A number of activists were arrested last week after staging a sit-in protest in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington against Israeli settlement expansion and expulsions of Palestinians, The New Arab reported on Thursday.
According to The New Arab, about 400 to 500 activists protested in front of the embassy for about an hour on Sunday afternoon, against Jewish settlement expansion in Sheikh Jarrah, Hebron, and the Naqab (Negev) Desert. The protest was organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement.
"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!"🇵🇸
Pro-palestine activists held a sit-in outside the Israeli occupation embassy in Washington in solidarity with the residents of Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood who are facing forced dispossession from their homes#SaveSheikhJarrah pic.twitter.com/0gDqrcTWC3
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) January 24, 2022
A smaller group of the demonstrators then staged a sit-in, calling for an end to both settlement expansions in the occupied territories and US military funding to Israel. They also called for fair media coverage of the occupation. A total of seven activists were arrested by secret service officers at around 5:30 pm. They were released overnight.
Zaid Khatib, a local member of the Palestinian Youth Movement, attended the demonstration on Sunday. He was not arrested, but told The New Arab that he found the police response to the demonstrators heavy-handed.
In spite of the arrests, he was heartened by his fellow demonstrators’ determination.
Crowds are swelling outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, after a global call for protests from Palestinian activists to support a general strike underway in Gaza, the West Bank and across Israel against the IDF’s ongoing air campaign. pic.twitter.com/dr8fKq6HdC
— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) May 18, 2021
“First and foremost, it was uplifting to see people committed to the struggle, to hold their ground against the secret service and place themselves at risk,” he said.
Israel demolished a Palestinian family’s home in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood last week, reigniting uproar and protests from Palestine to other parts of the world.
In the Negev, Israel is demolishing Palestinian property to clear land for an afforestation project run by the controversial Jewish National Fund.
(The New Arab, PC, Social Media)
