I don’t usually do breaking news, because of a nasty habit I call “intellectualizing”. Every once in a while, however, I get a piece of news with details that rattle the soul. My emotional response, I guess (since there’s no one to hear anybody cry) is to post it here and hope for more exposure. I got the following words from the Popular struggle Coordination Committee’s Facebook group and the images from Activestills on Flickr:
Omar Alaaeddin, who is involved in organizing demonstrations in the village of alMa’asra south of Bethlehem, was arrested a week ago on Sunday at the Container Checkpoint, as he was making his way back home from Ramallah, with a group of students and university professors. The groups was in Ramallah to see a theater play.
Alaaeddin was beaten repeatedly, both by the soldiers who detained him, and later, in the Israeli Russian Compound jail in Jerusalem. He reports to have been kicked, punched and even electroshocked with a taser by the soldiers and his jailers.
Alaaeddin, who suffered an injury to his leg from the beating, was questioned over an unsubstantiated suspicions of participating in demonstrations and assaulting the soldier who arrested him. Dozens of eyewitnesses who were at the checkpoint at the time of his arrest can attest to the fact that it was, in fact, Alaaeddin who was assaulted. He was finally brought in front of a judge for the first time last Sunday, which was also his first opportunity to see a lawyer and inform him of his torture.
Following a short hearing, the judge harshly criticized the prosecution and police, saying there is no evidence connecting Alaaeddin to any violence and ordered his unconditioned release on bail. Despite having been injured and repeatedly having asked to see a physician, Alaaeddin did not receive any medical care throughout his detention.
This is the second time this month that an organizers from alMa’asara are detained and assaulted at the container checkpoint after Border Police officers recognized them from demonstrations. On March 2nd, the mayor of alMa’asara, Mahmoud Zwahre was detained and beaten on his way to a meeting in Ramallah.
Alaaeddin and his lawyers are now considering the option of filing both criminal and civil suites in an attempt to challenge the impunity and inaccountability of members of the Israeli armed forces.
P U L S E 
The confessing church Lutheran theologian Neimoller in his now famous litany, actually included “when they come for the occupied people”, in his list…well guess what, when we ignore this occupied tortured one, we are pretending to not also be on a list of the misinformed, misled desparate folks who do not have our America at heart either. It is an illusion for us to think we are different from him. We are all one, and when one suffers at the hand of occupation, we all suffer. Thanks for bringing this to light, to give peace a chance.
Thanks Israehell, you have just created a thousand martyrs, the Taliban ideal exists partly because of you, (long live the IED’s!)and many young men and women are willing to die to free Palestine, and they are not all muslims. I hope that Iran gets to you first, I really do
gee, sounds like what happens in every Arabic country, except for the part about the courts finding that his rights were in fact violated, and his having the option to sue.
actually, sounds like what happens all over the US every day, except for the part about the courts etc. etc. etc.
Keep it up with the good work. I think this is a great post exposing Israel aggressions against innocent people. This is just an example of what happens everyday in this land and it shows what are the real intentions of Israel when it talks about solving the conflict or peace negotiations. Israel true interest is to crush any hope for peace and liberty in this country.