Before and after the raid. The studio as it normally was, and after the equipment was confiscated.
Monday April 7th 5.30 am. Everything normal, my alarm went off, I got up with a smile becuase I was doing something I loved. What more could I want, I was a presenter on one of Israels most listened to radio stations.
I got to the studios in Jerusalem about 8.30am, and along with Arda, my co-host, we set about, working against the clock, to prepare the days programme. Nothing out of the ordinary, we were preparing, Martin Bee had just finished the Breakfast Show, came out of the studio and greeted us warmly as he always did.
We went on air at 12.05 just after the news. Today's programme was our health day and it was about tea. Everything proceeded as usual, and after the 2pm news I asked the listeners to call or e-mail us to answer my question "When is tea not tea"? I never got the chance to answer it, because at 2.25 we saw that there were a lot of people in the office (we had windows in the studio that faced the office).
During a music break I went out to see what was going on - we often had people come to see the studios etc, so I didn't think anything special was happening. A man in a yellow shirt came up to me and asked me if we had finished talking on air. I thought to myself "Who the heck are you to ask me such a question". I didn't get the chance to answer, when he continued "I am from the Communications Ministry, and these people are police officers. We are closing you down for broadcasting illegally"
To say I was flabergasted was putting it mildly. What? We are broadcasting illegally? No way! You have a mistake! But they were not to be dettered, and they claimed that RAM FM was operating an illegal transmitter inside the State of Israel. I cannot go into more details, because I am still under investigation by the police - 18 months later!!!
Because we had cameras in the studio, our colleagues in Ramallah saw what was going on, and our programme was stopped, and continuous music was played until 3pm. At 3pm Kevin Lee presented his programme as usual from Ramallah as if nothing had happened. The first thing the listeners knew anythinghad happened, was the RAM FM news at 5pm, saying seven staff members were arrested, and the Jerusalem studios closed down.
As one of those arrested, I must say, that we were treated well at all times. The communications Ministry officials dismantled our equipment along with our technician gently. I saw reports that the equipment was torn from the wall - this was not so - the opposite is true. Special boxes were brought to take the equipment away.
We must have waited over an hour for everything to be dismantled, and then we were taken to a Jerusalem police station for questioning. The people arrested were reporters Ashira and Tyson, News Manager Mark Klusner - all journalists with Israeli journalist cards, Arda and myself, Francis our technican and IT guy, and Maysoun, our Station Manager who rushed to the studios as soon as she knew what had happened.
We thought we would be questioned and released, in fact that is what we were told by the Communications Ministry officials. But we weren't, and we were sent to the Russian Compound to spend a night there - not a nice experience by any means.
To cut a long story short, the next day we were released to House Arrest for eight days, where we weren't allowed to be in touch with each other, or anyone else at the station, and only after 14 days were we allowed to go back to work.
In the next post: Isolation in Jerusalem, all of my colleagues went to Ramallah to broadcast.
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