Zain Khalil
06 June 2021•Update: 07 June 2021
JERUSALEM
Israeli police released a Palestinian activist a few hours after detaining her in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday, according to her lawyer.
The Israeli forces detained Muna al-Kurd, 23, in a raid on her home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, taking her to an unknown destination earlier on Sunday.
Her father, Nabil al-Kurd, confirmed his daughter’s detention by Israeli forces.
"Police are also looking for my son Mohammed, who was briefly detained last month," he said.
Sources close to the al-Kurd family said Mohammed turned himself in to Israeli police, hours after the arrest of his sister.
A few hours later, al-Kurd's lawyer, Nasir al-Awda, said she was released from the al-Masqubiyya (Russian Compound) detention center in West Jerusalem.
It remains unclear the cause of the arrest of the two Palestinian activists.
In a video clip widely circulated on social media, their father called on the Sheikh Jarrah residents to gather outside the Israeli police station in Salah al-Din Street in central Jerusalem to demand the release of the two activists, accusing the Israeli authorities of attempting to silence all critics of Israeli practices in Jerusalem.
There was no comment from Israeli police on the report.
Muna al-Kurd, who earned a degree in communications and journalism, belongs to one of 27 Palestinian families who face the threat of eviction in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
She is one of the Palestinian women leading protests against Israel's forced evictions and threats of displacement in Sheikh Jarrah.
In April, an Israeli court ruled to evict eight Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in favor of settlement groups, triggering tension across the Palestinian territories.
Israeli authorities, however, postponed giving a final decision on the eviction orders till December under Palestinian mass protests, including 11-day fighting between Israel and Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza, and international pressure.
*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar and Sena Guler in Ankara
