
Israeli forces again storm prominent Palestinian bookshop in Jerusalem
Israeli forces stormed the Educational Bookshop near the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Local reports said they detained Imad Muna, the Palestinian owner of the library situated in Salahuddin Street, close to Al-Aqsa Mosque, and took him for questioning.
Nasser Awda, a lawyer representing Muna, told the Arab48 news outlet that Israeli forces caused significant damage to the library's contents, seized several books, took the premises' keys and shut the place down without any judicial order or legal justification.
'They also removed people who had gathered in front of the library after the raid," he said.
This assault comes a month after the Israeli police's previous storming of two of the three branches of the Educational Bookshop, on 10 February.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
During that raid, two of the shops' owners, Mahmoud Muna and his nephew Ahmed, were arrested on charges of "selling inciting books"
The court released them the following day, though the prosecution requested an extension of their detention for eight more days.
At the time, the raid was condemned by the Palestinian National Library as a 'dangerous escalation targeting the Palestinian cultural and intellectual landscape'.
Israel raids beloved Palestinian bookstores and detains owners Read More »
The Educational Bookshop has been a significant cultural centre for almost 40 years, catering to diplomats, journalists, tourists and researchers alike.
In 2011, it was recognised as the best library in Palestine.
The Palestinian National Library said in February that the assault on the bookshop was 'part of a systematic policy aimed at destroying the Palestinian cultural and educational infrastructure in Jerusalem,' according to official news agency Wafa.
The statement also highlighted that the Israeli aim was to enforce censorship on Palestinian intellectual output by criminalising the possession of books that represent Palestinian national identity, including children's books and historical references.
'It is an assault on the Palestinian right to knowledge and education,' said the statement.
Several foreign governments also condemend the raid and arrests.
The European Union delegation "expressed deep concern at the Israeli police raid [...] and the arrests" in a statement on X, while the French consulate in Jerusalem denounced "a blatant attack [...] against basic democratic values".
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The National
2 hours ago
- The National
Argentina's embassy to move to Jerusalem in 2026, President says
Javier Milei, who made the announcement in the Knesset, has been supportive of Israel amid the war in Gaza and votes in its favour at the UN


Middle East Eye
2 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Russia donates 30,000 tonnes of wheat to Palestine
The Russian government donated 30,000 tonnes of wheat in humanitarian aid to Palestine on Wednesday, Wafa news agency reported. The donated grain will be allocated and redirected to the Gaza Strip once the process of grinding the wheat into flour and packaging the flour is complete. The Palestinian Authority's minister of national economy, Mohammad Alamour, received the grain from the head of the representative office of the Russian Federation to the Palestinian Authority, Buachidze Gocha Levanovich. Levanovich affirmed his country's long-standing position in support of the establishment of an independent state of Palestine in line with international law. Alamour said the donation was an embodiment of the historical Palestinian-Russian relations and an expression of Russia's support for Palestinian rights. More than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israel's war on Gaza, which several countries, as well as many international rights groups and experts, now qualify as an act of 'genocide'.


Middle East Eye
3 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
US warns countries not to join French, Saudi UN conference on Palestine: Report
The US is lobbying foreign governments not to attend a UN conference next week sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a US diplomatic cable reported by Reuters. The cable, sent to countries on Tuesday, warns them against taking "anti-Israel actions" and says attending the conference would be viewed by Washington as acting against US foreign policy interests. France, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, is a US ally in Nato. Saudi Arabia is one of the US's closest Middle East partners. US President Donald Trump was feted during a May visit to Riyadh, where Saudi Arabia signed billions of dollars of investment deals with the US. France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting the gathering between 17 and 20 June in New York. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "We are urging governments not to participate in the conference, which we view as counterproductive to ongoing, life-saving efforts to end the war in Gaza and free hostages," the cable says, according to Reuters. "The United States opposes any steps that would unilaterally recognise a conjectural Palestinian state, which adds significant legal and political obstacles to the eventual resolution of the conflict and could coerce Israel during a war, thereby supporting its enemies,' it added. France had been lobbying the UK and other European allies to recognise a Palestinian state at the conference. However, Middle East Eye reported in June that the US has warned Britain and France against recognising a Palestinian state at the conference. At the same time, Arab states have been urging them to proceed with the move, sources told MEE. In late May, United Nations member states held consultations in preparation for the conference, during which the Arab Group urged states to recognise Palestinian statehood. The Arab Group said they would measure the success of the conference by whether significant states recognise Palestine, sources in the UK Foreign Office told MEE. Since the 1950s, successive American administrations have stated that their ultimate goal in ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a two-state solution. Many experts and diplomats have earmarked occupied East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Gaza, which Israel seized from Egypt and Jordan in the 1967 war, as the heartland of a future Palestinian state. But US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Bloomberg News on Tuesday that a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank was no longer a US policy goal. He said Israel's 'Muslim neighbours' could give up their land to create one. According to the cable, the US said that "unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state would effectively render Oct. 7 Palestinian Independence Day'. Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people. Israel responded by launching a devastating assault on Gaza that has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, and reduced the enclave to rubble. The US cable also said Washington was working with Egypt and Qatar to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and free the captives there. "This conference undermines these delicate negotiations and emboldens Hamas at a time when the terrorist group has rejected proposals by the negotiators that Israel has accepted,' it said. The Trump administration pushed Israel to agree to a three-phase ceasefire with Hamas in January. Israel broke that agreement by refusing to begin talks on ending the war permanently and unilaterally resumed attacking Gaza.