A Palestinian detained woman was prevented from breastfeeding her two-month-old daughter for approximately five hours.
Najia Bisharat a resident of the village of Khirbet Makhoul in the Jordan Valley was detained on Monday.
She was taken to the Shaar Binyamin police station together with her new-born baby girl.
At the police station her daughter was taken away from her and she waited for five hours to be released and reunite with her daughter again.
During her detention Israeli occupation forces (IOF) refused Bisharat’s request to breastfeed her daughter for five hours.
The Israeli officials did not explain why Bisharat was denied permission to breastfeed her crying daughter.
Bisharat’s husband Yousef and several Israeli activists came to the station to show support.
When the baby cried one of the activists Amir Pansky asked the police officers to allow Bisharat to breastfeed her daughter but was told he was “causing provocations.”
The Palestinian detainee a mother of nine was suspected of allegedly throwing rocks at an Israeli vehicle but was later released at the end of her questioning.
Jewish settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank while occupation authorities rarely take action against it.
According to Israeli rights group Yesh Din the Israeli police force responsible for investigating criminal acts by settlers in the West Bank closes more than 90 percent of Palestinian complaints against settlers without filing charges usually due to “lack of evidence” or “unknown perpetrator.”
