Two international volunteers working with International Solidarity
Movement teams in the West Bank city of Hebron were detained by the
Israeli army for more than four hours on Wednesday afternoon.
The two volunteers, one Spanish and one South African, were on their way to Tal Al Ruida neighborhood to escort Palestinian schoolchildren from school back to their homes, in an attempt to stop illegal Israeli settlers living in that neighborhood from attacking the schoolchildren. According to a press release from the International Solidarity Movement, the soldiers stopped the two volunteers and detained them for three hours and let them go after high-ranking army officers interrogated them for another hour at the checkpoint where they were stopped.
The two volunteers stated that these actions by the army are just another attempt to stop international volunteers from providing protection to Palestinian kids who are being attacked on a daily basis by illegal Israeli settlers living in that area. They added, "What happened to us was horrible but what happens to Palestinians every day is even more tragic."
The International Solidarity Movement is a peaceful movement that non-violently resists the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian areas. For more information about the movement, please visit www.palsolidarity.org.
