Israeli police raid prominent Palestinian bookshop in East Jerusalem

Israeli police have raided a well-known Palestinian bookshop in East Jerusalem, accusing its owners of selling books that incited terrorism, including a children’s colouring book entitled “From the Jordan to the Sea”.

Two of the owners, Mahmoud and Ahmad Muna, were arrested on Sunday and held overnight. A separate branch, located in the nearby American Colony Hotel, was also raided.

Closed circuit television footage showed police searching the shelves and pictures shared on social media showed books scattered over the floor of the shop. Mahmoud Muna’s 11-year-old daughter Layla was present when police carried out the raid, her mother May Muna said.

The Educational Bookshop, close to the Old City, has been a Jerusalem landmark for decades, with a wide selection of books in Arabic and English, ranging from literary fiction to non-fiction works on the Middle East and world politics.

Popular with foreign diplomats, aid workers and tourists, the bookshop has also played an important part in Palestinian intellectual life and the arrests were seen as a blow against the wider cultural environment of the city.

“I, like many diplomats, enjoy browsing for books at Educational Bookshop,” German Ambassador Steffen Seibert wrote on social media platform X. “I know its owners, the Muna family, to be peace-loving proud Palestinian Jerusalemites.”

The Jerusalem district police confirmed officers had arrested two residents of East Jerusalem “suspected of selling books containing incitement and support for terrorism in bookstores”.

It cited “From the Jordan to the Sea”, without further explanation.

The expression “From the River to the Sea” is a hotly disputed phrase in Israel, often taken as a call for Israel’s destruction and a denial of its right to exist, although many Palestinians dispute that.

It has figured prominently in rallies around the world in support of Palestinians during the war in Gaza between Israel and the militant group Hamas, now paused by a ceasefire.

On Monday, the shutters were closed on the main branch of the shop and demonstrators gathered outside the courtroom where a hearing over a police request to extend the Muna’s detention by eight days was being held.

Their lawyer Nasser Odeh said Mahmoud and Ahmad were charged with disturbing public order. The court ordered their release from detention but placed them under house arrest.

“The attempt to crush the Palestinian people includes the harassment and arrest of intellectuals,” Israeli rights group B’Tselem said in a statement.

The shops are located in East Jerusalem, an area captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War and later annexed in a move not recognised internationally. (Reuters)