Israeli forces on Sunday arrested the outspoken twins from Sheikh Jarrah activists, Muna al-Kurd and Mohammed al-Kurd. Muna and Muhammed, who is forced to share their house with Israeli settlers since 2009, have emerged as the face of Sheikh Jarrah protest.
Muna was arrested from her home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in Jerusalem. Video posted on social media showed Muna being taken from the home in handcuffs. “Don’t be afraid,” she is seen telling her family, as she is being led out.
Their father, Nabil al-Kurd, said Israeli forces stormed his house “in a provocative manner” before arresting his daughter Muna and delivered a summons warrant for her brother Mohammed al-Kurd, who was not at home at the time of the arrest, according to Wafa news agency.
Mohammed surrendered after a few hours with his lawyer, who informed the press outside Israeli police station in Salaheddine Street that the twins face charges of “committing acts that disturb public security” and “taking part in riots”.
The twins are behind the three-month-old #SaveSheikhJarrah social media campaign against the forced expulsions of Palestinians from their homes.
Muna and her brother, Mohammad, whose family has been living under the threat of displacement from their house in the Karm al-Jaouni quarter in Sheikh Jarrah, have been keeping the world well-informed about the situation there.
The al-Kurd family is one of four families who were initially set to be expelled at the beginning of May. Half of their home was seized by a group of Israeli settlers in 2009.
The arrest of the Kurds came the day after Israeli police assaulted and detained Al Jazeera correspondent Givara Budeiri and photographer Nabil Mazzawi while covering the demonstrations in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood on the 54th anniversary of the Naksa.
Last March, the Israeli district court in occupied East Jerusalem ratified orders for six Palestinian families – the al-Kurds included – in Sheikh Jarrah to vacate their homes in order to make way for settlers. The same court also ruled that another seven families should leave their homes by August 1.
