Description
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces arrested 27 Palestinians across East Jerusalem and the West Bank overnight, while clashes erupted again in the flashpoint Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Issawiya.
Israeli authorities conducted detention raids in the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Silwan, al-Tur, al-Suwwana, and Jabal al-Mukabbir early Thursday, arresting nine Palestinians.
A lawyer for the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Muhammad Mahmoud, identified the detainees as Hiba Makiyyeh, Muhammad Abu Lafi, Muammar Abu al-Hawa, Ramzi Ibrahim, Fadi Nasser Eweisat and his brother Shadi Nasser Eweisat, Muayyad Eweisat, Musallam Odeh, Hamza Ahmad Abbasi, and ex-prisoner Ihab Hamdan.
The Palestinian Prisoner's Society, meanwhile, said that Wajih Makih was also detained in the raids.
The arrests come amid months of raging tensions and clashes in East Jerusalem, where Palestinians have protested widely against a massive Israeli arrest campaign and the Israeli assault on Gaza over summer, which left nearly 2,200 Palestinians dead.
In recent weeks a spate of individual attacks on Jewish settlers in the area have led to harsh reprisals against the 260,000-strong Palestinian community in the city, inflaming tensions further.
These reprisals have included checkpoints and barriers against movement in and around Palestinian neighborhoods, which are heavily segregated and separated by Jewish settlements built in the hills above and between them.
On Thursday, Palestinian residents of the village of al-Issawiya protested against the Israeli authorities' recent decision to shut the main entrance to the village with cement blocks.
Although the neighborhood is located directly beside the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Mount Scopus, the cement blocks placed by police at the top of the village has led to major headaches for local residents.
Local activist Muhammad Abu al-Hummus said on Thursday that villagers protested the closure by blocking the eastern entrance of the village.
He said that Israeli soldiers had shut the main entrance to the village three times during the last two months, and the southern entrance to the village has been closed for three months.
Abu al-Hummus said that dozens of students, teachers, and workers gathered at the entrances of al-Issawiya demanding Israeli forces to open the closed entrance.
He added that clashes erupted at the eastern entrance between youths and Israeli soldiers. Dozens of locals suffered severe suffocation as soldiers fired tear-gas grenades at the crowds and leashed police dogs on them.
Abu al-Hummus said that Israeli forces are deployed daily on the eastern entrance of the village, detaining residents and searching cars.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Ma'an that the protesters had "rioted" and "thrown stones and petrol bombs at police, who dispersed them with stun grenades."
He added that no injuries nor arrests were reported.
Although Palestinians in East Jerusalem live within territory Israel has unilaterally annexed, they lack citizenship rights and are instead classified only as "residents" whose permits can be revoked if they move away from the city for more than a few years.
They face discrimination in all aspects of life including housing, employment, and services, and are unable to access services in the West Bank due to the construction of Israel's separation wall.
East Jerusalem is internationally recognized as Palestinian territory, but Israel occupied it in 1967 and later annexed it in a move never considered legitimate abroad.
Also on Thursday, Israeli forces engaged in home raids across the West Bank, arresting 18 people.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the arrests, saying 15 were "suspected of involvement in terror and violent riots," while three were suspected of "involvement in illegal activities."
The spokeswoman said that three of the Palestinians detained overnight were "Hamas operatives," including two individuals taken from a village she called "Khirbat Bneizi" northwest of Ramallah as well one from Sair, southwest of Bethlehem.
Of the remaining Palestinian detained overnight, she said that three were taken from homes in Beit Lid near Nablus, one from Anabta east of Tulkaram, one from Rafidia northwest of Nablus, one from Beit Liqia southwest of Ramallah, four from Deir Ballut, three from Hizma southeast of Ramallah, and two from al-Rihiya, south of Hebron.
Of those arrests, Ma'an was able to independently verify 10 of the detainees.
Palestinian security sources confirmed to Ma'an that Israeli forces raided the village of Deir Ballut and detained Wahbi Kayid Judeh, 23, Sami Abdullah, 17, Daoud Khalid Abdullah, 26, and Tariq Rashid Abu Kheir, 23.
In the Bethlehem governorate in the southern West Bank, meanwhile, Israeli forces detained Fouad Omar Salah, 20, from the village of al-Khader and took him to the nearby Etzion detention center for interrogation on Thursday.
Muhammad Salah, Fouad's brother, told Ma'an that Israeli forces raided their home around 1:00 a.m. and detained his brother after they had "wrecked" the home during the raid.
The Palestinian Prisoner's Society meanwhile confirmed that in the overnight raids Alaa Muhammad Kayid Nana, Abdullah Tubasi, and Aydah Jabarin were detained from Hebron.
Fifteen-year-old Anas Ismail Moussa was detained from Bethlehem, the group confirmed, while Musallam Nasser Sawalhi, 17, was detained from Beituniya.
More than 5,000 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli prisons, including hundreds without charge or trial.
Credibility: |
|
|
0 |
|
Leave a Comment