IOF troops kidnap 200 workers, blast Palestinian homes

[ 28/07/2009 - 01:30 PM ]

JENIN, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) launched a large-scale search campaign in the village of Barta'a, Jenin district, at a late hour on Monday and rounded up more than 200 workers before leaving the village at dawn Tuesday. Local sources said that 300 IOF soldiers mounting 70 army vehicles encircled and stormed the village shortly before midnight Monday and broke into 200 houses at the pretext that the villagers were providing shelter for Palestinian laborers working in 1948 occupied Palestine. This is the first operation of its kind where Palestinian workers are chased in the West Bank whereas the soldiers used to detain those workers in the 1948 occupied land. Meanwhile, IOF troops at dawn Tuesday rounded up four Palestinian citizens in north and central West Bank, claiming they were wanted for interrogation including a Jerusalemite. In Nablus, citizens said that the soldiers threw explosive devices on the entrances of five houses in Balata refugee camp wounding a number of citizens and causing big material damage. Jewish settlers, for their part, threw stones at Palestinian vehicles near Yitzhar crossing point in Nablus district. Local sources in Al-Khalil city said that settlers also threw stones at the Ibrahimi Mosque and smashed a number of its windows. In Kufl Hares village, Salfit district, the IOF soldiers distributed notifications to citizens warning them against completing construction of their homes and warning others that their homes would be flattened. IOF soldiers had demolished three homes east of Breij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip on Monday during an incursion that was coupled with bulldozing cultivated lands.