Israeli-American Solidarity Activist Banned From Part of South Hebron Hills After Police Seizure of Unregistered Palestinian Car
Note #11
Israeli police banned Israeli-American solidarity activist Tommy Rudd from the Palestinian village of Tuwani and Israeli settlement of Ma’on for 10 days following a police raid on Tuwani, occupied West Bank, last Tuesday morning, where they seized an unregistered Palestinian car.
The incident began when the Israeli police stopped a Palestinian driver after seeing that children in the vehicle were sitting on the adult passengers’ laps. They then learned that the car was a ‘mashtuba’ (i.e., unregistered vehicle) and proceeded to confiscate it. Israeli soldiers arrived quickly to reinforce the police officers.
Palestinian residents of Tuwani called Tommy, our fellow activists with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, and me to the scene in order to film and take photos. After Tommy questioned the officers about their activities and asked they were harassing the family, Officers Yaniv Nachshon and David Yam detained Tommy for allegedly calling the officers “criminals.” Minutes later, Nachshon and Yam offered to release Tommy so long as he would help them convince the Palestinian family to exit their vehicle.
“After the police detained me and put me in their armored police vehicle, David said to me, ‘Look at the mess here. I’m willing to set you free on the condition that you go tell the kids to get out of the car,’ ” Tommy said. “I told them, ‘I don’t know what you want me to do. I don’t have power over them.’ ”
In footage recorded by CJNV activists after the detention, Tommy can be seen standing near the family and communicating to the officers that he doesn’t know how he can help. Police and Israeli soldiers repeatedly ask for his assistance.
“Yalla, come help take the kids out of the car,” Officer Yam said in one video.
In another video, Officer Nachshon: “What’s the story? What, he’s not doing anything; he’s not helping me in any way.”
Tommy: “I don’t know how to help.”
Nachshon: “Doesn’t know how to help. Take him back, take him back to the patrol car, let him be in the patrol car, everything is ok”
Yam: “He’s detained, he’s detained.”
In another video, Nachshon said: “If you can't help, so you're not helping us. I don't understand why you're here.”
Eventually, the family exited the car and the police drove away with it. They then took Tommy to the Kiryat Arba police station, where he was interrogated on suspicion of interfering with police officers in their duties, insulting a public servant, and behaving in a way that could lead to a disturbance of public order. In order to avoid formal arrest and a night in jail, in addition to getting the charges dropped, Tommy signed conditions of release which included a ban from the Tuwani and Ma’on area for 10 days.
The previous night in Tuwani, Israeli police stopped a car that they claimed was being driven by an underage Palestinian driver. When the driver fled the scene, the police confiscated the ID, keys, and money of the boy’s father, who had been in the passenger seat, in order to coerce the father into calling his son to return. The police eventually gave up and returned the items to the father and let him drive away.
“The ‘mashtuba’ regime by which the Israeli police regularly harass and fine Palestinians for driving unregistered cars exemplifies the daily subjugation and violence carried out by the occupation against Palestinians,” CJNV staff member Oriel Eisner said. “Palestinians, especially those living in Area C, are economically suffocated and can’t afford to buy registered cars, which are two to three times more expensive than in Israel. Those who can afford a registered car must drive on roads in such severe disrepair that their vehicles will be destroyed within a couple of years. The Israeli police take advantage of this and regularly stop Palestinian drivers, hand out fines, and confiscate their cars.”
Oriel continued: “Today, this regular harassment led to the arrest of an Israeli-American activist; last night, to the intimidation of a family late at night, and two months ago, to the murder of Haj Suleiman from Umm al-Kheir. This regime goes largely unnoticed and unspoken about, but it inflicts violence and indignities against Palestinians on a daily basis.”1
I originally drafted this post as a CJNV press release and sent it to US and Israeli media outlets on the day of the incident. To my knowledge, no journalists have reported on the event. This is a slightly revised version of the original text. Videos are available upon request.