The Israeli police raided a Palestinian library in East Jerusalem

For decades, the educational library was the cultural cornerstone of East Jerusalem, and its outlets that host foreign diplomats, and gathered prominent authors and provide readers on both sides of the story in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

At the end of this week, the Israeli police stormed the stores and arrested their owners after they concluded that the books that are being sold there – including the children’s coloring book – could incite violence. The police said they had seized a number of books in the raids on Sunday.

The stores were initially closed on Monday, but it was later opened although a judge ordered the brothers who owned the stores, Mahmoud Mona and Ahmed Mona, to stay in arrest until Tuesday morning amid a police investigation. They were also ordered to arrest the house for five days after they were released and prevented them from returning to their library for 15 days.

Murad, the brother of the owners who reopened a store on Monday afternoon, denied that the books that were sold there promoted violence. In fact, the books said Israeli monitoring when it was imported from abroad.

“We believe this is a political and not a legal detention,” the lawyer, Nasser Audi, told the court in Jerusalem after the session after the session.

In a statement, the police said the stores were searched on Sunday about the books of suspects that they contain “incitement to content.” “They faced many books that contain creative materials with Palestinian national topics, including the coloring book of children,” from Jordan to the sea, “the investigators said.

slogan “From the river to the sea” The cry of a crowd for Palestinian nationalism has always been that the Israelis usually explain as a denial of their country’s right to exist.

Mahmoud Mona’s wife, May Mona, was in the courtroom on Monday where her husband was brought before the judge after spending tonight in prison.

“They started throwing books from the shelves,” Mrs. Mona said in an interview on Monday. “They were looking for anything with the Palestinian flag.”

But hours later, one of the stores was jammed with customers and supporters, as Murad Mona tried to keep up with sales without stopping, which he said was a sign of solidarity.

“Today is Overbusy,” said Mr. Mona from behind the critical record. If the Israeli authorities are seeking to make the Palestinians fearful, “this is our answer.”

Arrests reflect how Israel stresses restrictions on freedom of expression and cultural activities for Palestinians throughout the country. Since the Hamas -led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the Israeli police have been increasingly suffering The Palestinian arrested The citizens of Israel on charges of inciting terrorism on social media and closed films that criticize the Israeli army or government in Haifa and Java.

The educational library outlets are located in East Jerusalem, and it is part of the city that Israel seized from Jordan in 1967 and was later annexed. Israel considers that all Jerusalem is its unmalpled capital, but most of the population of East Jerusalem are Palestinians, and the United Nations considered its territory to be.

Over the years, Muna Brothers stores hosted talks, film shows and books launch, including one last July for the Politzer Award for the award “Day in the Life of Abed Glama” in another store they own near.

Its author, Nathan, was a third of the demonstrators on Monday who gathered from the entrance to the court during the session. He and his wife Judy heard about arrests through social media and WhatsApp groups.

He said the arrests would send a “very strong message” about the police authority.

“It reflects the boldness, a feeling that there will be no consequences at all, because they have complete impunity, and that they can follow two of the most connected Palestinians in East Jerusalem,” said Mr. Thral.

David Grossman, a prominent Israeli novelist, said he knew Mahmoud Mona and visited his store. He said in an interview on the phone: “His arrest is impressive.”

The police also confiscated several books as part of the investigation. They did not return calls and repeated messages on Monday about their titles, content, or how they were considered offensive.

Diplomats From nine European countries, in addition to the European Union, he attended the court session on Monday to show support to the Mona Brothers. “I, like many diplomats, enjoy browsing books in the educational library,” the German ambassador to Israel, Stephen Sepert, He said in a social media post. “I am concerned to hear the raid and hold them in prison.”

An Israeli human rights group, the Association of Civil Rights in Israel, said that the arrests were another step in the efforts made to intimidate and silence the Palestinians by the Israeli authorities.

In a statement, the group added that the raids and arrests “cannot be separated from the unprecedented number of interrogation and the arrests of the Palestinians due to crimes related to expression, nor from the broader direction to silence the Palestinian voice and any initiative or social activity.”

Eliana Padua, standing among the demonstrators in court, said that she visited libraries often from her transfer to Jerusalem from New York.

Ms. Badua, 26, said: “They were huge on my journey over the years, politically, and learning about Palestine. They provided a safe space for me to get to know this, to ask questions,” said Ms. Badua, 26.