Israeli forces Thursday overnight detained 11 Palestinians from the West Bank, according to local and security sources.
They said that Israeli forces rounded up a Palestinian after storming and ransacking his family house in Arraba town, southwest of the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
The soldiers also rounded up two others; a former prisoner from the nearby village of Jaba‘ and a resident of Faqqu’a village, and ransacked their houses, turning them upside down.
Also in the northern West Bank, the soldiers detained another and searched his house in Qalqiliya, turning it topsy-turvy.
In Jerusalem, police rounded up two others and searched their houses in al-Issawiyeh neighborhood.
The soldiers conducted a raid in Kafr ‘Aqab town, north of Jerusalem, resulting in the detention of another.
In the southern West Bank, a convoy of military vehicles stormed Dheisha refugee camp, south of Bethlehem, where the soldiers detained another.
In Hebron district, the sources confirmed a similar raid in Dura town, south of the city, resulting in the detention of two others.
The gun-toting soldiers showed up at a house in Beit Awwa town, west of Hebron, muscled inside, conducted a thorough search and eventually rounded up another.
On Wednesday evening, soldiers manning the intermittently-staffed ‘Anabta checkpoint, at the eastern entrance of the town, east of Tulkarm, re-arrested a resident of Dhanaba neighborhood, east of Tulkarm.
The detainee’s mother said that the soldiers stopped the vehicle on its way to Nablus, ordered her 19-year-old son out of the vehicle, handcuffed and detained him and ordered his father to return to Dhanaba.
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 4,450 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 27 female prisoners and 175 children.
This number includes approximately 670 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.
Source: Palestine News And Information Agency