Report: Canadian student faces deportation from Israel following protest

A Canadian student who took part in a protest against the West Bank security barrier in the Palestinian village of Naalin has been arrested and faces deportation from Israel, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported on its website over the weekend.

According to the report, Victor McDiarmid, a volunteer for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was detained on Wednesday at a demonstration by women from Naalin, where Israel plans to build the next section of its security barrier.

CBC News said McDiarmid, 23, was arrested after taking photographs of Israeli soldiers who were breaking up the protest by villagers, who say the barrier will separate them from their farmland.

"He was taken by Israeli soldiers whilst at the front of the demonstration and was taken off towards the jeep. And then he has reported to us that for 20 minutes they were punching, kicking and spitting in his face," Adam Taylor, ISM's media co-ordinator was quoted by CBC News as saying.

'Resisting Israeli occupation'

The organization's lawyers told CBC News that McDiarmid, who is from Kingston, Ont., has been transferred to a detention center for people facing deportation.

His parents told CBC News they support their son and the work he was doing in Israel to expose human rights violations.

Robert McDiarmid said he is outraged his son could still be sitting in a detention center.

"I'm angry at the human rights abuses in the West Bank. I'm angry that the Canadian government's aborting," McDiarmid told CBC News, adding that his son has said he wants to stay in Israel and fight his deportation.

The International Solidarity Movement describes itself on its website as a "Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles."