Israeli occupation forces detain six Palestinians near Jenin

Date: 30 / 06 / 2009  Time:  11:50
Jenin – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation forces kidnapped on Tuesday morning six Palestinians during a raid on the village of Al-Araqa, west of Jenin in the northern West Bank.

Palestinian security sources identified the detainees as Sa’id Yahya, Mu’taz Hammad, Thaer Hammad, Muhammad Al-Qaysi, Wajdi Al-Qaysi, and Awad Nasr. They were taken to unidentified locations.

Eyewitnesses said that Israeli occupation soldiers ransacked several homes and forced residents to evacuate them for inspection. They also handed over warrants summoning some residents to nearby Salem military base for interrogation.

In a different regard, local residents of Al-Malih neighborhood in the Jordan Valley said Israeli occupation forces conducted large-scale maneuvers and drills in the Jordan valley at dawn.

Israeli occupation forces kidnapped Fat'h man in Qalqiliya, security man from Tulkarem

Date: 30 / 06 / 2009  Time:  10:47
Qalqiliya – Ma’an –

 Israeli occupation forces kidnapped a member of the local Fatah committee inthe northern West Bank city of Qalqiliya, Raed Jbara, after ransacking his home on Tuesday morning.

The Fatah committee in Qalqiliya released a statement condemning the apprehension of Jbara. “This crazy campaign by Israeli forces against Fatah supporters in the West Bank is continuation of Israeli policies aimed at subduing the Palestinian people and forcibly displacing them from their lands,” said Murad Shteiwi, spokesperson of Fatah committee in Qalqiliya.

Meanwhile, on Monday evening, Israeli forces apprehended a member of the Palestinian Preventive Security, 28-year-old Raafat Asa'sa from the village of Illar in Tulkarem district. The detention took place at At-Tanib checkpoint between Nablus and Tulkarem while Asa'sa was going back home after work.

Israeli occupation soldiers kidnap 16-year-old in Bil'in

Date: 30 / 06 / 2009  Time:  10:28
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation soldiers kidnapped a 16-year-old boy from his home in the West Bank village of Bil’in on Tuesday in the latest of a series of raids in a community known for its political activism.

According to Iyad Burnat of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall, Israeli soldiers entered the village on foot and took 16-year-old Suleiman Sif from his home to an unknown location.

Bil’in residents say the Israeli occupation army has invaded the village nearly every night for the last two weeks. Sif was the eighth person to be arrested in these raids.

Burnat alleged that the latest invasion was “part of a broad campaign over the last two weeks by the army to strike terror on the village of Bil'in.”

Burnat is one of the organizers of a weekly demonstration against Israel’s separation wall, which is being built in the village’s, cutting the residents off from nearly 60% of their land and allowing the construction of Israeli settlements.

Troops invade Bil'in, break into homes, kidnapped one child

Tuesday June 30, 2009 02:17 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

The Friends of Freedom and Justice in Bil;'n, reported that Israeli occupation soldiers invaded the village of Bil'in, near the Central West Bank City of Ramallah, broke into several homes and kidnapped one child.

The committee stated that the soldiers detained several residents inside their homes while violently searching the properties.

Members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) confronted the soldiers and the army declared the village a closed military zone, and threatened to arrest anyone who leaves his home.

Soldiers also topped several houses and took pictures of the area.

During the house raids, the soldiers kidnapped Hamouda Yassin, 16, and took him to an unknown destination.

Resident Haitham Khatib, a well known peace activist, videotaped the soldiers before they started pushing him and threatening to arrest him.

Two ISM activists intervened and managed to pull him out of the grasp of the soldiers.

The soldiers also broke into the home of Iyad Burnat, head of the Popular Committee Against the Wall, and threatened to inflict harm on his 9-year-old son if he does not show them a camera he was holding.

Several residents and two ISM activists intervened and blocked the soldiers path. The soldiers threatened to arrests the residents and the ISM activists but eventually gave up and left the house.

The invasion is part of similar attacks carried out by the army nearly every night in the last two weeks.

Bil'in village is actively involved in nonviolent resistance against the Israeli Annexation Wall. It's weekly protests with the participation of Israeli and international peace activists, and with its creative methods of nonviolent resistance are met by extreme violence by the army.

The village is facing the loss of 60% of its farmland due to the construction of the illegal Annexation Wall.