Holy Land: Israeli police detain Catholic rights advocate

Israeli police detained a rights advocacy staff member of the Jerusalem-based Society of St Yves on Wednesday.

The Society of St Yves said on its Facebook page that the Israeli authorities detained its advocacy and field officer Raed Halabi, without giving any reason for the arrest. The Society was not told where Raed was taken. It described the arrest as "a continuation of vicious attacks against human rights defenders.”

The Society of St Yves is the Catholic Centre for Human Rights of the Latin Patriarchate. Its mission statement is to provide legal aid to the needy, oppressed and marginalized and tries to raise the awareness of human and civil rights in the society.

The society has played a key role representing the Palestinian Christian landowners in the Cremisan Valley, whose land is threatened with takeover by the Israeli government.

It has also represented a convent in Cremisan, and submitted petitions to Israeli courts against a segment of the Separation Wall that cuts through the convent’s territory.

Read more about the Society of St Yves here: http://saintyves.org