DEFENSE CHARGES GOV'T CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT PROTESTS

Israeljustice.com

 
JERUSALEM -- An Israeli opposition group has charged that the government seeks to prevent peaceful protests against plans to withdraw from the West Bank.  
    An attorney for a Jewish anti-government activist said the Israel Security Agency, responsible for domestic intelligence, has been targeting right-wing protesters in an attempt to halt demonstrations against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. ISA and the police were said to be working together to monitor and arrest organizers of protests against government plans to withdraw from the West Bank.  
    "...Police have political interests," Defense attorney Ephraim Katzir said. "And they work with the Jewish department of ISA to arrest people at right-wing demonstrations."  
    Katzir has represented Nadia Matar, head of Women in Green, which led a Sept. 19 protest against Olmert's plans to withdraw from the West Bank and establish a Palestinian state. During a peaceful demonstration by close to 100 people, police stormed the protest and dragged off Matar.  
    The following day, Matar was brought to court and charged with assaulting four police officers. Police demanded that Matar not be allowed to approach government ministries in Jerusalem.  
    Jerusalem Magistrates Court Judge Amnon Cohen rejected the police request. Cohen released Matar after she agreed to provide a DNA sample and undergo fingerprinting.  
    Katzir said police did not order the protesters to disperse. Matar was seized as she was sitting with her colleagues at Jerusalem's Paris Square, about 100 meters from Olmert's residence.  
    "This is not normal," Matar said. "The [police] told me that 'you are responsible for the violence going on here.'"