Description

NABLUS (Ma'an) – Israeli forces carried out multiple predawn detention raids in the northern West Bank detaining five Palestinians from Jenin and villages outside of Nablus.

Palestinian security sources told Ma'an that ten Israeli military vehicles stormed the Jenin refugee camp, ransacking several buildings before detaining Majdi Amjad Araqawi, 35, and Ayman Sami al-Rukh, 33.

An Israeli army spokeswoman reported one detention in the camp overnight Monday, however had no information regarding the reason for the arrest at the time.

Seperately, Israeli military vehicles raided the villages of Beita south of Nablus and Tel in the west, detaining Audah Subih Hamayil, 35 from Beita and Khaldoun Abd al-Rahman Asida, 39 from Tel. Another was detained inside of Nablus, Palestinian security sources said, but has not yet been identified.

The Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma'an four Palestinians were detained from villages outside of Nablus for allegedly being Hamas activists.

Israeli forces routinely conduct night raids of towns and villages throughout the West Bank. As of March 2015 the Israeli army was carring out an average of 75 raids a week on West Bank Palestinian neighborhoods and villages, according to Israeli news source Haaretz.

Nablus and Jenin, like many cities and villages that endure night raids, are classified under the Oslo Accords as Area A, where the Palestinian Authority, not Israeli military, nominally has full civil and military authority.

Such raids generally result in detention of Palestinian residents, often under the pretext that the individual poses a threat to security.

The majority of Palestinian political organizations are considered illegal by Israel for security reasons, including those that make of the PLO, and association with such parties is often used as grounds for imprisonment, according to Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association Addameer.

Features