Arrest of Palestinian booksellers sparks Jerusalem protest

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Dozens of people gathered Monday outside a Jerusalem court to protest the arrest of two Palestinian booksellers in the city's east, occupied by Israel since 1967 and later annexed.

The protesters shouted slogans denouncing Israel as a "fascist state" and held placards accusing the country of "cowardice".

Mahmoud and Ahmad Muna, who were arrested on Sunday, were to appear in the court for an arraignment.

Both work for the Educational Bookshop, a cultural institution in east Jerusalem.

The Muna family's lawyer, Nasser Odeh, said "hundreds of books" had been seized on Sunday.

Sidra Ezrahi, an Israeli-American taking part in the demonstration, called the arrests "unbelievable".

"We've been coming to this bookshop not for years but for generations," the protester in her 80s said, adding the arrests were "exactly what fascist states are doing".

Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, also condemned the raid.

"Shocked by Israeli forces' raid on East Jerusalem's Educational Bookshop -- an intellectual lighthouse and family-run gem resisting Palestinian erasure under apartheid," she wrote on X.

"Internationals in Jerusalem: please show up, stand with the Muna family, and protect this vital hub," she added.