The girs' attorney maintains that the police are "misusing their authorities" in keeping them in prison against the stated intention of the courts.
The saga began on Sunday afternoon, when the girls met up with a group of Arab olive harvesters, and a clash ensued. This one ended unlike other city scuffles, however, when soldiers and policemen were called to the scene and the six girls were arrested.
Contrary to press reports that the girls "destroyed a full day's worth of olive pickings," the mother of one of the girls said that during the clash, a bag or two of olives were torn, and a "small amount of olives spilled out."
"The police decided to harass the girls and arrest them, even though they had done nothing that would justify arrest according to the criminal code," their lawyer, Ephraim Katzir of the Honenu organization, said. "Anywhere else in the country, no one would take the time to arrest someone for such a thing."
The girls were brought to the Jerusalem Magistrates Court, and the police charged them with attacking Arabs, attacking soldiers and attacking policemen. "A total exaggeration, a thread turned into an entire suit," Katzir said. "We then had to wait over 6 hours at the courthouse for a hearing that took less than an hour."
The prosecutor already then reserved the right to ask for the girls' custody until the end of the legal proceedings against them. Atty. Katzir, considered to be one of Honenu's top lawyers, cross-examined the police investigator extensively, and the true story that was revealed convinced the judge to order the girls' immediate release to four days of house arrest.
The police did not give in, however, and asked that the judgment be delayed so that they could file an appeal. The court agreed, but when the issue was passed to District Court Judge Noam Solberg, he "deviated from his authority," according to Katzir, "by not ruling on the appeal itself - instead he allowed the release to be delayed for yet another 24 hours."
"I did not give in, though," Katzir said, "and I immediately appealed to the Supreme Court. There, Justice Edna Arbel called an urgent hearing within two hours, and in fact ordered their release."
The ruling was that the girls would be placed under house arrest for four days. At one point, the Prosecution asked that the house arrest be outside of Judea and Samaria, where the girls live. Katzir objected: "At this rate, we'll all end up in the 1948 borders, and from there we'll continue to the sea. You can't have different laws for different areas." Justice Arbel accepted Katzir's protest.
However, this Supreme Court ruling was promptly ignored, and the Prosecution appealed once again - with the girls remaining in prison. The Prosecution claimed again that the girls are a danger to the public and could "lead to an escalation in the entire area, because if they are attacked, they would hit back and this would cause the soldiers to have to get involved and shoot."
Katzir said, "The Prosecution essentially blamed the girls for the fact that the Palestinians hit them, and for causing the soldiers to have to shoot to protect them."
But the Prosecution's appeal found its way back down to the District Court - which concurred with the Supreme Court and ordered their release. But the story still did not end there. The Shai (Samaria/Judea) Police District submitted a request for their incarceration until the end of the proceedings.
Katzir expressed amazement at the turn of events: "Is there an automatic arrest clause such that they have to remain in jail because of a police request? It is totally unacceptable and judicially illogical, and the police are misusing the authorities they have been granted, in order to thwart judicial rulings."
Finally, just as the release was to go into effect, and even after the process started for one of the girls, the police claimed they were unable to find the proper forms, and the girls spent last night in prison as well.
This morning, they were to be released on 800 shekels' bail - but here the story took a swing in another direction: Some of the girls refused to sign any papers restricting their freedom, saying that they do not recognize an Israeli judicial system that is based on non-Torah law. The mother of one explained that their decision is also based on the real suspicion that the police and courts are merely toying with them. In fact, a court hearing is still scheduled for tomorrow regarding the police request to keep all six in custody until the end of the proceedings.