Palestinians held after raid
ISRAELI forces detained at least 16 Palestinians in the West Bank yesterday, according to local and security sources. They said that Israeli forces rounded up a Palestinian after breaking into his parents’ house in Misilyah village, south of Jenin.
They also rounded up three other Palestinians and ransacked the houses of their families in Barta’a town, west of Jenin.
Another Palestinian, from Silat al-Harithiya village north-west of the city, was detained at the al-Karameh border crossing, also known as Allenby, between Jordan and the West Bank on Monday evening.
Still in the northern West Bank, several military vehicles stormed al-Far’a refugee camp south of Tubas, where the soldiers rounded up two others.
The raid triggered violent confrontations which saw the soldiers firing stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets. No injuries were reported.
The sources confirmed a similar raid in Qalqiliya city, resulting in the detention of four other Palestinians, all in their forties.
In Salfit district, the soldiers entered Qarawat Bani Hassan town north-west of the city and rounded up another man.
In the southern West Bank, the soldiers showed up at a house in the Dheisha refugee camp south of Bethlehem, and detained another Palestinian.
They detained two others after storming and searching their houses.
The soldiers conducted a raid in Husan village west of Bethlehem, ransacked a house and confiscated the recordings of surveillance cameras.
In Hebron district, gun-toting soldiers detained another man from Halhul, north of the city.
They also arrived at Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, surrounded a number of houses and set dogs loose on the residents, reported local activist Mohammad Awad.
On Monday afternoon, soldiers manning the al-Container Checkpoint, north of Bethlehem, stopped and detained a 17-year-old high school pupil from Beit Ummar.
Israeli forces frequently raid Palestinian houses in search of “wanted” Palestinians, triggering clashes with residents.
Under Israeli military law, army commanders have full executive, legislative and judicial authority over 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. Palestinians have no say in how this authority is exercised.
According to the latest figures from Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, there are currently 4 450 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centres.
This number includes approximately 530 Palestinians placed under “administrative detention”, which allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals ranging from three to six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.
Mass arrest of Palestinians is nothing new. According to a 2017 report by Addameer, over the past 50 years, more than 800 000 Palestinians have been imprisoned or detained by Israel. This figure is now believed to be closer to 1 million.
This means that about 40% of Palestinian men and boys living under military occupation have been deprived of their freedom. Almost every Palestinian family has suffered the imprisonment of a loved one.