‘Israel’ arrests journalists and confiscates their equipment
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Israeli forces on Saturday arrested five journalists while they were covering an anti-settlement activity in the Jordan valley near a new settlement outpost before confiscating their equipment and releasing them today.
Hazem Naser, one of the journalists who were arrested, told QNN “we were covering an anti-settlement activity in the Jordan Valley when an Israeli officer showed up and asked us to give him our IDs and car keys, then we were asked to wait.”
Naser confirmed that he and his colleagues (Khaled Bdeir, Amir Shahin, Mahmoud Fawzi, and Zaher Hussain), waited at the site along with nine foreign activists and three drivers from 11:00 to 2:00. He also said that the Israelis confiscated three cameras and a lap top in addition to cars and two buses.
After that, they were arrested and taken on a bus to a nearby military camp. The confiscated vehicles were taken to the illegal settlement of Ariel.
“They interrogated us and accused us of entering a restricted area, hindering the work of the army, assaulting a settler, and disturbing the peace”, Naser told QNN.
After interrogation, the Israeli soldiers told them that their equipment and vehicles were confiscated and that they shall visit the Palestinian liaison office to know the procedures. They were released on Sunday before dawn.
