Photo Credit: Courtesy Chmouel Fitoussi, Efrat Municipality
Jews and Arabs in Efrat Mayor Oded Revivi's Sukah

Efrat Local Council head Oded Revivi says he’s concerned about the fate of four Palestinian Authority Arabs who were arrested and taken into custody on Thursday for the “crime” of visiting their Jewish neighbor’s sukkah.

The Arab visitors paid a visit on Wednesday to the Sukkah of Peace, an annual celebration of the Jewish Festival of Sukkot – the Feast of Tabernacles – in Gush Etzion, Judea, hosted by Revivi.

Advertisement




“Three days have passed and our visitors from Wadi Nies are still being held,” Revivi told JewishPress.com on Saturday night. “They have not been released from the Palestinian Authority prison.

“It’s not clear to us where they are or what their condition is. It bothers me to see that humanitarian organizations, human rights groups are not making any outcry about this situation.

“I’m also puzzled by the indifference of the Israeli media to the plight of these four Arabs, who simply expressed their desire for peaceful co-existence and good relations with their neighbors, and chanted slogans of peace.”

The celebration in the Sukkah of Peace attracted more than a hundred guests on Wednesday, and was an opportunity for Arab leaders from nearby Bethlehem and Hebron to mingle with senior IDF and Israeli Police officials, as well as others in the area.

Revivi told JewishPress.com he is trying to intervene on behalf of his Arab guests, but “the fact that human rights groups and Israeli media have taken no interest in this is very disturbing,” he said.

Advertisement

SHARE
Previous articleGlobal Competitiveness Report Gives Israel High Marks for Innovation [video]
Next articleGaza Digger Dies in Hamas Tunnel Collapse
Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.