Dr. Uri Davis, an Israeli college professor who has been teaching abroad, was remanded to prison for eight days by a Jerusalem magistrate Friday pending investigation of allegations that he was acting in the service of El Fatah, the terrorist arm of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Davis 36, who has been a lecturer at Bradford University in England, was arrested on his arrival at Ben Gurion Airport Thursday evening from London.
The thin, bespectacled, bearded academician has been an outspoken advocate of the Palestinian cause and a critic of Israeli policies. According to police, a warrant for his arrest was issued as a result of statement made by a suspected terrorist ringleader, Mohammed Mounir Shehade, who was captured recently. Shehade reportedly said under interrogation that Davis was acting as a courier for El Fatah, bringing money for the publication of a newspaper in East Jerusalem. The money was supplied by El Fatah’s chief of operations, Halil el Wazier, also known as Abou Ayyad.
Davis has refused to cooperate with the police. He told the magistrate that the allegations against him were “a total lie and each of the details are a lie.” Begyond that he refused to make any comment except that the police were treating him “correctly.” The police presented the judge with copies of Shehade’s testimony and urged a remand of 15 days. Davis apparently expected to be arrested as soon as he landed in Israel. His attorney, Leah Tzemel, was at the airport. Tzemel has defended many terrorist suspects in Israeli courts.
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