Israel’s ‘institutional terror’ leads to arrest of 3,800 Palestinians since start of 2017

Israeli occupation forces have arrested 3,800 Palestinians since the start of 2017, Quds Press has reported. Most of those arrested live in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.

Details of the arrests were provided by the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Prisoners and Freed Prisoners Committee. The Israeli arrests, said the PLO, include “collective punishment measures” against the families of suspects.

This, insisted the chair of the committee, Issa Qarage, is a violation of international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Conventions. He expressed his surprise that these arrest campaigns are being carried out “amidst international silence, despite the clear violations of international laws.” He stressed that Israel’s policies constitute “institutional terror”.

Qarage cited the latest arrest as an example. Omar Al-Abed lives in north Ramallah and is accused of carrying out an attack in an Israeli settlement. However, said the PLO official, the Israeli occupation authorities not only arrested him but also his parents, three of his brothers and a number of other relatives. The Israelis then destroyed the family home.