Israel releases Palestinian activist twins after hours-long arrests

Activists Muna al-Kurd and Mohammed al-Kurd, who have been at the forefront of a campaign to stop the expulsions of Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, have been released from custody several hours after they were arrested by Israeli police.

“No matter what they do to terrorise and frighten us, no number of arrests will scare us off,” Muna told reporters after her release on Sunday, reports Aljazeera.

“We will remain in our homes and we will continue to defend our land that we were born and raised on,” she said.

Mohammed told reporters: “We are not afraid, we are not intimidated, we are going to continue to speak out against all of these injustices, and we’re going to continue to protect our homes.”

Earlier, Nabil al-Kurd, father of the 23-year-old twins, said Muna was arrested after police raided their home in Sheikh Jarrah, while Mohammed had turned himself in at a police station after receiving a summons.

“They want to remove us [from Jerusalem] … but we are here,” Nabil al-Kurd told reporters.

“The weapons of the Palestinians are the camera, and the words – whereas the Israeli army is heavily armed.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said 10 people were injured when Israeli forces fired rubber bullets and stun grenades at protesters outside a police station who were calling for the release of the activists.

The arrests of the activists come a day after Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Givara Budeiri was arrested while covering a demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah. Budeiri was released hours later after her arrest drew global condemnation.

Lawyer Nasser Odeh, speaking outside the police station earlier on Sunday, said the siblings faced “committing acts that disturb public security” and “taking part in riots”.

“The reason for the arrest is that we say that we will not leave our homes, and they do not want anyone to express his opinion, they do not want anyone to tell the truth,” Nabil al-Kurd told Associated Press by phone. “They want to silence us.”