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Israeli forces detain 21 Palestinians in overnight raids

May 21, 2017 at 2:34 pm

Israeli security forces clash with and detains a Palestinian protester during a demonstration to show solidarity with hunger striker Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails at the Ni’lin village in Ramallah, West Bank on May 19, 2017 [Issam Rimawi / Anadolu Agency]

Israeli forces detained at least 21 Palestinians in overnight raids between Saturday and Sunday across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian and Israeli sources.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an news agency that two Palestinians were detained in Ramallah, one in al-Khader village and three in Husan village in the Bethlehem district, while two Palestinians were detained in Hebron city in the southern West Bank. Palestinian sources did not provide additional information on these detentions.

In the village of Abu Dis in the West Bank district of Jerusalem, Israeli forces detained Amjad Rabee and Ali Rabee after raiding their homes, according to the village’s popular resistance spokesperson Hani Halabiya. An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed two detentions in Abu Dis.

Israeli forces also carried out raids in several neighbourhoods in occupied East Jerusalem.

Read: Israeli statistics do not give real number of Palestinians in Jerusalem

Member of a follow-up committee in the neighbourhood of Issawiya, Muhammad Abu al-Hummus, said that Israeli forces raided several homes and detained five Palestinians in the neighbourhood, who he identified as Wassim Nayef, Ahmad Kayed Mahmoud, Adam Fadi Mustafa, Yousif Issa Mustafa, and Anas Abu Assab.

Abu al-Hummus underscored that the neighbourhood experiences daily detention raids, while Israeli forces also routinely install checkpoints at the neighbourhoods entrances and deliver demolition orders on homes as part of Israel’s “collective punishment policies against residents.”

In the neighbourhood of Shufat, Israeli forces raided three homes and detained Nasser Abu Khdeir, a former prisoner, Abed Saed Abu Khdeir, and Ameer Abu Khdeir, according to the head of the Jerusalem Committee for Families of Prisoners Amjad Abu Asab.

Fatah spokesperson in the Shufat refugee camp, to the west of Israel’s separation wall, said that Israeli forces raided the home of former prisoner Arafat Fasfous and delivered an order to his family summoning them for interrogations with Israeli authorities when Fasfous was found not be home.

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Meanwhile, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Israeli forces detained activists Muhammad al-Shlabi and Thaer Abu Sbeih after raiding their homes, according to locals.

The Wadi Hilweh Information Centre, based in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan, reported that clashes had erupted in the neighbourhood until late hours on Saturday night, when Israeli forces fired tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets into the community and detained 20-year-old Muhammad al-Abasi.

Israeli raids in Palestinian towns, villages, and refugee camps are a daily occurrence in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The United Nations recorded an average of 95 weekly raids in the occupied West Bank in 2016, while 125 raids were carried out over the past two weeks.