Israel arrests 7 Palestinian activists

Israeli police arrested seven Palestinians on Tuesday evening near Jerusalem as they tried to enter the holy city via Israeli public buses in what they called a challenge to "discrimination," the activists said. A police spokeswoman said that Palestinians without permission to enter Israel were found onboard one of the buses and were detained. Foreign activists who were with the Palestinians tried to protest when their colleagues were arrested. The campaign, "Freedom Riders," is inspired by African Americans' quest for civil rights in the 1960s, the organizers said at a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah. After the conference, they tried to board buses from stations near several Jewish settlements in Ramallah, but only seven managed to get on the bus. Today's "peaceful demonstration expresses our rejection to the presence of illegal occupation and settlements on our land," the activists said during the conference. They referred to the Jewish settlements, the barrier Israel is building through the West Bank and "violations of human rights" as Israeli discriminatory policies. The activists said they also want the Palestinians to be allowed into Jerusalem, which they consider its eastern part as a future capital, without Israeli-issued permissions. However, Huwaida Arraf, one of the organizers, told Xinhua that the campaign also aims at disrupting transportation means of Jewish settlers who live in the West Bank. There are about half a million settlers living in 120 West Bank settlements. About 35 checkpoints and roadblocks are located on the way between Ramallah and Jerusalem, some of which are mobile, the activists noted.