HEBRON, Tuesday, May 2, 2023 (WAFA) – Israeli forces today detained two Palestinians and several internationals from the occupied West Bank districts of Hebron and Tulkarm, according to local sources.
They said that the gun-toting Israeli soldiers rounded up a Palestinian and several international activists who stood in solidarity with the farmer against settler takeover in Alzoyedeen community, east of Yatta city in the southern West Bank district of Hebron.
Coordinator of the Popular Committees against the Wall and Colonial Settlements in Southern Hebron Rateb al-Jbour elaborated that Israeli settlers have continued their terror and rampage against Palestinian farmers and herders and their cattle in the community as a means to expel them and seize their land to make room for colonial settlement construction.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops manning a checkpoint, close to Jaba‘ town, south of Jenin in the northern West Bank, stopped and detained a resident of Dhanaba neighborhood, east of Tulkarm city.
In the early morning hours of today, Israeli forces detained at least 13 Palestinians, including a former cabinet minister and two minors, in multiple raids across the occupied West Bank.
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 4,900 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 160 children and 30 female prisoners.
This number includes 1,016 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.
