6 days, while others were released on bail.

After the decision, Attorney Suhad Bishara from Adalah, who represented several protestors, stated that, “The court’s decision indicates that the arrests were arbitrary, not founded on any legal basis or real evidence, and intended to intimidate and to quell future protests against the Prawer Plan. Time and again we have seen that the police are unduly quick to suppress Arab citizens of Israel and attack their freedoms to demonstrate and express their opinion. Although the court rejected the police’s appeal to extend the protestors’ detention for a further five days, we do not consider the decision to put them under house arrest to be just. We wanted to see all the demonstrators released unconditionally.”

Attorney Bishara added that, “Marks on the body of some of those detained, their medical records and photographic evidence all indicate that violence was used by the police to quash the demonstration. We [Adalah] are going to file detailed complaints to the Police Investigations Department [Mahash], and hope that this will lead to charges against all those involved in the assaults on the demonstrators.”

Update: Be’er Sheva Detainees

On 1 December, the Be’er Sheva Magistrates’ Court decided to release six detainees arrested during the anti-Prawer protest in the Bedouin town of Hura. Two were released immediately, while the court ordered that the four others be released the next day, on 2 December. The police appealed. At the extension of detention hearing on 1 December of nine other demonstrators, including three minors, the court decided to release all the detainees; the police also decided to appeal this ruling to the Be’er Sheva District Court. Appeals are still being heard. Seven other detained demonstrators were released directly after interrogation.

On 2 December, four additional arrests were made of demonstrators who took part in the protests in the Naqab. All four are 16-18 years of age and are from the Bedouin village of al-Sayyid.

Over the last two days, the State Attorney’s Office in the south filed criminal charges against 11 protesters. Ten of these remain in police custody, including five minors.

Adalah Attorney Aram Mahameed, who represented protestors alongside attorneys from the Mezan Center (Nazareth) and volunteer attorneys, stated that, “The police arrested people, and the state prosecutor’s office filed charges against them just for taking part in the demonstration. It is clear that the indictments were filed without a careful examination of the evidence. Adalah believes that this inappropriate conduct by the police indicates that their goal was to dissuade people from exercising their right to demonstrate. In addition, the protestors told us that they were subjected to police brutality while the police were trying to break up the demonstration and during their arrests.”

Arbitrary arrests aimed at suppressing opposition to Prawer

In Adalah’s view, these decisions indicate that arbitrary and legally baseless arrests were made with the goal of intimidating the demonstrators and deterring them from participating in future protests against the Prawer Plan. Further, the police’s intention to appeal against the lower courts’ decisions to release the demonstrators indicates that there has been a clear political decision to try to restrict the right of Arab citizens to demonstrate peacefully in matters that concern their daily lives.

Adalah also believes that statements made by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Police, which contained threats against protesters and the organizers of the demonstrations, provide further confirmation that these arrests are political in nature, and are designed to suppress opposition to the Prawer Plan to forcibly displace the Bedouin in the Naqab.

A large expert team consisting of lawyers from Adalah, the Mezan Center (Nazareth), and individual volunteer lawyers is representing the detained protestors before the courts.

Read more about the Prawer Plan

Follow Adalah's updates on its Facebook page (English)