In addition to the constant aggression by the Israeli occupying forces against the weekly Palestinian protests against the Wall in villages such as Ni’lin and Bi’lin,in recent weeks Israel has intensified its targeting of Palestinian and international peace activists, with a rise i9n confrontations against and the detention and arrest of numerous acvtivists. Yesterday, Monday 8^th February, at 1.00am(Palestine Time) Israeli occupying forces raided the Ramallah office of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlement Construction, ransacking the Committee’s office and confiscating its equipment, archives and property. The fout hour raid resulted in substantial physical damage and the theft of the Committee’s extensive archive and documentation of Israeli violations of international humanitarian law, particularly with regard to the ongoing construction of the settlement and the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem.

We wish to highlight our concern at the increasing assaults being launched by Israel, the occupying Power, against non-violent resistance by Palestinian and international peace activists against the illegal Wall in specific. The latest raid was carried out less than twenty-four hours after the occupying forces had raided Ramallah, where they apprehended and detained two international activists from their home. The two activists, twenty-five year old Adriadna Jove Marti of Spain and 22 year old Bridgette Chappel from Australian, were both members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). This is the second such incident in which Israeli occupying forces launched an incursion into a Palestinian city for the purpose of detaining international peace activists and deporting them for engaging in pro-peace activities. In addition to the above, Eva Novakova, a Czech activist, also with the ISM, was detained in Ramallah and deported in January. And just yesterday, the Israeli court extended the detention of Mr. Murad Sinj, a Turkish activist, for an additional twenty five days. In addition to the threat of detention, Israel is also using punitive measures, such as travel bans, to limit the movement of peace activists and advocates, such as the six month travel ban arbitrarily imposed on Palestinian man expert, Khalil Tafakji, who heads the Arab Studies Society’s Mapping and Geographic Information systems Department.

Such intimidation and assaults by the occupying Power on pro-peace activists are clearly aimed at discouraging principled activists around the world from coming to the Occupied Palestinian Territory to protect the principles of justice and freedom as well as international laws and norms. Moreover, repeated Israeli incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas in the West Bank are clearly part of another ill-willed attempt to undermine the Palestinian Authority and its successful efforts to enforce the rule of law in Palestinian cities, towns, and villages under its control.

These punitive, illegal and provocative measures are a stark testament to the real anti-peace agenda the current rightwing government in Israel is now advancing on the ground in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Ironically, Israel, the occupying Power, is blatantly combating peaceful activism against its illegal actions and continued occupation while at the same time it is stepping up those illegal activities, including the expansion of its illegal settlements throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in and around East Jerusalem.

This situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory requires serious redress by the international community, which should defend peace activists as well as the principles of international humanitarian law that they strive to defend in their modest means. This is an international responsibility that has far-reaching moral and legal ramifications.

For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice.