Abe Greenhouse of New Brunswick, a Rutgers University student who chairs the New Jersey chapter of Jews Against the Occupation, was among 47 pro-Palestinian activists arrested Tuesday, Aug. 5, while attempting to block a home demolition in the West Bank Arab village of Mas'ah.

The detainees, all volunteers with the controversial International Solidarity Movement, were protesting Israel's construction of a security fence in and around the site. Apart from three held on assault charges, the detainees were released after 22 hours.

A spokesperson for the Judea-Samaria Division of the Israeli police said the activists "were protesting the fence inside a closed military zone where the [Israel Defense Forces] was working. After several warnings, the demonstrators refused to leave and formed a barricade around the building. When we went to arrest them, several of the demonstrators tried to interfere with the arrests."

The police spokesperson told NJ Jewish News that three people taken into custody — an Israeli, an Italian, and a Palestinian — were charged with attacking police officers.

Within 12 hours of the arrests, some 15 of Greenhouse's friends and supporters staged a sit-in at the New Brunswick office of Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Dist. 6), demanding to meet the congressman to express concern for the activist's safety.

Pallone was on a fact-finding trip to Israel when the demonstrators visited his office.

The demonstrators insisted upon staying after an aide to the congressman demanded they leave.

"So we negotiated," said Jared Schultz, a Rutgers student and a member of Jews Against the Occupation.

"The deal was all but three of us would leave, and in exchange the aide agreed to phone the State Department," said Schultz. "She dialed a private number at the State Department and was told Abe was out of custody. So we left the office."

Greenhouse, who spoke with NJJN by cell phone from a Jerusalem street, said he and the other non-Palestinians were taken into Israel proper after their release.

Although the ISM demonstration and detentions occurred 6,000 miles away, they provided more fodder for a debate over pro-Palestinian activism currently roiling New Jersey.

Based in New York, Jews Against the Occupation describes itself as "an organization of progressive, secular, and religious Jews of all ages advocating peace through justice for Palestine and Israel." The group departs from nearly all left-wing organizations and parties in Israel, however, in its call for an end to United States economic and military aid to Israel and for the right of Palestinians to return to homes they claim in Israel proper. 

Although JATO's NJ affiliate previously announced that it was helping to organize the Palestinian Solidarity Conference scheduled to be held on the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick Oct. 10-12, it is no longer listed by New Jersey Solidarity as a sponsor of its conference.

JATO has criticized NJ Solidarity for a mission statement that opposes "the existence of the apartheid colonial settler state of Israel" and supports the Palestinians' "right to resist occupation and oppression by any means necessary," presumably including attacks on Israeli citizens.

JATO, according to its Web site, stands "ABSOLUTELY OPPOSED to the deliberate targeting of anyone who is not an active combatant, by any party, for any reason."

Although frequently linked in the media, NJ Solidarity and the International Solidarity Movement deny any organizational ties. An ISM spokeswoman has distanced herself from NJ Solidarity's message condoning violence, but ISM remains controversial in its own right: Israel has charged that ISM members "take an active part in illegal and violent actions against IDF soldiers." 

Asked about NJ Solidarity, Greenhouse told NJJN tersely he "appreciates support from all organizations. That's as far as I'll go right now."

Protesting the fence

According to Greenhouse, he and 46 other ISM activists were kicked and beaten by Israeli troops and police officers before being taken into custody. Eleven of those arrested were Americans, four of them members of JATO. Five others were Israeli citizens.

Israel's security fence has become the subject of international scrutiny, with Israel defending it as a necessary deterrent to incursions from suicide bombers in the West Bank. The Bush administration, meanwhile, has objected to the fence's route in certain areas close to Arab villages and agricultural lands. Last week, The New York Times reported that Israel had agreed not to construct certain sections before it reached a compromise with the administration.
Greenhouse said the confrontation came after the ISM volunteers "were promised by the contractor and the construction crews, who told the Hebrew speakers in our group that they would not start construction on the wall for at least two months."

"We tried to protect the house and a barn which a farmer used to house his goats," he added. They are his only means of livelihood."

"It is up to the IDF to decide where the fence should be built," countered the Israeli police spokesperson. "It is a security fence for the people of Israel, and it will remain as long as there are terrorist attacks by the Islamic Jihad and Hamas and the other groups."

Greenhouse said the police and IDF "started beating us while we remained nonviolent. I was badly bruised. It was a frightening experience."

The activist said his 22 hours in captivity were divided between incarceration on a bus, then "a cafeteria-like room at the police station in the settlement of Ariel," several miles from the demolition site.

"We were mainly fed stale bread. We were not given medical treatment. And we were not allowed to meet with our attorneys" outside the presence of an IDF representative.

The police spokesperson had "no information" about those allegations.

Greenhouse declined to tell NJJN his future plans in Israel although, according to e-mail updates from JATO, since their release, he and other ISM volunteers have taken part in a demonstration at the Israel Defense Ministry and a Palestinian house-demolition blockade in eastern Jerusalem. But Greenhouse said that before entering the West Bank as an ISM volunteer, he spent more than two weeks traveling around Israel.

"I went to the beach in Tel Aviv, Masada, the Dead Sea, and several kibbutzim. You know, the typical tourist thing."

Greenhouse said he was saddened by what he saw as "the sharp contrast in living conditions between Israelis and Palestinians."

But when asked if he had any positive experiences in Israel, Greenhouse paused.

"The vegetables were great," he said. "And the cucumbers were awesome."

Robert Wiener can be reached at .