Occupation Forces Detain 16 Palestinians from West Bank

JENIN – Israeli Occupation forces Tuesday overnight conducted multiple raids across the West Bank and detained 16 Palestinians, said Palestine Prisoner’s Society (PPS) in a statement.

Israeli military vehicles raided Jenin refugee camp, where soldiers detained four Palestinians after ransacking their families’ houses.

Soldiers also raided al-Hashimiya village, west of Jenin, and detained a Palestinian.

Another military raid was carried out in Barta village, south of Jenin, where soldiers detained a Palestinian after breaking into a store. The detainee was identified as a resident of al-Hashimiya.

 Elsewhere in the northern West Bank, PPS confirmed that Israeli soldiers detained a Palestinian from Qalqiliya district.

In the central West Bank, Israeli forces detained two Palestinians from Ramallah and al-Bireh districts.

In Bethlehem district, a predawn military raid was conducted in Tuqu’ town, east of Bethlehem, resulting in the detention of four Palestinians, including at least a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old teenagers.

In Hebron district, PPS confirmed that three Palestinians, including a father and his son, were rounded up from the southern West Bank district.

Security sources identified one of the detainees as a resident of Sair town, east of Hebron. He was rounded up when he attempted to cross the Container checkpoint, northeast of Bethlehem city.

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.

Tensions over closure of Al-Aqsa gate focus of dailies

In Ramallah, rising tensions in the Old City of al-Quds over the closure of one of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound gates by Israeli military police dominated the front page headlines in Palestinian Arabic dailies.

Al-Quds reported that Israeli military police assaulted Palestinian worshippers and detained several worshippers after the latter broke Israeli-installed locks on the metal gate leading to Bab al-Rahmeh Gate inside the mosque compound.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported that Israeli occupation authorities resealed the metal gate leading to Bab al-Rahma Gate, on the eastern wall of al-Quds’s Old City.

They added that Israeli military police attacked Palestinian worshippers who protested the closure and attempted to remove the locks, and detained seven worshippers.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam added in this regard that President Mahmoud Abbas’ Office condemned Israeli measures pertaining to the mosque compound.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida also reported in this regard that Jordan delivered a protest note to Israel over these measures.

Also regarding the situation in al-Quds, al-Ayyam said that the United Nations voices concern over the seizure of a Palestinian home by Israeli settlers in occupied East al-Quds’s old city.

It reported Palestinian cartographer Khalil Tafakji warning against Israel’s plans to establish settler-colonialist projects in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Additionally, the dailies reported that Israeli forces opened fire towards Palestinians protesting at the eastern border of Jabaliya in the northern besieged Gaza Strip, injuring 17 with live ammunition.

The dailies said that Israeli bulldozers razed a large tract of Palestinian land belonging to the northern West Bank villages of Sanniriya and Masha, south of Qalqiliya city.

According to al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida, Israeli military bulldozers also razed a large tract of Palestinian land belonging to Burin village, south of Nablus.

Furthermore, the dailies said that Israeli forces delivered demolition orders for a number of Palestinian structures in Masafee Yatta, south of Hebron.

The dailies spotlighted Fatah Central Committee’s (FCT) meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The dailies said FCT discussed several political and internal issues, while al-Hayat al-Jadida added that the committee submitted recommendations] to President Abbas[against Israel’s recent decision to deduct multi million dollars from the Palestinian tax revenues.

The deduction amount to the stipends the Palestinian Authority pays to the families of Palestinians killed and imprisoned by Israel.

Wafa News Agency

R.S