Description

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli troops broke into a Palestinian home in the al-Tur neighborhood of East Jerusalem and handed a warrant to the owner demanding that he send two of his boys to the Russian Compound police station for questioning.

The boys' father Arafat Abu Sbeitan told Ma'an in Jerusalem that Israeli troops wanted at the beginning to arrest his sons Muhammad, 12, and Ibrahim, 10.

However, he refused to turn the boys in.

He told the soldiers that Muhammad had an appointment at the doctor after he was bitten by a dog and Ibrahim has recently underwent eye surgery. The soldiers then ordered Abu Sbeitan to bring his sons to Israeli police station for questioning.

"The occupation soldiers forced me to wake my sons up so they can make sure that there was a sign of a dog bite on Muhammad's hand. They then took photos of the boys and handed me a summons demanding that I bring them to the Russian Compound police station for questioning."

Israeli forces have detained more than 20 teens and youths from al-Tur since the beginning of February accusing them of different charges including manufacturing improvised weapons and devices to be used against Israeli forces.

Furthermore, Israeli troops and police officers deploy in the neighborhood almost every day inspecting vehicles and pedestrians especially near schools.

Separately, bulldozers escorted by Israeli military vehicles tore down a wall in a tract of land owned by Muhammad Abu al-Hawa in the al-Tur neighborhood under the pretext that the land is designated as green space. The family told Ma'an that the three-year-old wall was demolished without prior notice.

Similarly, Israeli forces demolished on Tuesday morning the protest camp Bawwabat al-Quds (the Gate to Jerusalem) which Palestinian activists built on Monday evening for the eighth time in a span of a month.