RAMALLAH, Friday, February 17, 2023 (WAFA) – Israeli forces predawn Friday and Thursday evening detained eight Palestinians from various parts of the occupied West Bank, according to local and security sources.
They said that Israeli police showed up at a house in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, broke inside, assaulted a family member and eventually rounded up him.
Israeli forces also rounded up another and ransacked his family house in Anata town, northeast of Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the gun-toting soldiers manning Huwara checkpoint, south of Nablus, stopped and detained three others from Jenin refugee camp.
Soldiers also set up a roadblock close to the site of the formerly evacuated colonial settlement of Homesh, along Jenin-Nablus Road, detained another and seized his vehicle.
In Hebron district, the soldiers barged their way into Beit Ummar town, north of the city, searched several houses, forcing and occupants into the open and rounding up two others.
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 4,780 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 160 children and 29 female prisoners.
This number includes approximately 915 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.
