Israel Arresting Prominent Boycott Leaders

Israel has extended the detention of a West Bank campaigner said by activist groups to be the first Palestinian to be imprisoned solely for advocacy of international boycotts against Israel.

Mohammad Othman, a 33 year old resident of the West Bank village of Jayyous, had his detention extended by 12 days at a hearing at Salem military court in the north of Israel on Thursday. Israel's internal security service had requested a 23-day extension.

Othman was first taken into Israeli custody by the Israel Security Agency, commonly known as the Shin Bet, on September 22 at an Israeli border-crossing terminal.

The Shin Bet confirmed that Othman had been detained but refused to comment.

"The man was picked up for questioning on security issues and is still being held," an Israeli security source told The Media Line on the condition that their name not be published.

"The Israelis had four options," Samer Sam'an, a lawyer representing Othman, told The Media Line. "They could let him go, extend his detention again for interrogation purposes, use secret evidence to put him into administrative detention indefinitely or actually charge him with something in a military court."

While thousands of Palestinians supportive of the international boycott campaign have been arrested by Israel for various reasons, activist groups believe Othman to be the first Palestinian whose imprisonment can be credited solely to international boycott advocacy. Othman was attempting to return to the West Bank following a trip to Norway, where he had met with senior government officials in an effort to convince the country to boycott companies doing business with the Israeli military or involved in Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

Othman took Norwegian officials on a tour of the West Bank, traveled to Norway and played a major role in convincing a Norwegian state pension fund to divest the $5.4 million from Elbit, one of Israel's largest defense firms. Norwegian Finance Minister Kristen Halvorsen, whom Othman met, announced the decision early last month.

The Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Organization, which is legally representing Othman, claims his arrest is retribution for his international promotion of a boycott.

"There are no charges against him, but we believe that the arrest is related to his international advocacy work," Magda Mughradi, an Addameer advocacy officer told The Media Line. "Just before he came back to the West Bank he was in Norway promoting the boycott movement." More