Police have arrested a lawyer who often represents Palestinian Authority Arabs accused of entering pre-1967 Israel illegally on suspicion that he himself used a stolen identity to illegally enter the Jerusalem region. Attorney Al-Taweel Ismail was arrested in the Atarot neighborhood of Jerusalem after presenting police officers with a fake Israeli ID card.
Ismail, a PA Arab from Hevron, allegedly stole a relative’s documents after representing the relative in court. He then used the documents to take up residence in A-Ram, north of Jerusalem. Police suspect that Ismail was also responsible for stealing tens of thousands of shekels from his relative’s bank account.