Israeli forces release Palestinian activist Alice Kisiya after arrest for resisting land seizure

Israeli forces released activist Alice Kisiya on Monday following her arrest while protesting the theft of Palestinian land by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Alice and her mother Michelle were arrested on Sunday after conducting a sit-in on land they own in the Makhrour area of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The police freed Michelle and banned her from returning to Makhrour for 15 days before Alice was released on Monday, the agency added.

Israeli settlers initially attacked the family on 31 July with the protection of the Israeli military as they attempted to seize the family's home by force, according to the international organisation Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT).

Alice called the police to stop settlers from destroying their personal property, but officers instead detained her brother who attempted to prevent the raid.

CPT said that the family, which are Palestinian Christians and have French and Israeli citizenship, have the necessary legal documents from the Civil Administration to prove they legally own the land and are entitled to run a family restaurant on the site.

The Israeli military, however, has declared the land a military zone and made it available to settlers.

On 14 August Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the government had approved the building of a new illegal settlement, named Nahal Heletz, on a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Bethlehem.

In the announcement, Smotrich said that "no anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist decision will stop the development of settlements".

Following the seizure, the family set up a solidarity camp at the site and were joined by members of the Israeli-Palestinian organisation Combatants for Peace, which supported the family amid attacks by Israeli settlers and their detention by Israeli forces.

Prominent Palestinian priest Reverend Munther Isaac condemned the actions by Israeli authorities and settlers, saying he had met with the Palestinian family.

"It was powerful to see Jews and Muslims in solidarity with this Christian family from Bethlehem," he said, adding that Palestinians - like the Kisiya family - have faced ethnic cleansing for 76 years.

Head of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Center Yusef Daher echoed his comments, telling The New Arab that the aim of the Israeli settler movement, under government protection, was to reoccupy the whole West Bank, terrorise Palestinians, and use forged land deeds to do so.

"We noticed that Israel did not call the settlers to the army to serve in Gaza and we think it is because of their agenda in the Palestinian territories," he added.

According to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Israeli settlers have conducted 1,250 attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank from 7 October to 12 August, leading to 120 deaths and injuries, including 10 Palestinians killed, up to that point.