Israeli authorities on Wednesday extended the detention of a Palestinian women’s national football team player arrested after being summoned for questioning in Jerusalem, according to Palestinian officials.
In response to an AFP inquiry about the extension of the detention, Israeli police said the arrests followed an incident in which objects were thrown from a roof at demonstrators in Jerusalem earlier in the week.
“Police arrested a man and a woman, aged 18 and 20, residents of East Jerusalem, suspected of being the people filmed throwing objects at protesters,” police said in a statement.
“Terrorist activities” denounced
The Palestinian Football Federation said Rand Halawani, 20, was arrested Tuesday after being summoned to a Jerusalem police station. According to the Palestinian governorate of Jerusalem, an Israeli court extended his detention until Friday.
The Israeli army also arrested on Tuesday Natalie Abou Diya, former player for the Palestinian team and student at Birzeit University, as well as three other young Palestinian women in the occupied West Bank.
The army said in a statement that the four women were suspected of having “promoted terrorist activities” and participated in “other terrorism-related activities.”
Birzeit University, for its part, denounced the arrests, which it said were “part of the systematic policies of the occupation (editor’s note: Israel) targeting Palestinian education and the right of students to pursue their academic career.”
