NABLUS, March 29, 2011 (WAFA) – Residents of Awarta, a village southeast of Nablus, are living in a state of fear and readiness because of the regular and sudden raids by Israeli forces after March 11, following the Itamar murder.
A family of five settlers were killed in Itamar, a settlement near Awarta. Israeli forces immediately pointed the finger at Palestinians, although investigations proved later that it was committed by a foreign worker.
Head of the Awarta village council, Qays Awwad, pointed out that the village is being punished for a crime it didn’t commit. For 18 days, the area was declared as a closed military area while curfew was imposed upon the village for several successive days; Awarta’s people were threatened with tear gas if they violated the curfew. He said that “Israeli forces arrested over 100 residents' since the beginning of raids.
Israeli forces arrested tens of residents Tuesday dawn and searched residents’ houses.
Awwad said that “they raided every house, sabotaged the floors, windows and doors and brought in police dogs for inspections which Palestinians regard as defiling their houses. We can’t describe the fear in women’s eyes or the children’s terror after being locked for hours in closed rooms or in the cold during each raid which was accompanied with dogs”, he adds.
One of the village’s residents said “everything in the village was affected, even plants and retaining walls didn’t escape from the soldiers intended destruction”.
Jabrin Bakri, governor of Nablus, told WAFA that “this savage collective punishment policy against the village violates the international laws”.
Ministry of Health declared that it will cover the treatment of Awarta’s residents. It pointed out in a press release that Fathi Abu Moghli, minister of health, instructed Nablus Health Directorate to cover Awarta’s residents treatment, regardless of whether they have health insurance or not.
The ministry denounced the Israeli forces and settlers’ attacks against medical centers as forces raided Awarta’s clinic and destroyed its doors, furniture and medical equipments.
Samir Awwad, a resident of Awarta said that the Israeli forces arrested him for the second time in a row, pointing out that they took finger prints and DNA (saliva) samples from every detainee.
“The soldiers have lists of our names. They focus on that night when the settlers were murdered and they interrogate us looking for information about our whereabouts then. When we deny committing the murder and say that it is of a criminal nature, they scream and order us to stay shut”, he added.
The occupation bulldozers are razing roads to the east of the village, after they have razed the surrounding lands and uprooted trees to take over the land in Awarta.
Awarta houses 6 thousand Palestinians and it’s area amounts to 22 thousand acres, 12 thousands of which were seized by settlers.
M.H./F.R.
