Israel’s Apartheid Forces Detain Swansea Woman And Refuse Access To Lawyer
Dee Murphy, an Irish citizen and Palestine campaigner based in Swansea for over 40 years, was supporting Palestinians resisting Israel’s illegal programme of ethnic cleansing in the occupied West Bank.
On May 31st, Dee Murphy and her fellow activist Susanne Björk were bearing witness to the violent displacement of Palestinians and the theft of their land and homes.
But Israel does not want anyone to observe its crimes, so the pair were arrested.
Khalet Al-Daba’a, a village in Masafer Yatta in the West Bank is under imminent threat of forced displacement. The 120 residents of the village have endured a shocking wave of violence and harassment in recent months at the hands of settlers and Israeli occupation forces.
In February, they demolished four homes, three residential caves, one tent, as well as internet, electricity and water systems. Two weeks later they destroyed six tents used as temporary housing and on March 1st confiscated makeshift tents.
Then on May 5, Israeli forces returned and destroyed roughly 90% of the village’s homes and infrastructure: around nine homes, six caves, several water tanks and toilets, animal barns, solar panels, water and electricity infrastructure. Three weeks after this devastating erasure, extremist Jewish settlers went into the village, forced families out of their caves, brought livestock and established an outpost at the edge of the community. Since then, settlers have returned on a daily basis to harass families in an attempt to forcibly expel the residents who are steadfastly remaining on their land.
These are the crimes that Murphy and Björk were bearing witness to and seeking to stop, and for which they were abducted by Israeli forces.
On the morning of May 31st, the Israeli military arrived to Khalet Al-Daba’a and ordered activists who were supporting Palestinians to leave the village. As they complied, Israeli settlers in army uniform stopped the two activists and began harassing them. Israeli police were called, arresting the two activists under the accusation that they were in a military area.
The day before, May 30, an Israeli settler stole Björk’s phone while she documented human rights violations, and police were called to report the incident. Whilst Björk was swiftly deported, Murphy has decided to resist such a move and has since been detained and denied access to her lawyer.
Murphy, originally from Cork and based in Swansea since the early 80s, has been held in custody since June 1st when Israeli authorities issued a deportation order which she decided to fight.
Getting a message out shortly after her arrest, Murphy said: “When most governments all around the world are ignoring the genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, ordinary people like me are answering the Palestinians’ call to come and be a witness to these events being carried out by the Zionist Israeli entity. It’s not about politics, it’s about justice and freedom for all people.”
Murphy was initially held at Ben Gurion Airport and was moved to Givon Prison in Ramla on Tuesday. According to the deportation officer, authorities had up to 96 hours to bring her in front of a Detention Review Tribunal to review the case and take further steps.
But on Wednesday, Murphy was brought to a hearing with neither legal representation nor notification to her lawyer, despite Murphy’s request and despite the lawyer’s multiple attempts to reach her through the prison service.
Murphy informed her family, via a phone call she was allowed to make, that she was deliberately given the wrong number for her lawyer. The last time Murphy was able to speak to the lawyer was on Monday, and as of Wednesday those close to her still did not know the outcome of the hearing.
A spokesperson for the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, said: “Israel labels indigenous Palestinians, their supporters and those who tell the truth about the genocide unfolding in occupied Palestine as criminals, and uses force to silence and remove them from occupied Palestine.
In order to achieve Israel’s illegal colonial ambitions, the same unjust system that has detained our friends Björk and Murphy in order to deport them, is targeting and murdering Palestinians, including journalists, health care workers and educators, en masse in Gaza.”
“While our friend Murphy remains detained, it is little in comparison to the 10,400 Palestinian political prisoners who are being starved and tortured in Israeli jails. At least 80 prisoners have been killed in Israeli jails since the genocide in Gaza began in October 2023. Meanwhile, the real criminals, such as Benjamin Netanyahu who is wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as all those who are committing genocide in the service of Israel’s illegal occupation, remain free.”
Last year, Israeli Minister Itamar Ben Gvir created a special task force to rid the West Bank of activists claiming this is a response to states, including the USA, imposing sanctions against settlers. International activists are targeted with deportation for reporting settler violence they witness in the occupied West Bank to their governments and communities. In March, a US activist was deported after being arrested in Khalet Al-Daba’a and others were deported from Masafer Yatta last year.
On May 22, the Israeli government announced plans to establish 22 new Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank – the largest expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in decades – defying the ICJ’s ruling that the occupation is illegal and settlements must end.
Meanwhile, Palestinians face genocide, mass displacement, and escalating violence, while solidarity with Palestine is criminalised. Western nations continue to enable Israel’s colonisation as Palestinian homes are destroyed and settlers intensify attacks under military protection.
But as Israel’s mass killing and starvation of Palestians in Gaza continues, global efforts to isolate the state through boycotts and solidarity action are gaining momentum.
This week, dock workers in France’s southern port of Marseille blocked a shipment of military material bound for Israel, with the CGT trade union saying the stevedores refused to “participate in the ongoing genocide orchestrated by the Israeli government”.
Dee Murphy’s son, Dale Ryan, said: “I am writing this as my mother is being detained by the Israeli authorities. As far as I can see her only crime was observing crimes against Palestinian people. D has always had a strong sense of justice and I know she could not sit at home while she knew her friends in Masafer Yatta and all of Palestine were suffering unnecessarily. I am very proud of my mother for sticking up for the basic human rights of her friends and trying to raise awareness of the injustices the Palestinian people are experiencing. Of course I want her home safe with her family who love her, but I know a piece of her heart is in Palestine and she needs to be there, doing what she can.”
