For decades, the educational bookstore has been the cultural stone of the foundation of East Jerusalem, its two outlets that hosted foreign diplomats, pointed to distinguished authors and providing readers of both sides of the story of the Israeli and Palestinians.
This weekend, the Israeli police executed executive trade trade and arrested two members of the families who possessed the work they did at the time after concluding that books were sold there – including a children’s coloring book – could encourage violence. Police said they seized numerous books on Sunday.
The shops were at first closed on Monday, but later open despite the judge ordered by two men, Mahmooda Muna and Ahmed Muna, to stay in custody until Tuesday morning in the middle of a police investigation. They were ordered to be held for five days in home custody after release and forbade them to return to their bookstores for 15 days.
Murad Muna, a relative of two men and who reopened one of the stores on Monday afternoon, denied that the books that sold there were promoting violence. In fact, he said, the books were passing by Israeli censors when they were imported from abroad.
“We believe this is a political, not legal detention,” a lawyer for two arrested men, Nasser Sady, outside the courtroom in Jerusalem, said after hearing.
In a statement, police said the shops were searched on Sunday because of books suspected of containing “incentive content”. It said the detectives “encountered numerous books containing stimulating material with nationalist Palestinian themes, including a children’s coloring book called” From Jordan to the Sea. “
Slogan “From river to sea” It has long been a gathered cry for Palestinian nationalism, and the Israelites usually interpret it as a denial of their country’s right to existence.
The court of Mai Muna, Mai Muna, was in the courtroom on Monday, because her husband was brought to the judge after spending the night in prison.
“They started throwing books from the shelves,” Ms. Muna said in a telephone conversation on Monday, describing the attacks. “They asked for anything with the Palestinian flag.”
But hours later, one of the stores was stuck with customers and supporters, while Murad Muna tried to keep track of non -stop for sale he said was a sign of solidarity.
“It’s too much today,” Mr. Muna said behind the cash register. If the Israeli authorities tried to make Palestinians scared, he said, “This is our answer.”
The arrests reflected that Israel of the restrictions on the freedom of speech and cultural activities for Palestine throughout the country. Since the attack was guided by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, Israeli police are increasingly Arrested Palestinian The citizens of Israel on charges of encouraging terrorism on social media and closed film screenings critical of the Israeli army or government in Haifa and Jaffi.
Educational outlets are located in East Jerusalem, a part of the city that captured Israel from Jordan in 1967 and later annexed. Israel believes that the whole of Jerusalem was his undivided capital, but most of the inhabitants of East Jerusalem were Palestinians, and the United Nations considered it to occupy him territory.
Over the years, the Muna family trade has hosted conversations, projections of films and launch of books, including one last July for the Pulitzer Award “Dan in the Life of Abed Salam” in another store they own nearby.
His author, Nathan Thrall, was on Monday among the small crowd of protesters who gathered across the entrance to the courtroom during the hearing. He and his wife Judy have heard of arrests through social media and whatsapp group.
He said he would send the arrests a “very strong message” about the police government.
“It reflects the courage, the feeling that it will be absolutely no consequence, that they have complete unpunishedness, that they can go after the two most attached Palestinians in East Jerusalem,” said Mr. Thrall.
David Grossman, a prominent Israeli novelist, said he knew Mahmood Muna and that he visited his trade. “His arrest is amazing,” he said in a telephone conversation.
Police also seized several books as part of an investigation. They did not return repeated calls and messages about their titles, content or as they considered themselves offensive on Monday.
Diplomats From nine European countries, plus the European Union, attended a court hearing on Monday to show support for two men. “I, like many diplomats, enjoy reviewing books in the educational bookstore,” German Ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, said in a post on social networks. “I’m worried when I hear a ration and their detention in prison.”
The Israeli Human Rights Group, the Civic Rights Association in Israel, said the arrests are another step in the efforts to intimidate and silence the Palestinians by Israeli authorities.
In a statement, the group added that raids and arrests “cannot be separated from the unprecedented number of Palestinian tests and arrests due to the criminal offenses associated with the expression, nor from the wider trend of muffling of Palestinian voice and any social initiative or activity.”
Standing among protesters in the courtroom, Eliana Padwa said she often visited the bookstores since she moved to Jerusalem from New York.
“They were huge on my journey over the years, politically, learning about Palestine,” Mrs. Padwa said, 26 years. “They gave me a sure space to learn about it, I ask questions.”
