Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Israel transfers Abbas Zaki to Ofer Prison

2010-03-29 12:49:11

Ramallah-PalPress-The Israeli Occupation Forces transferred Member of Fateh’s Central Committee Abbas Zaki  to Ofer Prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The Occupation forces issued an arrest warrant against Zaki for four days, while the rest of the detainees were transferred to the same prison for four days imprisonment pending investigation.
Zaki is considered the first senior Fateh official arrested by the Israeli authorities since the signing of the peace agreement between the Israel and the PLO in 1993.
Observers are concerned that Israel arrests more Fateh officials to force it return to the negotiating table with out Palestinian or international  conditions and restrictions.

Revealing maltreatment in Israeli Jails

Monday, 29 March 2010 12:29 Added by PT Editor Omar Ghraieb


asraa_1_1_1_1_1_1_1_300_0_copyGaza, March 29, (Pal Telegraph) The Palestinian Center for Defending the prisoners, and according to one of the editors who were released from Israeli jails, revealed that one of the prisoners patients was blinded and lost the sense of sight, showing that the prisoner suffered initially from a simple disease in his eye like "Ophthalmology spring," while the Prison’s administration has refused to provide treatment to him, and rejected his submission to the prison doctor, which resulted, after months, his health deteriorated rapidly and that cost him the sense of sight.
The Palestinian Center for Defending the Prisoners warned that the continued adoption by the Israeli occupation authorities and the prison administration of the policy of the deliberate medical neglect against the prisoners in the prisons, considering that it as a “ deliberate and slow death”.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

PCHR weekly report 18/3 - 24/3/10: 54 Palestinians abducted, including 13 children

extracts from PCHR weekly report 18/3 - 24/3/10

 At least 800 Gazan prisoners in Israeli jails have been deprived of family visitation for more than two and a half years. 


In recognition of ICRC as the guardian of the Fourth Geneva Convention, PCHR calls upon the ICRC to increase its staff and activities in the OPT, including the facilitation of family visitations to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

IOF arrested 32 Palestinian civilians, including 9 children, two women and two journalists, in the West Bank, and 22 Palestinian workers, including 4 children, in the Gaza Strip 

Thursday, 18 March 2010

At approximately 01:30, IOF moved into Beita village, southeast of Nablus. They raided and searched a number of houses and arrested 3 Palestinian children:

1. Ahmed 'Aaref Hamayel, 16;
2. Laith Saleh Hamayel, 17; and
3. Maher Fawzi Hamayel, 17. 

At approximately 02:30, IOF moved into al-Fawar refugee camp, south of Hebron. They raided and searched a number of houses and arrested Waleed Fayez al-Wawi, 16.  

Friday, 19 March 2010

Also following the Friday Prayer on 19 March 2010, dozens of Palestinian civilians and international and Israel human rights defenders and peace activists organized a peaceful demonstration in the center of Budros village, west of Ramallah. They moved towards the Annexation Wall. Immediately, Israeli troops fired rubber-coated metal bullets, tear gas canisters and sound bombs, and beat a number of demonstrators. As a result, Mohammed Mansour Yousef, 20, was wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet to the left hand. A number of other demonstrators sustained bruises or suffered from tear gas inhalation. IOF also detained 3 Palestinian civilians, including two journalists, for more than 3 hours: Sa'adat Sha'ban 'Awadh, 27; Haroun Yousef 'Amaira, 26, a reporter for Palestine Television; and Najeeballah Hassan Sharwana, 21, a cameraman for Palestine Television.  

Also following the Friday Prayer on 19 March 2010, dozens of Palestinian civilians organized a demonstration near Qalandiya checkpoint, south of Ramallah. They set fire to tires and threw stones and empty bottles at Israeli troops stationed at the checkpoint. Immediately, Israeli troops fired at the demonstrators. As a result, 3 Palestinian civilians, including a child, were wounded:

1. Baraa' Mohammed al-Qadhi, 17, wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet to the chest;
2. Ra'ed Zuhair 'Eissa, 32, wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet to the left leg; and
3. Farhan Sa'ada, 18, wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet to the back.

Israeli troops also arrested Mohammed 'Ali 'Ali, 16.  


Saturday, 20 March 2010 

At approximately 03:30, IOF moved into Qalandiya refugee camp, south of Ramallah. They raided and searched a number of houses and arrested Mo'tassem Ra'ed Mezher, 17. 

At approximately 14:30, an Israeli infantry unit moved nearly 900 meters into the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli troops chased a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting bricks and aggregate from the debris of the destroyed industrial zone. A number of workers were able to flee, but Israeli troops arrested 17 others, including 4 children, and confiscated 4 animal carts. At approximately 02:00 on the following day, IOF released 15 detainees, but kept the other two in custody: Mohammed Sayed al-Basyouni, 22; and 'Ali Jamal Kharawat, 23.  

Tuesday, 23 March 2010 

At approximately 01:30, IOF moved into al-Fara'a refugee camp, south of Tubas. They raided and searched a number of houses and arrested Mohammed Jamal Tayeh, 21.  

Wednesday, 24 March 2010 

· At approximately 01:30, IOF moved into Dura village, southwest of Hebron. They raided and searched a number of houses and arrested Bassel Faisal al-Darabee', 15.

· At approximately 07:00, an Israeli infantry unit moved nearly 800 meters into the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli troops chased a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials, and arrested 5 of them, including: Mahmoud Mohammed Ma'rouf, 17; Shadi 'Ammar Ma'rouf, 17; and Mustafa Ghanem, 43. 

Who Is the Palestinian Released from Guantánamo in Spain?

4.3.10
Walid Hijazi, photographed in Gaza before his capture and 
imprisonment in GuantanamoLast Wednesday, when the Spanish government announced that the first of up to five cleared Guantánamo prisoners to be offered new homes in Spain had arrived in the country (and three other men were given new homes in Albania), I noted that, although the Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told reporters that the man is Palestinian, he refused to give his name, citing privacy concerns.
This was not unusual. Although the identities of two Algerians released in France last year, and two Uzbeks released in Ireland had been publicly revealed (as, by accident, had the identities of two Syrians released in Portugal), the trend was towards anonymity, to allow these men to attempt to build new lives in peace, without the stigma attached to anyone who has been held in Guantánamo. Anonymity was preserved with the unidentified man released in Belgium in October, the Palestinian released in Hungary in December, the three unidentified men released in Slovakia in January, and the Uzbek released in Switzerland, also this January.
However, as the Spanish journalist Carlos Sardiña Galache explained to me last week, “All the Spanish press is covering the news of the Guantánamo prisoner released here.” He added that a month ago, El Mundo — the country’s second biggest newspaper — claimed that the ex-prisoner in question was Walid Hijazi (identified in Guantánamo as Assem Matruq al-Aasmi), who was born in 1980 and is originally from the town of Khan Younis in Gaza.
In a rather snide article, originally entitled, as Galache explained, “El ‘regalito’ que nos llega de Guantánamo” (“The ‘present’ that comes from Guantánamo”), El Mundo attempted to cast doubts on Hijazi’s suitability for resettlement, hinting at connections to al-Qaeda, which, presumably, had been lifted from the untested allegations that are publicly available on the Pentagon’s website, or on the New York Times’ Guantánamo Docket, where the Pentagon documents on each prisoner are made available, but without any analysis.
Last Wednesday, the Associated Press confirmed that the released Palestinian was Walid Hijazi. A relative explained that the family “received a message Tuesday saying Hijazi had been released and sent to Spain.” The relative added that “Hijazi left Gaza in 2000, ostensibly for a pilgrimage to Mecca and that the family lost touch with him after that. In 2003, the family was informed by the Red Cross that he was in Guantánamo, and since then, it had received messages from him every three or four months.”
In light of these revelations, I thought it might be useful to place what is known about Hijazi in context. As I explained in an article last year, Hijazi “was typical of many of the Guantánamo prisoners.” Recruited to travel to Afghanistan to assist the Taliban at a mosque in Saudi Arabia, when he may, indeed, have been preyed on by recruiters during a pilgrimage to Mecca, “he traveled to Afghanistan on a well-worn route via Iran, and arrived at al-Farouq (the main training camp for Arabs, established by the Afghan warlord Abdul Rasul Sayyaf in the early 1990s, but associated with Osama bin Laden in the years before 9/11) just two weeks before the 9/11 attacks.”
As I also explained:
In interrogation, [Hijazi] explained that he had never fired a weapon except in training, and that when al-Farouq closed, he was sent to Khost, near the Pakistani border, where he stayed in a tent for two months, along with “Taliban fighters coming back and forth from the front lines and people like him waiting for further instructions.” He was then injured in an accident involving a hand grenade, taken to a clinic in Khost, and smuggled across the border to a hospital in Pakistan, where a pin was placed in his leg, and he was eventually seized by the Pakistani authorities.
Those seeking connections with al-Qaeda will undoubtedly pick up on the fact that al-Farouq was associated with bin Laden, but the truth is that thousands of recruits passed through the camp, and few ever met al-Qaeda’s leader. The most that the majority of recruits could expect would be to see him from afar during the occasions when he stopped by to deliver a speech. In addition, the majority of those who attended al-Farouq either returned home after training, joined units fighting with the Taliban against the Northern Alliance, in an inter-Muslim civil war that began long before the 9/11 attacks and had nothing to do with al-Qaeda or international terrorism, or took up supportive roles as cooks or guards.
As a new recruit, who spent only two weeks at the camp, Hijazi would not even have advanced beyond the most cursory training, as he explained, and the fact that he was then evacuated via Khost instead of being shepherded like other recruits to the Tora Bora mountains, where a showdown between the remnants of al-Qaeda and the Taliban and the US military’s Afghan allies took place in November and December 2001 indicates that he was as close to a nobody as it was possible to be, having spent just a fortnight at a training camp.
Almost certainly sold to US forces by opportunistic Pakistanis who picked him up from the hospital in Pakistan (and no doubt received a bounty payment as a result), Hijazi would barely have made the grade as a prisoner of war protected by the Geneva Conventions (having never engaged US forces in combat), and his long imprisonment in Guantánamo as an “enemy combatant” — essentially a “terror suspect” without rights — was therefore as ludicrous and as unjust as it was for the majority of the men held at Guantánamo who had no connection to terrorism.
The Spanish people should have no doubt that this young man, who was just out of his teens when seized, poses no threat whatsoever. The Obama administration — which is demonstrably cautious in releasing prisoners — would not have freed him otherwise, and instead of trying to vilify him, it would make more sense for the Spanish media to leave him alone to rebuild his life, and to recall that not only was he subjected to a peculiarly aberrant detention program that no civilized country should tolerate, but also that he is now in a strange land, with no relatives around to help him recover, and is probably struggling to come to terms with the knowledge that Guantánamo may well haunt him for the rest of his life.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Parents call for release of detained son diagnosed with cancer

Gaza – Ma'an – Parents of a Palestinian detainee diagnosed with spinal cancer have called on international human rights groups on Tuesday to secure his release.

Raed Drabiyeh, 37, from Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza, was sentenced to life and has served 14 years of his term, the Detainees' Studies Center said. Drabiyeh's parents, whose son was diagnosed with cancer in 2005, said he has undergone six spinal surgeries and is now in a wheelchair. The center described Drabiyeh's case as serious and critical.

The center called for Drabiyeh's immediate release on medical grounds "before he dies in an Israeli prison hospital," where, they say, he will not receive adequate treatment. His parents further asked to be afforded their right to prison visits "so we can see our son at least for one last time." As Gaza residents, the Israeli Prison Service has prohibited them from family visitation rights.

Ra'fat Hamoudnah, the center's director, further called for immediate intervention into the cases of detainees in poor health in Israeli custody, "where they will never be provided with the needed treatment."

UPDATED URGENT APPEAL: Mass arrest of children in Jalazun Refugee Camp

March 16, 2010


UA - 1/10 : URGENT APPEAL : DCI-Palestine

Incident  Night time raid, arrest, ill-treatment of at least 17 children
Location  Al Jalazun Refugee Camp (Ramallah), West Bank
Date of incident  11 February 2010
Accusations  Throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers
Place of detention  Ofer Prison, West Bank
UPDATE: 16 March 2010 (see table below)

10 May 2010 Court appearance
11 March 2010 Court appearance
8 March 2010 Children transferred to Rimonim Prison inside Israel
28 February 2010 Court appearance
24 February 2010 Court appearance

Summary of incident

On 11 February 2010, at least 17 children were arrested from the Al Jalazun Refugee Camp in the middle of the night by Israeli soldiers. The children and their families report the use of excessive force during the arrests, and ill-treatment and coercion during subsequent interrogations. The children were interrogated in the absence of a lawyer and family member, and the interrogations were not video recorded. The children are accused of throwing stones, and in some cases, Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers in 2009 and 2010. The children are being prosecuted in military courts.

Background information

At around 2:00am, on Thursday, 11 February 2010, Israeli soldiers entered Al Jalazun Refugee Camp near Ramallah, in the West Bank and went from house to house and started rounding up, beating and harassing residents of the Camp. According to information obtained by DCI-Palestine, at least 17 children were arrested and taken away. Reports indicate that the children were first taken to the Israeli settlement of Beit El, and then to Binyamin Police Station and Ofer Interrogation and Detention Centre, near Ramallah.

DCI-Palestine has so far obtained five affidavits from some of the children detained and their parents. The evidence indicates that excessive force was used during the raid and illegal techniques used during the subsequent interrogations.

Ahmad G. (14 years)

A DCI-Palestine lawyer met 14-year-old Ahmad G. on 18 February 2010, in Ofer Prison. Ahmad told the lawyer what happened after Israeli soldiers entered the family home at 2:00am: ‘I put on my clothes and asked the soldier to allow me to say goodbye to my father and mother but he refused. He grabbed me by the back and took me out of the house. We walked for several metres away from the house. Then he blindfolded me, tied my hands behind my back, and kept me in the street in the cold weather for about an hour.’

About an hour later Ahmad, and other children, were ordered to walk to the nearby Israeli settlement of Beit El, where they were asked some general questions about their health and made to sign some papers. Ahmad was then placed in a military vehicle and he believes he was taken to Binyamin Police Station for interrogation. ‘Then a soldier took me to a room and removed the blindfold. I found myself standing before three interrogators. Suddenly, one of them slapped me on the neck and the other two pushed him away from me and took him out of the room.’ One of the interrogators then told Ahmad: ‘You’re not alone here, we arrested another 30 children and brought them here.’ The interrogator then asked Ahmad whether he threw stones, Molotov cocktails or homemade grenades at Israeli soldiers and then told Ahmad that others had confessed against him. Ahmad denied the accusations. One of the interrogators then blindfolded Ahmad and ordered that he be taken to another interrogator, saying: ‘this interrogator will beat you, so it’s better for you to tell him everything.’ Ahmad at first denied the accusations but then ‘someone behind me hit me on the head. I became scared and told him what he wanted to hear though I did not throw any stones, Molotov cocktails or explosive materials. I signed a paper and a soldier took me out of the room.’

It was daylight when Ahmad’s interrogation ended and he was given a sandwich by a soldier before being tied and blindfolded and left in a room. Ahmad asked to use the bathroom but was refused. Sometime later, Ahmad was placed in a vehicle with other detainees and soldiers. ‘The soldiers started insulting me and the other detainees by saying “your mother’s a c**t, son of a whore”. They kept hitting us all over our bodies.’ Ahmad was taken to Ofer Prison where he was ordered to strip: ‘I became very upset, especially when I saw a female soldier standing in the yard and looking at me. I took off my clothes very quickly and felt a great embarrassment. The soldier gave me the brown prison uniform and photographed me.’ Ahmad was then detained in a section with children and adults aged between 15 and 50 years.

Ahmad has appeared twice in Ofer Military Court and has been charged with throwing stones and Molotov cocktails in February 2009 and 2010, and possession of a knife in June 2009. His next court appearance is on 1 March 2010.

Khaled D. (15 years)

DCI-Palestine met Khaled’s mother, Maha, on 17 February 2010. Maha recalled waking to the sound of explosions in the camp at around 2:30am, on 11 February 2010. A short time later, around 10 heavily armed Israeli soldiers stormed the family house. Maha recalls what happened next: ‘After pushing my husband and aiming their weapons at us, a soldier called out my son Mesbah (22 years) who was standing with Khaled, my daughters and me. Once Mesbah approached the soldier who called him, two other soldiers attacked him and started beating him on the head. They tied his hands behind his back and forced him to kneel down in the kitchen … The soldiers saw Khaled and about three of them attacked him in a corner in the living room in front of me and my daughters. They started beating him. They beat him on the head and legs … also one of them started slamming his head against the wall.’ Khaled was then tied and blindfolded and taken out of the house. Maha was not told why her son was being arrested or where he was being taken. ‘Before going away, I asked the soldiers to say goodbye to my son but they refused. They kept dragging him away and closed the door of the house behind.’

Khaled has appeared twice in Ofer Military Court but has not yet been charged with an offence. His next court appearance is on 24 February 2010. He is currently being detained in Ofer Prison.

Arrested children

DCI-Palestine has obtained information regarding the arrest of 17 children, but we can not yet confirm whether more children were arrested from the Al Jalazun Camp on 11 February 2010.
UPDATED: 13 March 2010
#  Name Age   Details 
1 Ahmad G  14  11 Feb: Arrested – detained Ofer Prison
 16 Feb: First court appearance
 21 Feb: Second court appearance
 1 Mar: Third court appearance – bail denied – ordered to be detained
              until end of proceedings - charged with:
             • throwing stones
             • preparing and throwing Molotov cocktails in Feb 2009 and Feb
               2010
             • possessing a knife in June 2009.
 8 Mar: Transferred to Rimonim Prison, inside Israel.
 15 Apr: Next court appearance
2 Mohammad  M  15  11 Feb: Arrested – detained Ofer Prison
 16 Feb: First court appearance
 21 Feb: Second court appearance
 24 Feb: Third court appearance – case adjourned to 28 Feb for
                preparation of charge sheet
 28 Feb: Charge sheet prepared. Charged with:
                • Throwing stones
                • Preparing and throwing Molotov cocktails early 2010
                • Throwing pipe bombs
                • Membership of a banned organisation
 8 Mar: Transferred to Rimonim Prison, inside Israel
 Feb/Mar: Transferred to Rimonim Prison, inside Israel
 11 Mar: Fourth court appearance – case adjourned
 10 May: Next court appearance

3 Malek N  15  11 Feb: Arrested – detained Ofer Prison
 16 Feb: First court appearance
 21 Feb: Second court appearance
 24 Feb: Third court appearance – adjourned to prepare charge sheet.
 28 Feb: Charge sheet prepared. Charged with:
                • Throwing stones
                • Preparing and throwing Molotov cocktails since Sep 09
                • Membership of a banned organisation

  8 Mar: Transferred to Rimonim Prison, inside Israel
 11 Mar: Fourth court appearance – case adjourned
 10 May: Next court appearance
4 Mohammad N  17  Detained for two hours and then released.
5 Ahmad N  15  11 Feb: Arrested – detained Ofer Prison
 16 Feb: First court appearance
 21 Feb: Second court appearance
 24 Feb: Third court appearance – case adjourned for preparation of
                charge sheet
 28 Feb: Charge sheet prepared – charged with:
                • Throwing stones
                • Preparing/throwing Molotov cocktails (over 10 times) since 09
                • Membership of a banned organisation
                • Preparing and throwing two pipe bombs
  8 Mar: Transferred to Rimonim Prison, inside Israel.
 11 Mar: Fourth court appearance – case adjourned.
 10 May: Next court appearance
6 Khaled D  15  11 Feb: Arrested – detained Ofer Prison
 16 Feb: First court appearance
 21 Feb: Second court appearance
 24 Feb: Third court appearance – bail denied – ordered to be detained
                until end of proceedings - charged with:
                • Throwing stones
                • Molotov cocktails
                • Planting an explosive device
  8 Mar: Transferred to Rimonim Prison, inside Israel
 15 Mar: Fourth court appearance
 10 May: Next court appearance
7 Ahmad S  16  11 Feb: Arrested – detained Ofer Prison
 16 Feb: First court appearance
 21 Feb: Second court appearance
 24 Feb: Third court appearance – adjourned to 28 Feb.
 28 Feb: Bail denied – ordered to be detained until end of proceedings
                - charged with:
                • Throwing stones
                • Molotov cocktails
                • Planting an explosive device

 11 Mar: Fourth court appearance – case adjourned.
 10 May: Next court appearance
8 Malek A  14  11 Feb: Arrested – detained Ofer Prison
 16 Feb: First court appearance
 21 Feb: Second court appearance – Detained until end of
                 proceedings - charged with:
               • Throwing stones (2009 and Jan 2010)
 8 Mar: Transferred to Rimonim Prison, inside Israel
 11 Mar: Third court appearance
 25 Mar: Next court appearance
9 Naser S  15  11 Feb: Arrested – detained Ofer Prison
 16 Feb: First court appearance
 21 Feb: Second court appearance
 24 Feb: Third court appearance – adjourned for preparation of charge
                sheet
 28 Feb: Fourth court appearance – charged with:
               • Throwing stones
               • Preparing/throwing Molotov cocktails many times since 2009
               • Membership of a banned organisation

 8 Mar: Transferred to Rimonim Prison, inside Israel.
 11 Mar: Fourth court appearance – case adjourned.
 10 May: Next court appearance

10 Mohammad S  16  11 Feb: Arrested
11 Zaid Z  16  11 Feb: Arrested
12 Yasin N  17  11 Feb: Arrested
13 Nidal H  15  11 Feb: Arrested
 15 Feb: Released
14 Amer A  17  11 Feb: Arrested
15 Mahmoud S  16  11 Feb: Arrested
16 Moayad R  16  11 Feb: Arrested
17 Mohanad E  16  11 Feb: Arrested
General background

The mass arrest and ill-treatment of at least 17 children from the Al Jalazun Refugee Camp, on 11 February 2010, is not an isolated incident. On 29 September 2009, DCI-Palestine submitted 11 cases to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture arising out of three incidents where the Israeli army entered Palestinian villages in the middle of the night and rounded up children en masse, accusing them of throwing stones at the Wall and settler by-pass roads in the West Bank.

The first incident occurred in the village of Tura al Gharbiya, near Jenin, in the early hours of 19 January 2009. Units from the Israeli army took children as young as 12 years old from their homes and interrogated them in the village youth centre before transferring them to an interrogation and detention centre. The children report being beaten and threatened into providing confessions stating that they threw stones at the Wall.

The second incident occurred on 26 March 2009, in the village of Haris, south of Nablus. As many as 90 children were rounded up by units from the Israeli army and subjected to beatings and threats. The children were accused of throwing stones at Route 505, a nearby road used by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The case was reported in The Independent newspaper on 9 June, which referred to a 'fanatical atmosphere' among soldiers during the incident in which 'curses, humiliation, pulling hair and ears, kicks and slaps' were the norm.

The third incident occurred in the village of Azzun, near Qalqiliya, in the early hours of 14 July 2009. Boys as young as 15 report receiving severe beatings during intense interrogation sessions that occurred in a number of locations. One boy recalls that during his interrogation 'he asked me how many times I threw stones. I told him I never threw stones. He hit me with his hands and kicked me. After that he stepped heavily on my leg and said 'you son of a whore, I'll break your head if you don't confess.' As a result, the boy became very scared and 'confessed to throwing stones just to get rid of the pain he was causing me.' The same boy then signed a confession written in Hebrew, a language he does not understand.

These cases are just some examples of what appears to be the systematic and institutionalised ill-treatment of approximately 700 Palestinian children by Israeli authorities each year in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The situation has not improved since the UN Committee Against Torture published its Concluding Observations regarding torture and ill-treatment in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory in May 2009.

More recently, B’Tselem documented four incidents in Silwan, East Jerusalem, in which children were arrested by police officers and Israel Security Agency agents accompanied by armed border policemen. The children, aged 12 to 15, were reportedly taken from their beds in the middle of the night, handcuffed, and brought to interrogation at the police station in the Russian Compound, in West Jerusalem.

There are currently 318 Palestinian children being held in Israeli detention facilities. For further information please see DCI-Palestine's monthly Detention Bulletin.

Recommended action

Please send Urgent Appeals urging:
  1. An immediate end to the practice of arresting Palestinian children in the middle of the night;
  2. That all credible allegations of ill-treatment and torture be thoroughly and impartially investigated and those found responsible for such abuse be brought to justice;
  3. Ensure that no child is interrogated in the absence of a lawyer of their choice and family member;
  4. Ensure that all interrogations of children are video recorded; and
  5. Ensure that all evidence suspected of being obtained through ill-treatment or torture be rejected by the military courts.
Appeals to:
  • Your elected representatives
  • The Israeli embassy in your country
  • The Israeli authorities in Israel:

    Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister, Office of the Prime Minister, 3, Kaplan Street, PO Box 187, Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem, Israel, Fax: +972- 2-651 2631, Email: pm_eng@pmo.gov.il  

    Mr. Menachem Mazuz, Attorney General, Fax: + 972 2 627 4481; + 972 2 628 5438; +972 2 530 3367

    Brigadier General Avihai Mandelblit, Military Judge Advocate General, 6 David Elazar Street, Hakirya, Tel Aviv, Israel, Fax: +972 3 608 0366, +972 3 569 4526, Email: arbel@mail.idf.il, avimn@idf.gov.il

    Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations Office and Specialized Institutions in Geneva, Avenue de la Paix 1-3, 1202 Geneva, Fax: +41 22 716 05 55, Email: mission-israel@geneva.mfa.gov.il  
Please inform DCI-Palestine if you receive any response to your appeals and quote the UA number at the top of this document – ria@dci-pal.org
Links

Israeli Troops Release A Community Organizer After Weeklong Detention And Torture

Tuesday March 23, 2010 17:57 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

The Israeli military released on Tuesday at dawn Omer Aladdin from the village of Al Ma’ssara, near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Protests in the West Bank on Friday – file Photo by WAFA
Protests in the West Bank on Friday – file Photo by WAFA
Aladdin was detained by Israeli troops last week while passing thought a military checkpoint near Bethlehem city.

After hours of his release Aladdin had to be taken to hospital after suffering health complications. He was tortured by the military during weeklong detention. Doctors at a Hospital in the southern West Bank city of Hebron diagnosed Omer Aladdin with cuts and broses due torture by the military. Aladdin was admitted to the hospital for 24 hours.

Aladdin participates in the weekly anti wall nonviolent protests at the village of Al Ma’sara every Friday. For three years now, Al Ma’sara villagers stage a weekly anti wall protest every Friday.

“ I was on my way to Ramallah city with my classmates to watch a play, soldiers
stopped our buss and started to search it. During the search a soldier used very rude words to talk to my classmate, I protested and told him this is not the way to talk to a lady. Later troops took my ID card and forced me out of the bus. They took me aside and started beating me using rifle-butts and batons". Aladdin told IMEMC over the phone.

He added “soldiers refused to allow me medical care after they detained me at the checkpoint. Later they allowed me to see the army doctor, he refused to give me any medical care and told me that I have no health issues, and ignored the fact that I was bleeding from my leg and face.”

Aladdin was detained at a military interrogation center in Jerusalem, he talked about his experience there.

“I was interrogated for six days I, they beat me up, they refused to allow me to wash or change my cloths. It was a very bad experience, I was covered with blood for days.

Aladdin, who suffered an injury to his leg from the beating, was questioned over suspicions of participating in demonstrations and assaulting the soldier who detained him.

Dozens of eyewitnesses who were at the checkpoint at the time of his detention can attest to the fact that it was, in fact, Aladdin who was assaulted. He was finally brought in front of a judge for the first time this Sunday, which was also his first opportunity to see a lawyer, and informed him of the torture.

Aladdin was previously detained by the Israeli army from 2005 to 2009; the military accused him of organizing protests at his University in Hebron city, in the southern part of the West Bank.

Following a short hearing this Sunday, the military judge harshly criticized the prosecution and the police, saying there is no evidence connecting Aladdin to any violence, and ordered his release.

This is the second time this month that an organizer from Al Ma’sara is detained and assaulted at the same checkpoint, known to locals as the “container checkpoint” after Border Police officers recognized them from demonstrations.

On March 2nd, the mayor of Al Ma’sara, Mahmoud Zawahre was detained and beaten on his way to a meeting in Ramallah city.

Aladdin and his lawyers are now considering the option of filing both criminal and civil suites in an attempt to challenge the impunity and in accountability of members of the Israeli armed forces.

Popular committee says organizer tortured

Bethlehem - Ma'an - An organizer of popular resistance activities in the village of Al-Ma'asara alleged he was tortured while in Israeli prison, a report from the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee said on Monday.

According to a statement from the committee, Al-Ma'asara organizer Omar Ala Ad-Din was detained as he passed through the Container checkpoint, an internal West Bank military post, on 14 March.

Ala Ad-Din said he was beaten repeatedly, first by the soldiers who detained him and later by intelligence officers in the Russian Compound, an Israeli investigation center in Jerusalem. He said he was kicked, punched and shocked several times with a taser.

He said he was questioned about participation in the protests against the construction of Israel's separation wall, and accused of assaulting the soldier who arrested him.

The committee contacted several eyewitnesses in the car with Ala Ad-Din, the statement said, who alleged that no such assault occurred.

Ala Ad-Din was brought before a judge on Sunday, at which point he informed a lawyer that he had been tortured while in detention, the committee said, noting he is considering filing both criminal and civil suites, " to challenge the impunity and unaccountability of members of the Israeli armed forces."

According to the report, during the Sunday hearing, an Israeli judge "harshly criticized the prosecution and police, saying there is no evidence connecting Ala Ad-Din to any violence and ordered his unconditioned release on bail."

Representatives of the Israeli prison service, border police, and national police were not immediately available for comment.

Prisoner society condemns Ban Ki-moon meet with Shalit family

Gaza - Ma'an - The Wa'ed Society for Detainees denounced on Tuesday UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's meeting with the family of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, describing the move as "shameful."

The society said during the UN chief's visit to the Gaza Strip, "he did not care to listen to the suffering of the relatives of detainees who lined up to meet him and talk to him," a statement said.

The statement added that the society was dismayed when Ban Ki-moon met with Shalit's family to discuss human rights, but completely "ignored the plight of Palestinian prisoners." The society pointed to numerous children who gathered during his visit, holding photos of detained parents.

"The Secretary-General described Shalit's capture and detention by Palestinian resistance factions as 'unacceptable' but he remained silent regarding the cases of thousands of Palestinian detainees," the statement read.

To society called on the global community to listen to Noam Shalit's speech before the UN Human Rights Council to remember the suffering of Palestinian prisoners, and "the hundreds who are kept in jail without charge or trial, under administrative detention."

Hamas dismayed at ignoring Palestinian prisoners

[ 23/03/2010 - 09:32 AM ]


DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- Hamas said that it was absolutely perturbed at the UN human rights council that allowed Naom Shalit, father of the captured soldier Gilad Shalit, to take the stand and address the council.
A responsible source in the Hamas movement on Monday said in a press release that the UN council did not allow a similar opportunity for relatives of thousands of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli occupation jails.
He described such a step as a double standard policy in dealing with the Palestine cause and comes in violation of the human rights principles championed by that council.
The source asked the council to allow the same opportunity for representatives of 11,000 Palestinian prisoners to address the council and the world community at the UN podium in order to be fair to them and their relatives.
He urged all concerned organizations to demand the release of those Palestinian captives and to prosecute the Israeli war criminals for their inhuman practices and crimes committed against the Palestinian prisoners and Palestinian people in general.

Israeli forces release Jerusalemite

Jerusalem – Ma’an – Israeli forces released a Jerusalemite from prison on Monday, after he served seven years in detention centers on "security charges," the Prisoners Center said.

Amer Basem Yousef Nasser Ad-Din, 28, from Jerusalem's Wadi Joz neighborhood was detained on 6 July 2003. He was taken from a flying checkpoint set up in Silwan and held at the Russian Compound for several days of questioning and was later convicted.

Israeli court extends solitary confinement of Barghouthi

[ 22/03/2010 - 07:06 PM ]


RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Israeli central court decided on Monday to extend the solitary confinement of Abdullah Al-Barghouthi, a Hamas commander, for six more months.
Human rights groups had demanded an end to the isolation of Barghouthi that had been in effect for six consecutive years. Barghouthi is serving 67 life sentences.
Meanwhile, the Israeli prisons authority on Sunday moved Wasfi Qabaha, a former minister, from the Negev desert prison to Megiddo prison.
Fuad Al-Khafsh, the head of Ahrar center for prisoners' studies, said that Qabaha is the oldest serving administrative detainee, recalling that that he was held in administrative custody, without trial or charge, since 25/7/2007.
Khafsh noted that Qabaha, a holder of MA degree in engineering from the USA, was repeatedly held in administrative detention that is contrary to international laws and conventions.
He noted that the former minister suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure, adding that he was rushed to prison hospital a week ago due to worsening health condition and redness in his skin.
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation forces launched a campaign of arrests in Kharsa village, southwest of Dura town in Al-Khalil district, on Sunday night that ended with rounding up nine citizens.
Village sources said that the nine civilians were taken to an unknown location for interrogation after blindfolding and shackling them.

Israel wants 1,500 shekels for 15-year-old boy

Hebron – Ma'an – Israeli authorities have asked the family of a detained 15-year-old boy to pay 1,500 Israeli shekels (about 400 US dollars) to release the minor, a prisoners solidarity group reported on Saturday.

The boy, Ratib Abu Meizar, was detained on Friday evening in the Zahid neighborhood of central of Hebron in the southern West Bank. He was taken to a detention center housed in the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba.

Amjad Najjar, director of the Palestinian Prisoners Society in Hebron, told Ma'an that Abu Meizar's detention "is a continuation of Israel's policy of blackmailing the families of detained Palestinian children, a policy which has become official."

Najjar urged international children's rights groups to exert pressure on the government of Switzerland and other signatories to the Fourth Geneva Convention to encourage Israel to abide by its responsibilities. Israel is also a signatory to the convention, which extends protection to children in conflict zones.

A spokesman for Israeli police in the West Bank did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Barghouthi celebrates PhD conferral in prison

Gaza – Ma'an – Palestinian detainees at the Hadarim detention center celebrated the conferral of a Doctorate degree on Marwan Barghouthi from Cairo University on Friday, the Prisoners Society reported.

Al-Barghouthi, a member of the Fatah revolutionary council and central figure in the Prisoners Document that proposed a unity deal between Fatah and Hamas in 2007, was sentenced to a life term for involvement in resistance to the Israeli occupation in 2002.

During his incarceration Al-Barghouthi studied political science at the Cairo University, Prisoners Society head Ra’fat Hamdunah said.

The prisoners said the conferral of a PhD on Barghouthi is a victory for Palestinians and a triumph over the occupation, Hamdunah reported.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

ISM volunteer shot, hospitalized; ISM co-founder arrested

Posted on the ISM webpage: March 20, 2010

19 March 2010
X-ray image of the large rubber bullet lodged into Ellen Stark's 
arm. 19 March 2010, An Nabi Saleh
X-ray image of the large rubber bullet lodged into Ellen Stark's arm. 
19 March 2010, An Nabi Saleh
Friday’s demonstration in An Nabi Saleh saw an increase in violence and collective punishment from the Israeli military, as twenty-five demonstrators were injured, windows of cars and homes were intentionally shattered, and three were arrested. ISM volunteer Ellen Stark was shot at point blank range (4 meters) with a rubber bullet as she stood with medics, Popular Committee members and other internationals. ISM co-founder Huwaida Arraf was arrested while negotiating with the IOF to allow Ellen through the military line to get to the hospital. According to Ellen, “we were standing on Palestinian land, in support of the village who’s land has been confiscated but we weren’t even demonstrating yet. We were standing with medics who were also shot with tear gas.”
Ellen’s had to undergo surgery to remove the bullet, which was lodged between her ulna and radius of her right arm. Her wrist is broken as a result of the bullet impact. As of 12:00 pm Saturday, Palestine time, Huwaida has yet to be located in the Israeli prison system.
Over an hour before the demonstration began, soldiers took position on a hilltop near the house of an An Nabi Saleh Popular Committee member signaling to activists that the peaceful march would likely be cut short yet again by soldiers using crowd dispersal tactics such as tear gas and sound grenades. The demonstration was able to take it’s usual course, as IOF soldiers blocked the path of the activists, and began to surround them from multiple sides. Only ten minutes into the demonstration, the army began firing tear gas and rubber bullets at a small group of international, Israeli, and Palestinian activists only four meters away, injuring International Solidarity Movement volunteer, Ellen Stark. Omar Saleh Tamimi, Amjad Abed Alkhafeez Tamimi and International Solidarity Movement co-founder Huwaida Arraf were arrested as they asked Israeli military personnel to stop firing tear gas canisters and rubber bullets at Stark as she was helped to safety.
Israeli forces then entered the center of the village where they continued firing tear gas, sound grenades, and rubber bullets for several hours. Over twenty five were injured, including an 84-year old woman who suffered from tear gas inhalation after tear gas canisters were fired into her house, and three others who were shot with rubber bullets, including an Israeli activist; four remain hospitalized.
Later in the demonstration, soldiers began shooting rubber bullets through the windows of residents’ houses, shops, and cars, shattering their homes and livelihoods, as they used collective punishment to attempt to suppress these weekly demonstrations.
These incidents comes as the Israeli government intensifies repression of the unarmed, popular resistance to the occupation of the West Bank, illegal land confiscation by settlements such as Halamish, and construction of the illegal apartheid wall. Two weeks ago in An Nabi Saleh, 14-year-old Ehab Fadel Beir Ghouthi’s skull was fractured as a rubber bullet shot by the Israeli military, leaving him in a coma for several days. He remains in a hospital in Ramallah where he is recovering; his condition is stable and improving.
Today and every Friday since January, around 100 un-armed demonstrators leave the village center in an attempt to reach a spring which boarders land confiscated by Jewish settlers. The District Coordination Office has confirmed the spring is on Palestinian land but nearly a kilometer before reaching the spring, the demonstration is routinely met with dozens of soldiers armed with M16 assault rifles, tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades.
The Halamish Settlement has confiscated nearly half of An Nabi Saleh’s orchard and farmland since it was founded in 1977. According to village residents the settlement confiscates more land each year without consent or compensation of the landowners.
Updated on March 21, 2010

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Gaza gov't: 250 detained during Al-Aqsa protests

Gaza – Ma'an – Israeli forces detained over 250 Palestinians during last week's clashes in East Jerusalem, the de facto Ministry of Detainees and Ex-detainees Affairs reported Saturday.

The ministry said more than 30 minors under the age of 14 were detained, as well as a number of journalists who were covering the protests, which came after Israel finished renovating the Hurva synagogue in the Old City's Jewish quarter. The move was seen as provocative because Palestinians do not have similar rights over their own holy sites.

In a statement, the Hamas-run ministry reported that most of the Palestinian detainees were from the Al-Isawiya, Wadi Al-Joz, and As-Suwwana neighborhoods of Jerusalem. These areas witnessed fierce confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinian youths.

Detainees were taken to the Russian Compound detention center in Jerusalem, the ministry said. Some were released on bail while several others remained in custody. Released detainees said they were handcuffed, beaten, and insulted while in detention.

The ministry added that some residents of Jerusalem were sent to house arrest, and that an Israeli court ruled that 15 detainees would be banned from accessing the Old City for 15 days.

According to the ministry, Israel used undercover units to detain many of the protesters. Police disguised themselves as Arabs and joined protesters throwing stones at Israeli forces, before suddenly detaining them. Cameras were also used to identify demonstrators, the ministry said.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Why Israel jailed me for 'talking too much'

By Jamal Juma’ / March 9, 2010
East Jerusalem

The Palestinian elected leadership is weak. And even with Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan this week, the renewed Middle East peace process appears to be little more than a charade.
Israel has taken this opportunity to crack down on Palestinians who advocate nonviolent protests against the Israeli West Bank segregation barrier and charged them based on questionable or false evidence.

I know: I was arrested for talking too much. All we Palestinians want is a life free from racial discrimination.

During 2009, 89 peaceful apartheid wall protesters were arrested; since January, more than 40 have been arrested.

The US president’s support for nonviolent protest could go a long way. However, President Obama's repeated failure to protect the very rights and peace he has called for is a heavy blow to Palestinians. Especially now that Israel has taken to crushing the grass-roots equivalent of Palestinian Gandhis and Martin Luther Kings.

The power and importance of nonviolent protest is close to America’s heart. Decades after African-Americans’ historic sit-in at the Woolworth’s counter,

Palestinians live under a regime strikingly similar to Jim Crow. My Palestinian friends from the West Bank cannot eat dinner with me at my favorite Jerusalem restaurant. They would need to obtain Israeli “permits” to visit me, a privilege given to very few. They would be forced to endure several checkpoints or would have to defy Israeli martial law.

For my friends in Gaza, getting a permit to visit Jerusalem is nothing but a dream. Meanwhile Israeli settlers live illegally on our land, sail through checkpoints, and travel freely.

And it does not end there. One of the world’s strongest armies pounded our cities in Gaza with white phosphorous and encloses us in isolated, shrinking Bantustans almost with impunity.

Yet, every Friday, Palestinian villagers losing precious agricultural land to Israel’s wall turn out to protest peacefully. Unarmed farmers and entire families march to defend their lands. They do so though 16 have been killed, many just kids. They continue to show up though thousands have been injured.

In October, I expressed concern over the arrest of my colleague Mohammed Othman. Shortly before his arrest, Israeli soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint took him aside and warned, “We’re going to arrest you, but it’s difficult with you because all you do is talk.” I wrote then, “If talking is a crime, if urging the international community to hold Israel accountable for theft of our land is a crime, then we all are vulnerable.”

Less than two months later I, too, was sitting in an Israeli prison cell – for talking too much.

As they dragged me from my house, Israeli occupation forces threatened my family’s well-being, saying they would only see me again after a prisoner exchange.

Because we Palestinians are under military occupation, where military decrees sharply limit political activity, the struggle for our most basic human rights is, by default, criminalized. Once arrested, protesters do not face civil courts, but military courts which blatantly violate international standards of fair trial.

Fortunately, individuals around the world, including European diplomats, demanded my release. Amnesty International’s role was vital in suggesting that detained activists such as Abdallah Abu Rahma, Mr. Othman, and I were in fact prisoners of conscience. Othman and I were released within a week of Amnesty’s intervention.
Mr. Abu Rahma from the West Bank village of Bilin, however, is still in prison. He is charged with “illegal possession” of Israeli army equipment; charges which stem from his possession of spent tear gas canisters and bullet casings, which he keeps as evidence of the methods the Israeli army uses against the villagers when they protest the illegal confiscation of their land.

Last month, 40 Israeli soldiers raided our Ramallah office. They spent three hours turning it upside down and confiscating documents, research, computers, and electronic equipment.

More than six months ago, Obama gave a powerful speech in Cairo in which he asserted America’s commitment to promote the right to “speak your mind,” to have “confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice,” all basic elements of democracy.
His speech temporarily gripped a large part of the Palestinian people, especially those of us practicing the nonviolence he advocated. We were cautiously hopeful.

But Obama’s quick and near-total reversal on Israeli settlement activity and his silence in the face of the Israeli onslaught on Palestinian human rights and democratic freedoms came as a shock to those of us who dared to hope.

Because Obama is unwilling to stand up to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and domestic critics, Palestinian civil society leaders are subject to unchecked seizure by Israeli forces in the middle of the night.

Critics in America say the solution is for a Palestinian Gandhi to emerge from within our society. This seems increasingly untenable when unarmed teens and real life Palestinian Gandhis such as Bassem Abu Rahma are killed by an occupying army that regularly meets nonviolence with violence.

What Palestinians want are simple demands: self-determination, the right of our refugees to return, a life free from racial discrimination, an end to the brutal occupation, and the immediate dismantling of the illegal wall.

Just under 50 years ago, the American civil rights movement inspired people worldwide with its many successes in pursuing social change through nonviolent means.

Today, the US vice president doesn't inspire when he visits Israel and fails to denounce the occupation and clamor in a clear moral voice for Palestinians' freedom. Instead, America has provided $30 billion over the past 10 years to Israel in military aid. And Obama has fallen silent on the issue of Palestinian nonviolent protests.

By speaking up for communities being ruined by the wall, for protesters being killed or maimed, and for community leaders being hauled away in the middle of the night, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate will not only imbue his Cairo words with meaning, but he will be promoting basic elements of democracy.

Jamal Juma’ is the coordinator of the Palestinian grass-roots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign. He was released from an Israeli prison on January 12.

Jail ordeal of hundreds of Palestinian children arrested for throwing stones

Rights groups express concern at the rising number of juveniles as young as 12 who are held behind bars and 'treated like terrorists'
palestinian-kids-throwing-stones
Palestinian youths throw stones at Israeli soldiers during clashes in Hebron last month. Photograph: Bernat Armangue/AP
With more than 300 Palestinian children being held in Israeli prisons, human rights groups and Palestinian officials are increasingly concerned about the actions of the Israeli military.
The Israeli group B'Tselem said that security forces had "severely violated" the rights of a number of children, aged between 12 and 15, who had been taken into custody in recent months.
The family of one 13-year-old boy from Hebron who was arrested on 27 February by a military patrol and detained for eight days have brought a legal case against the authorities. The teenager, Al-Hasan Muhtaseb, described how he had been interrogated without a lawyer late into the night, forced to confess to throwing stones, made to sign a confession in Hebrew that he couldn't read, jailed with adults and brought before a military court. He was only released on bail eight days later, after considerable legal effort by several human rights groups. As he had signed a confession, he still faces a possible indictment for throwing stones – a charge that usually brings several months in jail but carries a maximum penalty of 20 years' jail.
Although most international attention focuses on diplomatic sparring in the Middle East, it is cases such as this teenager's arrest that are the reality for Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation. The surprise about the teenager's experience is not that it is exceptional, but that it is a common occurrence.
As of the end of February, 343 Palestinian children were being held in Israeli prisons, according to Defence for Children International (DCI), which took up the Muhtaseb case. Israel routinely prosecutes Palestinian children as young as 12 and the Israeli legal system treats Palestinians as adults when they turn 16, but Israelis become adults only at 18. Ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children are "widespread, systematic and institutionalised", DCI said in a report last year.
Al-Hasan Muhtaseb was arrested early in the afternoon as he and his 10-year-old brother Amir were walking home through Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, after visiting their aunt.
"Two soldiers came to us and told us: 'Come over here.' We went to them," said Al-Hasan, a slight boy, neatly dressed, who barely looks his 13 years. "They took my brother and I don't know where they took him. I was sent inside the station and I never saw him after that."
They were detained separately. Amir was released later that night, deeply traumatised. "He was in a very, very bad psychological state," said his father, Fadel Muhtaseb, 45. "He had wet himself. He was terrified." The boy said he had been held with his eyes covered by a hat in a room where there was also a dog, which he could hear panting.
Al-Hasan was interrogated at an Israeli military post in Kiryat Arba, a Jewish settlement in Hebron. "I was asked: 'Did you throw stones? Did you hurt the soldiers or hit their vehicles? How close were you to the soldiers? Why were you throwing stones?'," he said. Eventually he had admitted throwing stones, although in an interview last week Al-Hasan said it was untrue: on that day he had not thrown stones, although earlier in the week he had.
He had been made to sign a statement in Hebrew, a language he doesn't speak or read. He was blindfolded and taken to Ofer military prison, where he arrived at 3.30am. "There were no other children," he said. "I was afraid." Three days after his arrest he appeared at a military court. But his father, who works as a tiler, could not afford the 2,000 shekels (£350) bail. "My father told them he couldn't pay this much money," said Al-Hasan. His father, who sat next to him through the interview, burst into tears.
Last Sunday the boy was freed under a bail arrangement in which his father faces arrest if his son does not appear at the next summons. "Even if he were throwing stones, he is only 13," said Fadel. "They treated him like a terrorist. They claim they are democratic and human, but they are not."
The Israeli Defence Force defended the arrest, saying Israeli troops were acting to prevent violence. Both boys are now incontinent and Amir has been hospitalised. "He wakes up in the middle of the night screaming," said Fadel. "We try to comfort him, but he's getting worse and worse."
The Palestinian Authority highlighted the case of the two Muhtaseb brothers, saying Israel was breaching international law and has recently seemed to take a stronger stance against the more routine challenges of the occupation, including the effect of the West Bank barrier. Israeli security forces have warned of a broader crackdown if the protests escalate.

15 Palestinians Deported From Jerusalem For 15 Days

Thursday March 18, 2010 05:48 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The District Court in Jerusalem decided to expell 15 Palestinian natives of East Jerusalem out of the city of a period of 15 days, after they were detained by the police during the recent clashes.
File -
 Palestine-Info
File - Palestine-Info
The 15 Palestinians will not be allowed in the Old city and in the Al Aqsa Mosque area for 15 days.

One of the lawyers of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) reported that he represented the fifteen detainees at the Israeli Court. Besides being illegally forced out of their city for fifteen days, the court ordered them to pay 5000 NIS each.

The lawyer added that the court also delayed hearing of several other cases as the Israeli prosecution said that it will press charges against them.

He stated that he managed to have the police release six detainees as they are children between the ages of 12 and 14.

Tension continues to mount in Jerusalem as fundamentalist settlers are ongoing with their violations against the Al Aqsa mosque, the Dome of the Rock and Palestinians homes and property in East Jerusalem.

At least 38 Palestinian civilians were injured by Israeli police fire during clashes in East Jerusalem on Tuesday, following several days of protests that also resulted in injuries of Palestinians.

The clashes took place after fundamentalist Israeli settler groups opened a synagogue on Monday near Al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem.

Tension was high in Jerusalem as Israel declared intentions to build 50,000 new housing units for settlers in the city last week.

Israeli police arrested Tuesday 60 Palestinians from different parts of Jerusalem in connection to clashes.

Since Friday of last week, Israel has completely sealed off Jerusalem, preventing all West Bank residents, including those who have permits, from entering the city.

Also, Israeli police prevented all Palestinian men under the age of 50 from entering the Old City. The Israeli government decided to lift the closure on Wednesday.

PCHR weekly report 11/3 - 17/3/10:

extracts from PCHR weekly report 11/3 - 17/3/10

At least 800 Gazan prisoners in Israeli jails have been deprived for family visitation for more than two years.  

In recognition of ICRC as the guardian of the Fourth Geneva Convention, PCHR calls upon the ICRC to increase its staff and activities in the OPT, including the facilitation of family visitations to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

IOF arrested 27 Palestinian civilians, including two children and a journalist.  

Israeli troops stationed at military checkpoints in the West Bank arrested 3 Palestinian civilians. 

Sunday, 14 March 2010 

· At approximately 01:00, IOF moved into al-Duhaisha refugee camp, south of Bethlehem.  They raided and searched a house belonging to the family of Hamed Mohammed Hammad, 35, and arrested him.

· At approximately 02:30, IOF moved into al-Shurfa neighborhood in al-Bireh.  They raided and searched a house belonging to Maher 'Abdullah Jom'a, and arrested his wife, Amani Jom'a, 37.
Monday, 15 March 2010

· At approximately 00:00, IOF moved into Sourif village, north of Hebron.  They raided and searched a number of houses and arrested 7 Palestinian civilians:

1. Ahmed Jamal Abu Fara, 18;
2. Adham Hamdi Abu Fara, 18;
3. Ahmed Shaker al-Heeh, 19;
4. Bahaa' Mazen Ehmaidat, 18;
5. Mahmoud Mousa al-Masri, 18;
6. 'Alaa' Ibrahim Barath'iya, 18; and
7. Mahmoud Mousa Ehmaidat, 18.

· At approximately 01:00, IOF moved into Kharbtha Bani Hareth village, west of Ramallah.  They raided and searched a number of houses and summoned Mohammed Bilal al-Sheikh, 21, and Khaled Nemer al-'Abed, 26.

· At approximately 02:00, IOF moved into Salem village, east of Nablus.  They besieged a 5-storey apartment building, in which 5 families counting 30 people live.  They ordered resident of the building to get out.  Israeli troops verified their identity cards and held them in one room on the third floor, excluding Ibrahim Jameel Eshtayeh, 26, who was held on the second floor.  Soon after, Israeli troops searched the building using dogs.  At approximately 03:30, Israeli troop withdrew from the area detaining Eshtayeh. 

Tuesday, 16 March 2010

· At approximately 02:00, IOF moved into Beit Reema village, north of Ramallah.  They raided and searched a number of houses and arrested 3 Palestinian civilians:

1. Ghassan 'Abbas al-Reemawi, 19;
2. Saddam Tayseer al-Asmar, 19; and
3. 'Orabi Hussein al-Reemawi, 35.

· At approximately 11:00, the Israeli police stormed the African quarter in the old town of Jerusalem.  They raided and searched houses and fired tear gas canisters in alleys.  A number of old people suffered from tear gas inhalation.  The Israeli police arrested 5 Palestinian civilians, including a child and a journalist:

1. Haitham Jadda;
2. Tha’er Seder;
3. Shadi Seder;
4. ‘Abdul Qader al-Qadhi; and
5. Mousa Qous, a journalist. 

At approximately 20:30, IOF moved into Madama village, southeast of Nablus.  They patrolled in the streets and detonated 3 sound bombs.  They also arrested 3 Palestinian civilians in the streets:
1. Ahmed Jebril Ziada, 25;
2. Ahmed ‘Abdul Ghani Ziada, 19; and
3. Wissam Rezeq Ziada, 19.

Wednesday, 17 March 2010

· At approximately 01:30, IOF moved into Beit Ummar village, north of Hebron.  They raided and searched a number of houses and arrested 3 Palestinian civilians:

1. Ameer Ibrahim Sabarna, 20;
2. Ibrahim Sa’id ‘Awadh, 17; and
3. Eyad ‘Omar Sabarna, 20.

· At approximately 03:00, IOF moved into Housan village, west of Bethlehem.  They raided and searched a house belonging to the family of Shadi Mohammed Za’oul, 17, and arrested him.