Israel Police raids of Issawiya continue to disrupt daily life for Palestinians

Raids by Israeli occupation forces in Issawiya, a Palestinian neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem, are continuing to “disrupt daily life” for residents, reported Israeli NGO Ir Amim.

“Sustained hostile police incursions” into Issawiya “have continued now for two and half months”, said Ir Amim, “severely disrupting daily life and creating intolerable conditions for area residents”.

The organisation noted that while Israeli police “expressed intent to halt the raids particularly over last week’s holiday of Eid Al-Adha”, the raids and harassment “on the ground only intensified, precluding the residents from celebrating their holiday in peace”.

Ir Amim warned that “the recurring hostilities [provoked by raids] are liable to claim more lives.”

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“Over the course of the past two and half months, the police have effectively imposed a perpetual state of collective punishment on the entire neighbourhood,” Ir Amim stated, “marked by nightly police raids, severe limitations on movement, and clashes with residents.”

“Hundreds of people have been arbitrarily detained, while an estimated 250 have been injured as a result of the police’s use of excessive force, which already claimed the life of one young man” – a reference to the killing by Israeli forces of 20-year-old Mohammed Obeid.

Ir Amim urged Israeli authorities to “immediately” end “the concerted punitive measures arbitrarily directed at the entire community” of Issawiya “and allow the residents to live free from the threat of constant harassment and inexplicable police targeting”.