RAMALLAH, Wednesday, April 20, 2022 (WAFA) – Israeli forces today detained 13 Palestinians from various parts of the West Bank, according to local and security sources.
They said that Israeli forces re-arrested a former prisoner from Qibya village, northwest of Ramallah, and ransacked his house, turning it upside down.
Undercover Israeli forces, known as Musta'ribeen or Mista'arvim in Hebrew, sneaked their way into the village and abducted another former prisoner.
Still in Ramallah district, special Israeli forces abducted two others after ordering them out of a vehicle at the northern entrance of Birzeit town, north of the city, close to Atarah checkpoint.
In the northern West Bank, gun-toting soldiers barged their way into Kafr Qallil village, south of Nablus, and detained two others.
They conducted a similar raid in Balata refugee camp, located on the outskirts of the city, and rounded up another.
In the southern West Bank, the sources confirmed a raid in Bethlehem city, resulting in the detention of another.
The military vehicles also stormed Wadi Fukin village, southwest of the city, as well as Husan village, west of the city, where the soldiers occupied the rooftops of several houses close to the village’s eastern entrance and brutally assaulted a young man.
Meanwhile, police rounded up a teacher and three school children from Bab Hutta in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Police Tuesday evening rounded up two others; one from al-Tur neighborhood and the other from the vicinity of Bab al-Asbat, also known as the Lions' Gate.
In the southern West Bank, the sources confirmed a raid in Sa‘ir town, northeast of Hebron, resulting in the detention of another.
The heavily-armed soldiers Tuesday evening forcibly entered a house in Wadi As-Samen area, southeast of the southern West Bank city, conducted a thorough search and ultimately detained two brothers.
Israeli forces frequently raid Palestinian houses almost on a daily basis across the West Bank on the pretext of searching for "wanted" Palestinians, triggering clashes with residents.
These raids, which take place also in areas under the full control of the Palestinian Authority, are conducted with no need for a search warrant, whenever and wherever the military chooses in keeping with its sweeping arbitrary powers.
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 centers.
This number includes approximately 530 Palestinians placed under “administrative detention”, that allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals ranging between three and 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.
K.F.
