Although Israel has never fully protected free speech or the right to protest, the repression of dissent has increased in the country since the October 7 attack on Southern Israel and the subsequent siege and bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Anti-war protests in Israel are met with police brutality. Demonstrators have been arrested and blacklisted over Facebook posts critical of the government. In one incident, a Palestinian nurse lost her permit to work in Israel for allegedly blocking colleagues on social media. Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, reported that it “received complaints from around eighty Palestinian students, citizens of Israel, expelled or suspended from their Israeli universities and colleges due to their social media posts.”
Given the risks, it’s unsurprising that there have been few Palestinian protests in the West Bank since October 7. Protests have been particularly scarce in Area C, the region of the West Bank that is under full Israeli military control due to the Oslo Accords. Even prior to October 7, the Israeli Military Order 101 “Restricts ‘political’ gatherings of ten or more persons without a permit from the Israeli military commander. The prescribed sentence for this offense is ten years imprisonment.”
This order was challenged on February 9 when the group Combatants for Peace hosted a protest in the Jordan Valley against the war and the occupation of Palestine. Combatants for Peace is a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization composed of former Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants who engage in non-violent resistance to the occupation.
Jacob Lazarus
Crowd looks on during the protest at Almog Junction of the Jordan Valley on February 9.
The protest was held in Almog Junction of the Jordan Valley, located in Area C, and included Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists. Israeli police confiscated drums and banners, attacked protesters, and arrested five activists. One of those arrested was an employee at Mesarvot, who co-organized the protest. Mesarvot—Hebrew for “Refusers”—is a group dedicated to assisting Israelis in refusing mandatory conscription to the military.
Combatants for Peace employee Ahmed Helou told The Progressive that he received a call from the Israeli police the night before the protest was scheduled. The officer who called accused Helou of violent intentions. Heleou denies these allegations and emphasizes that the protest was legal, with the proper permits obtained by the Israeli organizers. Helou’s family is originally from Gaza, and sixty of his relatives were killed by Israeli airstrikes.
That night, Helou was arrested, blindfolded, and taken from his home in Jericho by Israeli forces. Jericho is located in Area A and falls under the control of the Palestinian Authority, according to the Oslo Accords. Despite this, Israeli military activity in Area A is quite common. After being released on the morning of February 9, the police told Heloud that if he went to the protest, he would be arrested again. The police also revoked Helou’s permit to enter Israel from the West Bank.
In this video, sent via WhatsApp, a friend documents Ahmed Helou’s arrest in Jericho.
“There were already police there,” says RA, an Israeli-American activist who attended the demonstration and asked to remain anonymous, “even though [the protest organizers] only sent out the location an hour before . . . the police somehow already knew.” He explains that police declared the area a closed military zone. Closed military zones—which effectively declare entry to a designated area as illegal—are a well-documented Israeli military method of suppressing protests in the West Bank.
Though protesters did face violence from the police, it’s possible that it would have been more severe if Israeli and non-Palestinian activists weren’t present. It is a common tactic of solidarity activists to use their privilege to prevent or diminish violence towards Palestinians.
“Palestinians are afraid,” RA says, adding that non-Palestinians face fewer repercussions for protesting. “[Israelis and internationals] have a certain level of privilege. Even if the police use tear gas . . . and even if people are detained, there are just so many more rights and protections that [an Israeli] citizen has.”
The protest marked a new development in the post-October 7 status quo. When asked if Combatants for Peace intends to continue protesting in Area C, Helou said yes: “We will keep protesting until both the war and the occupation are over.”