'We did nothing wrong': Irish activist arrested by Israeli police in West Bank to fight deportation
AN IRISH PRO-PALESTINIAN activist is fighting deportation from Israel after she was arrested by police in the occupied West Bank because 'she did nothing wrong'.
Máire Ní Mhurchú, a 71-year-old woman originally from Cork who goes by the name D Murphy,
was detained by Israeli forces in the village of Khallet al-Dabaa in the Masafer Yatta region of southern West Bank on Saturday.
Murphy was arrested alongside Swedish woman Suzanne Björk, who has since been deported from Israel to Athens.
The two women were arrested shortly after Israeli forces declared the village a 'closed military zone'.
Speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Björk said she and Murphy arrived in the village of Khallet al-Dabaa on Friday.
'There was no sign visible that this was a firing zone and there were many other people there,' said Björk.
'We had previously spoken to the police and the Israeli army, and they at no point said that we weren't supposed to be there or asked us to leave.'
Both women appeared separately in court for deportation hearings on Sunday and had been held in a detention centre at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
But while Björk decided to leave Israel voluntarily and is now in Athens in Greece, Murphy decided to challenge the court's deportation order.
'I was told that my visa had been cancelled and that I was now in Israel illegally, and I was detained,' said Björk.
'I signed a paper to say I was willing to take the first flight out, and so yesterday morning, I was put on a plane to Athens.
'D, however, decided to fight this deportation because we have done nothing wrong.'
Björk said the accusations by Israeli police are 'completely false' and that D has decided to remain in detention to challenge the order.
Murphy has since been moved from detained in Ben Gurion Airport to Givon prison in Ramla, according to the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
'The lawyer is in touch with relevant authorities but we haven't managed to speak to her directly,' said an ISM spokesperson.
'We are awaiting to hear when she will be brought in front of a judge.
'Murphy and Björk were peacefully standing in solidarity with the community there when the arrest happened.'
While Björk has been on previous visits to the West Bank, she said she had faced intimidation before but not arrest.
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'They're just trying to get rid of anyone who tries to document the reality of the occupation and the war crimes taking place,' said Björk.
'Soldiers bashing on the door'
Björk said that when she and D arrived in the village of Khallet al-Dabaa, they witnessed 'some settler shepherds harassing the locals'.
Björk said she filmed this incident and was then attacked and had her phone stolen.
She then called the police and said she was told to make an official statement at the station the next morning.
'The next morning, we were woken up by soldiers bashing on the door, saying that we're in a place we're not supposed to be and we have 10 seconds to get out,' said Björk.
She said the soldiers detained the two women and called the police.
Björk said she explained to the soldiers that they had been planning on going to the police station to make a statement about the incident on Friday night and that the soldiers released them so that they could make their own way to the station.
However, Björk said they were then stopped by a 'settler security guard'.
'He refused to identify himself and we waited for the police,' said Björk.
'The police ended up detaining us and taking us to the police station, where we were then arrested and charged.'
Israeli police accused the two women of entering a restricted military area.
Both women appeared separately in court for deportation hearings on Sunday.
'There was no sign visible that this was a firing zone and there were many other people there,' said Björk.
'We had previously spoken to the police and the Israeli army, and they at no point said that we weren't supposed to be there or asked us to leave.'
Björk said the immigration officer also brought up charges alleging that the two women were 'threatening and humiliating soldiers and police'.
'D is a 71-year-old woman, I am a 48-year-old woman,' said Björk.
'We're not really threatening. We definitely wouldn't be threatening heavily armed men.'
Murphy's son, Dale Ryan, yesterday said that his mother's only offence was 'observing crimes against Palestinian people.'
-With additional reporting from Andrew Walsh
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