Jerusalem, Aug 06: Israeli Police released 34 foreign peace activists who had been detained for trying to block the construction of a controversial security barrier, it was reported today. Those released yesterday were part of a group of 41 foreign activists and seven Israelis detained earlier in the day in a Palestinian family's garden in the West Bank town of Mashah, through which the security barrier is set to pass.
Authorities had declared the area "a closed military zone".
The foreign activists were members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), and some came the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Sweden. The report said that the said the interior ministry had decided to expel one of the activists, an Italian woman, and warned the others not to disturb the work of the Army.
The ISM has been leading an aggressive campaign in recent weeks to protest against the fence as well as roadblocks hampering freedom of movement in the West Bank.
In previous protests US activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli Army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip town of Rafah in March and fellow ISM member Tom Hurndall from Britain was declared clinically dead after being shot in the same area a month later. The arrests came as the United States warned that Israel's continued construction of a controversial West Bank security barrier may result in US financial sanctions.
Israel said last week it had completed the first 140 kilometre section of the barrier. Bureau Report