Three women were taken into custody by Israeli state forces after a raid on the offices of the international peace group, the ISM, on Friday 9 May.
Twenty military vehicles, army jeeps and a large armoured personnel carrier surrounded the ISM media office. Two Americans and a Palestinian woman were arrested and computers were confiscated at the office in Beit Sahour.
The ISM is a high-profile peace group, which uses non-violent action to help protect Palestinians from Israeli state violence.
A number of ISM volunteers have been killed or injured, including the young American activist, Rachel Corrie, who died, and Tom Hurndall, a young British man who was recently shot and is certain to die.
The Israeli authorities are using the fact that the two British suicide bombers, who recently exploded a bomb outside a Tel Aviv bar, visited an ISM office while pretending they were peace activists, as an excuse to clamp down on this effective peace campaign.
