News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) A protest is being held at 5 p.m. Monday at the Binyamin police station against the behavior of policemen who harassed seven teenage girls who were arrested and jailed without charges after trying to establish a new hilltop community. All but one of the girls are minors. They refused to identify themselves and were held in jail for a month before the courts relented to public pressure and ordered their release.

The girls said the police harassed them in prison and used physical and verbal violence in an attempt to break their will. The girls also were searched by policemen, and not policewomen, although the legal defense organization Honenu states that physical searches cannot take place until a hearing is held with a senior police officer.

"If we do not demonstrate, the public will understand that we are accepting [police brutality] and that we do not care what happens," Honenu said. The organization pointed out that the arrests and harassment might be repeated during future opposition to the proposed division of Jerusalem by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.