Muhammad Odeh, an Israeli citizen from the Arab town of Jaljulia, has been under arrest for several months and is being held at the Palestinian police facility in Nablus. Some four months ago, an indictment was filed against him in a Nablus courtroom, where he was accused of involvement in a robbery targeting a truck carrying cigarettes inside Palestinian territory. His lawyers and his family argue that he is being held in contravention of the Oslo Accords and that the Israeli authorities are not helping to secure his release because he is an Arab. “After a while, I realized that if Muhammad were Jewish, the state would have behaved very differently,” says Abdallah, his father.

Abdallah adds that his son, who will turn 22 in a couple of months, lived at home with his family. “Whenever I asked him to, he helped me working in industrial marble and, in his free time, he worked as a courier. He’s our only son and we have seven daughters. His mother passed away six years ago.”

In September 2024, Odeh entered the territory of the Palestinian Authority, after he was contacted by police officers in Nablus and asked to provide his version of the suspected robbery which, according to Palestinian police, happened several months previously, in December 2023. It was at that time that Odeh was arrested and it took him a whole month before he was able to contact his family – smuggling out a letter via another detainee who was being released. “The Palestinian Authority has kidnapped me and I am asking the Israeli government to help release me as quickly as possible,” he wrote. “I am being tortured physically and mentally. They beat me and told me ‘No one knows you’re here, not even your government’.” He also claimed that, after he refused to sign a confession, the Palestinian police officers signed his name. He added that he is not being given the medicines he needs.

Upon receiving the letter, Odeh’s family filed two complaints against the Palestinians—one with the Israeli police in Ariel and another in Taibeh. They told Shomrim that no one had contacted them to inform them whether their complaint was being handled or how it was progressing. Subsequently, a friend of Odeh reached out to then-National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who responded with a voice message on WhatsApp.

“What do you mean he’s been held at a police station for three months? That sounds odd to me,” Ben-Gvir remarked. Later in the message, he added, “We are not responsible for the Palestinian police; the IDF should handle this (…) I’ll pass it on to the defense minister. I am responsible for the Israeli police, not the Palestinian police—thank God.”

“The Palestinian Authority has kidnapped me and I am asking the Israeli government to help release me as quickly as possible,” he wrote. “They beat me and told me ‘No one knows you’re here, not even your government’.”

Odeh’s family denies that he was involved in any criminal act. His father says that Odeh was at home with the family when the alleged crime took place and that he was nowhere near Palestinian areas of the West Bank. The father adds that other suspects in the case gave his son’s name to the Palestinian police specifically because it is hard for them to arrest Israeli citizens. “Muhammed loves everyone and everyone loves him,” his father says.

Reda Anbusi, one of the attorneys representing Odeh, tells Shomrim that, “this is an extremely rare case, whereby an Israeli citizen has been under arrest by the Palestinian Authority for more than three months. We are demanding his immediate release. Due to his poor health and the conditions in which he is being kept, there is grave concern for his life. "We have reached out to both the Palestinian Authority and the IDF regarding this matter, but to no avail." Eran Ben Ari, another attorney hired by the family to help Odeh, tells Shomrim that, according to the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians, after arresting an Israeli citizen, the PA is obligated to hand the suspect over to Israel. If suspicions against the Israeli citizen are well-founded, they will be charged and tried in the Israeli justice system.

Roni Pelli, an attorney from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, explains that the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian police have no authority to arrest or even question Israeli citizens. “I am not aware of this specific case,” she told Shomrim, “but the Oslo Accords mean that the Palestinian police are only authorized to detain Palestinians.”

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories refused to respond to this article, merely saying, “No comment.”