Jerusalme24 – Israeli forces Wednesday overnight detained 37 Palestinians in multiple raids across the West Bank, according to local and security sources.
They said that Israeli forces rounded up 13 Palestinians, including a father and his son, after breaking into and searching their houses in Silat al-Harithiya town, northwest of the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
In Nablus district, Israeli forces rounded up another in a raid in Beita town, southeast of the city.
Gun-toting soldiers showed up at a house in Tell village, southeast of the city, searched it, and ultimately detained a university student.
Sources added that two others were rounded up from the northern West Bank district of Nablus.
Still in the northern West Bank, the military vehicles stormed Qalqiliya city, where the soldiers detained another after ransacking his house.
In the southern West Bank, dozens of soldiers barged their way into Husan town, west of Bethlehem, where they detained 16 others and violently searched their houses, turning them upside down.
The soldiers subjected the detainees to harsh interrogation and threatened to revoke their work permits purportedly after some young men from the town hurled stones at settler vehicles in a nearby settler-only bypass road. The detainees were ultimately released.
Meanwhile, gun-toting soldiers detained four others from the southern West Bank district of Hebron.
One of the detainees was identified as a resident of the city, another as an attorney from Dura town and another as a resident of al-Fawwar 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.
