Israeli forces detain Palestinian south of Bethlehem, 54 in last 24 hours

RAMALLAH: Israeli occupation forces Friday evening detained a Palestinian from the al-Khder town, south of the occupied West Bank city of Jerusalem, bringing the total of detainees in the last 24 hours to 54, according to local sources. They said that the occupation forces physically assaulted and rounded up a youth while he was in the vicinity of his house in the town. Meanwhile, the occupation forces barged their way into Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah, where they muscled inside a villager's house and briefly held his son. The soldiers forced the owners of stores located at the village entrance to close their stores, simultaneously while setting up a checkpoint and inspecting passengers' identity cards. The raid triggered confrontations, but there was no information on any casualties or detention cases. Earlier today, the occupation forces detained 53 Palestinians, including 45, who were rounded up in a large-scale operation in the town of Anata, east of Jerusalem. Israeli soldiers detained two of the remaining eight Palestinians from Qalandia refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, and ransacked their house, turning it topsy-turvy. Another was identified as a resident of the Dhannaba neighborhood, east of Tularm, another as a resident of Hebron city, another as a resident of adh-Dhahiriya, south of Hebron, another as a resident of 'Urif village, south of Nablus, and two others as residents of Aqbat Jabr refugee camp. Israeli occupation forces frequently raid Palestinian houses almost daily across the West Bank on the pretext of searching for "wanted" Palestinians, triggering clashes with residents. These raids, which also take place 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 10,100 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centres, including 270 children and 95 female prisoners. This number includes 3,398 Palestinians placed under 'administrative detention', which 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. The 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 imprisonmen t of a loved one. Source: Palestine news & Information Agency - WAFA