Israeli forces Friday morning detained 10 Palestinians and blew up a workshop in the northern occupied West Bank district of Tulkarm, according to local sources. They said that the gun-toting soldiers rounded up two Palestinians from Izbat at-Tayyah locality, east of the city, and another from Bal’a town, northeast of the city. The soldiers afterwards blew up a detainee’s carpentry shop, built as an extension to his house, setting the whole place on fire and destroying it. Palestinian firefighters rushed to the scene and extinguished the fires. In Jenin district, a convoy of army vehicles stormed Sanur village, south of the city, where the soldiers detained two others and ransacked the houses of their families. In Ramallah district, the soldiers barged their way into al-Mughayyir village, east of the city, broke into at least three houses, conducted thorough searches and eventually detained four others, including a father along him formerly-detained son. 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 4,900 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 155 children and 32 female prisoners. This number includes 1,014 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: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA