Protest organizer on trial in Israeli military court

Israeli border police detain Ouday Tamimi in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh
on January 7, 2011. The trial of Bassem Tamimi, coordinator of the popular
committee in Nabi Saleh, commenced in an Israeli military court on Sunday.
Photo provided by Popular Struggle Committee [MaanImages/Bilal Tamimi, HO]

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Non-violence activist Bassem Tamimi appeared in Israel's Ofer military court Sunday charged with incitement and organizing protests in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh.

Israeli forces detained Tamimi, 44, from his home on March 24. The popular committee coordinator is accused of organizing and participating in "unauthorized processions," soliciting youth to throw stones and failing to attend legal summons.

Tamimi is also accused of disrupting legal proceedings for allegedly advising youth on how to act during police interrogation, the Popular Struggle Committee said.

Israeli forces have detained dozens of children from Nabi Saleh, which hosts weekly peaceful protests against illegal Jewish-only settlements built on village land.

The committee said police investigators also accused Tamimi of "consulting lawyers and foreigners to prepare for his interrogation."

In his statement to the court, Tamimi defended his right to organize peaceful civil demonstrations, and noted that international law guaranteed the right of people to resist occupation.

He also questioned the legitimacy of military laws imposed by an unelected occupying power.

"Despite claiming to be the only democracy in the Middle East you are trying me under military laws which lack any legitimacy; laws that are enacted by authorities that I have not elected and do not represent me."

Tamimi added: "Violent repression of our demonstrations and protests and your detention camps are not evidence of the illegality of our actions. It is unfair to be tried under a law forced upon us. I know that I have rights and my actions are just."

The military judge refused to allow Tamimi to read his full statement in court, the committee said,

Since protests began in Nabi Saleh in December 2009, Israeli forces have detained 71 residents, around 10 percent of the entire village.

Two of Tamimi's sons have been injured by Israeli soldiers at protests, and his wife has been detained twice. Israeli's Civil Administration has ordered the demolition of Tamimi's home, which was built in 1965.

The Popular Struggle Committee said Tamimi's arrest corresponded to "the systematic arrest of protest leaders all around the West Bank," pointing to similar detentions in Bil'in and Ni'lin.