The Special Rapporteur on the Defense of Human Rights, Marie Lawlor, expressed her concern about the arrests, harassment and threats against human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, and called on Israel to ensure the protection of all human rights defenders. Lawlor said: “The arrests and raids on the homes of human rights defenders are part of a broader crackdown on those who defend the human rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”. Lawlor also expressed concern about the arbitrary detention of Farid al-Atrash, a human rights defender and lawyer at the Independent Commission for Human Rights who was arrested by the Israeli military after his peaceful participation in a demonstration in Bethlehem on June 15, 2021. She further expressed concern about the forcible transfer of Palestinians living in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods of Jerusalem. For further details, click here