RAMALLAH– Israeli forces dawn Thursday and Wednesday evening detained eight Palestinians from various parts of the occupied West Bank, according to local and security sources.
They said that Israeli forces rounded up a Palestinian after ransacking his family house in the northern West Bank city of Qalqiliya.
Still in the northern West Bank, the gun-toting soldiers showed up at a house in Jalbun village, east of Jenin, broke inside, conducted thorough search and eventually detained another.
They also raided Nazlet Zeid village, southwest of the city, where they forcibly entered the local municipal council premises and seized the surveillance camera recordings of a local store and several houses.
The sources confirmed a similar raid in Shweika neighborhood, north of Tulkarm, resulting in re-arresting a former prisoner.
In Nablus district, a convoy of army vehicles stormed Asira ash-Shamaliya town, north of the city, where the soldiers forcibly entered a house and detained another.
The soldiers manning the Jbara checkpoint, west of Tulkarm, Wednesday evening stopped and detained a woman from Balata refugee camp, on the outskirts of Nablus city, while on her way to Israel.
Meanwhile, police detained another from Shufat refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, and ransacked his family house, turning it upside down.
In the southern West Bank, the heavily-armed soldiers barged their way into Yatta town, south of Hebron, and rounded up another.
They also detained another from the southern part of the city and searched two houses in al-Sheikh neighborhood.
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 4,700 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 190 children and 30 female prisoners.
This number includes approximately 800 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