Israeli police have raided a long-standing, Palestinian-owned bookstore in East Jerusalem, confiscating books that they allege incite violence.
The store’s owners, Ahmed and Mahmoud Muna, have been detained and the store ordered closed, Mahmoud Muna’s wife May said.
Hundreds of books relating to the decades-long conflict were confiscated, she said.
The Educational Bookshop has stood for more than 40 years in East Jerusalem and is considered a cornerstone of intellectual life in the area.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it — a move not internationally recognised. Palestinians envision it as the capital of a future state.
The three-storey bookstore boasts a wide selection of books, primarily in Arabic and English, focusing on the Middle East conflict. Its collection includes works by Israeli and Jewish authors.
The shop also serves as a venue for cultural events, attracting researchers, journalists, and diplomats.
Ms Muna said the soldiers picked out books with Palestinian titles or flags, “without knowing what any of them meant”. She said they used Google Translate on some the Arabic titles to see what they meant before carting them away in plastic bags.
Police raided another Palestinian-owned bookstore in the Old City in East Jerusalem last week.
In a statement, the police said the two owners were arrested on suspicion of “selling books containing incitement and support for terrorism”.
As an example, the police referred to an English-language children’s coloring book entitled From the River to the Sea, a reference to the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea that today includes Israel, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians and hardline Israelis each view the entire area as their national homeland. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government is opposed to Palestinian statehood, has said Israel must maintain indefinite control over all the territory west of the Jordan.
Israeli-Palestinian tensions have soared since Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. A ceasefire has paused the fighting and led to the release of several Israeli hostages abducted in the attack as well as hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Tensions have also soared in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the 7 October attack and abducted around 250 people. The war the followed has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want all three territories for their future state. The last serious and substantive peace talks broke down after Mr Netanyahu returned to power in 2009.
