Description

Photos:
Mohammed Abu Hashem, from Beit Ummar
Ahmed Abu Hashem threaten by soldiers for documenting Occupation


HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces raided villages across the West Bank before dawn Monday, detaining at least 13 Palestinians including a popular resistance leader in Hebron, officials said.

Mousa Abu Maria, a member of the popular committee against the wall and settlements in Beit Ummar, said Israeli forces detained Ahmad Abu Hashem, 43, and his son Muhammad, 17, in the same village.

He said the soldiers raided the house and assaulted the detainees.

Also near Hebron, the Israeli military raided al-Arrub refugee camp and detained three people. They were identified as Alaa Hilmi Abu Ghazi, Rabah Bilal Fdeilat, and Yousef Mohammad Abu Afia. They were taken to an undisclosed location.

Clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli forces during the raid. Israeli forces fired tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets.

In Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, Israeli forces detained two young men in raids.

Witnesses told Ma’an that military jeeps stormed Tulkarem and detained 25-year-old Hasib al-Ali. The soldiers also assaulted al-Ali's younger brother Dhirgham causing serious bruises, the witnesses added.

Separately, troops raided Qaffin village north of Tulkarem and detained 21-year-old Abdullah Asaad Aqil. During the raid, soldiers assaulted 31-year-old Nabil Abu Tahoun, a former prisoner.

An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed 13 arrests overall.

She said the other Palestinians were detained in the Nablus, Qalqiliya and Ramallah areas. Two Palestinians were also detained in al-Khader, near Bethlehem, she said.

Early Sunday, Israeli forces detained 31 Palestinians across the West Bank, a military spokesman said.

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Children of Beit Ummar Activist Community Targeted

by Anne Robbins for Mondoweiss

The activist community in the little West Bank village of Beit Ommar has been targeted again by Israeli forces. Fifteen military jeeps descended on the town in the middle of the night and burst into the room of a new mother hours after she'd given birth to her first child.

Ahmed Abu Hashem, activist member of the Beit Ommar Popular Committee, and his son Mohammed were beaten, arrested and hauled off during the 2 am raid.

Readers may recall that the children of Beit Ommar have been hit particularly hard by the occupation, and some were the focus of the Defense for Children International report. I am told that the boy on the report's cover (left) is one of Abu Hashem's children; his brother Mohammed Abu Hashem was arrested yet again yesterday. Mohammed (pictured below) was featured in our earlier report, having just been released from jail.

At the time The Palestine Solidarity Project (PSP) informed us that soldiers demanded to know why Abu Hashem's family participated in the local protests and demanded names of other activists.

Abu Hashem's daughter-in-law Yasmin Abu Maria had just given birth to Abu Hashem's grandchild. And soldiers burst into the room of a baby girl on the first night of her life, not even a day old. Is this what it means to be Palestinian? Not one sacred day of life with her child without interruption from soldiers with guns drawn? And the humiliation of a man not being able to protect his family.

And why? Because this family has exercised its universal right to speak out against the government that rules their lives.

Press release:

At approximately 2am in Palestine, 15 Jeeps of Israeli forces invaded Beit Ommar, seeking to arrest the son of Ahmed Abu Hashem, an active member of the Beit Ommar Popular Committee and PSP. Just yesterday, at approximately 1pm Palestine time, Ahmed’s daughter-in-law and niece of PSP Co-founder, Yasmin Abu Maria, gave birth to a baby girl. When the Israeli military forced their way into Ahmed’s home, they entered to room of the newly-recuperating mother and her young daughter with weapons drawn, terrifying the young family. When Ahmed tried to intervene to protect his daughter-in-law and new granddaughter he was attacked and violently beaten by Israeli forces. Ahmed and his son Mohammed were arrested and taken away.

PSP will update as more information becomes available.

Mohammed has been arrested several times in his young life, and was a focus of a previous Defense of Children International-Palestine report.

Ahmed’s home has been a continuous target of Israeli aggression, and Ahmed himself has often been targeted because of his commitment to the popular resistance and talent for documenting IOF aggression.

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