RAMALLAH, Friday, February 3, 2023 (WAFA) – Israeli forces today detained seven Palestinians, mostly in predawn raids across the occupied West Bank, according to local and security sources.
They said that Israeli forces rounded up two Palestinians from the southern part of the southern West Bank city of Hebron and ransacked the houses of their families, turning them upside down.
The forces detained another from al-Arroub refugee camp, north of the city.
In the northern West Bank, the gun-toting soldiers rounded up three others, including a handicapped former prisoner, from 'Aqqaba town, north of Tubas city, and searched the houses of their families.
The soldiers showed up at a house in Misilyah village, south of Jenin, resulting in the detention of another.
On Thursday evening, soldiers manning a flying checkpoint at the western entrance of Beit Fajjar town, south of the city of Bethlehem, stopped and detained a resident of the town.
Special Israeli forces in a civilian Palestinian-registered vehicle sneaked their way into the outskirts of Jenin refugee camp and detained another.
The soldiers manning a checkpoint at the northwestern entrance of Jericho city stopped and rounded up another. The detainee was identified as a resident of al-Far'a refugee camp, south of Tubas.
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 4,700 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 150 children and 34 female prisoners.
This number includes approximately 835 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.
