JENIN, Israeli forces Saturday overnight and Friday evening detained three Palestinians from the West Bank, according to security sources.
They said that Israeli police rounded up two Palestinians from the vicinity of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
One of the detainees was identified as a resident of Kafr Dan village, northwest of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, and the other as a resident of al-Yamun town, west of the city.
Also in Jerusalem, police rounded up another after assaulting him in the vicinity of Bab al-Amoud.
On Friday afternoon, Israeli soldiers manning the permanently-staffed Qalandiya checkpoint stopped and detained a Fatah activist from Shufat refugee camp.
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 4,450 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers.
This number includes approximately 530 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: Palestine News & Info Agency