Israel releases Palestinian activists detained in Hebron

Israel released three Palestinian activists on Sunday after detaining them during a protest in Hebron last week.Issa Amro, Badi Dweik and Muhammad Zghayer were released on bail by Ofer military court. They were arrested on Wednesday after wearing masks of Martin Luther King and US President Barack Obama and demonstrating through Hebron's Old City."We will continue resisting the Israeli occupation until settlers give up, and we will not accept any other results. People of Hebron are able to take this challenge and make it succeed," Badi Dweik said Sunday."The people of Hebron in their wisdom, steadfastness, and defiance can take this challenge and make it succeed," he added.Issa Amro, coordinator of activist group Youth Against Settlements, said last week that he was hoping that the first black president of the United States would be more fair with Palestinians.An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers had arrested six people at the demonstration because they entered a "closed military zone".Meanwhile, Palestinian journalist Abdul Aziz Nofal was detained on Sunday while filming with a crew from Al-Jazeera in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron.The Palestinian liaison department has been on contact with Israel's DCO to release them, Brigadier Nader Hajji told Ma'an. The Israeli DCO demanded 1,000 shekels ($274) to release them, which the Palestinian side refused to pay.Israeli authorities must give journalists complete freedom to report, Hajji added.Around 800 Jewish settlers live in Hebron's Old City among 30,000 Palestinians in the parts of the ancient city that are under Israeli control following a 1997 agreement