Matar said that the bus was stopped and she was detained at Maccabim Junction “on suspicion of wanting to participate in an illegal demonstration.”
Some 50 men, women and children were detained by Israeli police Tuesday night at a checkpoint in Samaria. The protesters, represented by Women In Green's Nadia Matar, were headed in a bus for a demonstration, and as of 10:00 P.M. were being held in an army base. Police have failed to provide the detainees with information on why they were arrested.
The demonstration, slated to take place near the home of Regional OC commander Gadi Shamni in the town of Reut, near Modi'in, was intended to protest Shamni's expulsion of three Jews from their Samaria homes.
Melody Hartuv, a member of the group, said that she was on the bus, headed for the demonstration, when the bus was pulled over at a checkpoint.
“They knew where we were going,” said Hartuv of the police waiting at the checkpoint. “They surrounded the bus and made the excuse that the bus’s tires didn’t have enough air.”
According to Hartuv, the police then escorted certain members of the group to a police station, while others were allowed to leave.
Hartuv said that she, Matar and others are currently being held “behind locked gates, with no explanation as to what is going on.”
The police “pretended not to speak English,” Hartuv said, while one officer replied to her queries by saying, “You know why you’re here.” According to Matar, the police said that they plan to detain the group for three hours.
Matar said that the bus was stopped and she was detained at Maccabim Junction “on suspicion of wanting to participate in an illegal demonstration.”
“The police can read my mind,” remarked Matar. "Where are the police when the anarchists come to create provocations in Bil'in?", she asked. "Why don't they wait for them at the checkpoints?"
According to one report, Matar is being held separately.
The demonstration was to be held in protest of the expulsion of Akiva HaCohen, a resident of Yitzhar, and David Libman and Meir Bretler of Adei Ad. The three were recently told by police that they could not return to their homes for several months, because their presence there would pose “a danger to the public order.” Various media reports state that the reason for their expulsion is that they might “disturb the [Arabs’] olive harvest”, although HaCohen pointed out that "the olive harvest season begins only at the end of my four-month expulsion.”
In the meantime, the three are banned from entering any part of Samaria.