Arrests of Palestinian rights defenders part of ‘wider crackdown’ Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, expressed concern over arrests, harassment, criminalization and threats targeting these individuals. New Delhi 12th August 2021 – A UN expert yesterday expressed concern over arrests, harassment, criminalisation and threats against human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, and called on Israel to make sure all Palestinian human rights defenders are protected. Arrests & raids on the homes of Palestinian human rights defenders “Arrests and raids on the homes of Palestinian human rights defenders form part of a wider crackdown against those defending the human rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” said Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. In a statement, she said she was alarmed by the arbitrary arrest and detention of Farid Al-Atrash, a human rights defender and lawyer at the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR). He was detained by Israeli military forces after he peacefully participated in a demonstration in Bethlehem on 15 June and was released on bail eight days later. Lawlor said she was also concerned about the forcible transfer of Palestinians living in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighbourhoods of Jerusalem. “Muna Al-Kurd, Mohammed Al-Kurd and Zuhair Al Rajabi, human rights defenders at the forefront of protecting their communities against forced displacement, have been arrested and interrogated,” she said. She also cited the situation of Salah Hammouri, a Palestinian-French human rights defender and lawyer at Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, who is at risk of having his permanent residency permit in Jerusalem revoked. “I am shocked that members of the Health Work Committee, who provide health services to Palestinians living in remote areas of the West Bank, were arrested, interrogated and may be criminalised because of their human rights work,” Lawlor added. The committee’s director, Shatha Odeh and its former project coordinator, Juana Ruiz Sánchez, are being held in Damoun Prison and its accountant, Tayseer Abu Sharbak, in Ofer prison. They are being tried on charges of participating in what is…