IOF troops arrest son, brother of Hamas detained leader

[ 12/07/2010 - 04:41 PM ]

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested on Monday the son and the brother of detained Hamas leader Sheikh Ibrahim Jabr, 50, at a military roadblock near Al-Khalil city. The wife of the Sheikh said that the IOF soldiers detained her sole son Qutaiba, 19, along with his uncle Taiseer, 49, after searching the bus they were commuting, and stole 5,000 shekels that was in their possession. She said that Taiseer suffers a difficult health condition after surviving a stroke a month ago and undergoing a heart surgery. He is also living with one kidney and had an IOF bullet in his liver since the first intifada in 1987, she added. She appealed to human rights groups to pressure the IOF to release Taiseer in view of his bad health condition. Sheikh Ibrahim has been under administrative detention, without trial or charge, for the past 30 months. He had previously served 12 years in Israeli jails and had two sons one of them was killed in a clash with the IOF soldiers in Jenin refugee camp in 2003 while his father was in jail.

PA accuses Israeli forces of stealing cash

The Palestinian Authority has accused Israeli forces of stealing thousands of dollars from a Palestinian's home during a raid in the West Bank

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Ramattan) - Israeli forces stole up to 40,000 Israeli Shekels (USD 10,000) from a house during a raid in the West Bank, according to a Palestinian Authority police report this morning.

According to the PA police, the cash was stolen from the house of Nayaf Al Deek in Salfit, while 10 people including two children were arrested in Nablus, Qalqilya and Salfit.

Meanwhile a group of armed settlres attacked Palestinian residents in the village of Buren, at the north of the West Bank.

Palestinian official sources said that the settlers searched residents and stole their mobiles and personal stuff at gunpoint.

Palestinian children arrested by Israeli forces (File photo)

IOF soldiers kidnap director of charitable society, steal jewels

[ 17/06/2009 - 09:28 AM ]

TULKAREM, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces on Tuesday stormed the home of Walid Allo, the director of a charitable society in Deir Al-Ghussoon village, Tulkarem, district, stole his wife's jewelry and took him away. Local sources said that big numbers of IOF soldiers broke into the village in a pre-dawn raid on Tuesday and kidnapped the 27-year-old director, who is also the Imam of a mosque and who is known for his affiliation with Islamic Jihad Movement. They added that the soldiers withdrew from the village three hours later after wreaking havoc in his home, stealing around 5,700 dollars worth of gems and confiscating two computers and many papers and documents. The IOF had closed down the society a few months ago after kidnapping most of its administrative board. The IOF command had rounded up ten Palestinians on Tuesday and detained seven more on Wednesday in the West Bank.

Bound, blindfolded and beaten – by Israeli troops

Children among Palestinian detainees abused during West Bank operation, according to soldiers' confessions

By Ben Lynfield in Hares, West Bank

Independent

Tuesday, 9 June 2009

AFP/GETTY

Blindfolded Palestinian men sit with hands tied after being detained during the Israeli operation in Hares on 26 March

Two Israeli officers have testified that troops in the West Bank beat, bound and blindfolded Palestinian civilians as young as 14. The damaging disclosures by two sergeants of the Kfir Brigade include descriptions of abuses they say they witnessed during a search-and-detain operation involving hundreds of troops in Hares village on 26 March. The testimonies have been seen by The Independent and are expected to add fuel to the controversy over recent remarks by Colonel Itai Virob, commander of Kfir Brigade, in which he said violence against detained Palestinians was justified in order to accomplish missions.

Both the soldiers, from the Harub battalion, highlighted the tight tying of the plastic hand restraints placed on detainees. "There are people who think you need to tighten the restraints all the way, until no drop of blood will pass from here to there," one soldier said. "It doesn't take much time until the hands turn blue. There were a lot of people that you know weren't feeling anything."

He said about 150 Palestinians, some as young as 14, were bound, blindfolded and detained at the village school during the operation, which lasted from 3am to 3pm. He was told it was aimed at preventing village youths throwing stones against nearby settler roads. It was clear many of the people detained had done nothing wrong, but they were held to gather intelligence, he said.

The worst beatings were in the bathrooms, he said. "The soldiers who took [detainees] to the toilet just exploded [over] them with beatings; cursed them with no reason. When they took one Arab to the toilet so that he could urinate, one of them gave him a slap that brought him to the ground. He had been handcuffed from behind with a nylon restraint and blindfolded. He wasn't insolent, he didn't do anything to get on anyone's nerves ... [it was] just because he's an Arab. He was something like 15 years old." The soldier said he saw a lot of soldiers "just knee [Palestinians] because it's boring, because you stand there 10 hours, you're not doing anything, so they beat people up."

A second soldier described a "fanatical atmosphere" during the search operations. "We would go into a house and turn the whole thing upside down," he recalled, but no weapons were found. "They confiscated kitchen knives."

The first soldier said involvement was widespread."There were a lot of reservists that participated, and they totally had a celebration on the Palestinians: curses, humiliation, pulling hair and ears, kicks, slaps. These things were the norm." He said the incidents in the toilet were the "extreme" and added that the beatings did not draw blood. They were "dry beatings, but it's still a beating".

The second soldier said some troops stole from houses they searched, even though the people were so poor it was hard for them to find anything to take.

Last month, Colonel Virob testified in a military court that hitting detained Palestinians could be justified. "Standing them against walls, pushing them, a blow that doesn't cause injury. Certainly, these are things that are commonly used in an attempt to accomplish the mission," he said. Despite a reprimand of Colonel Virob by the head of central command, General Shamni, and a disavowal by army chief of staff Lt General Gabi Ashkenazi, the remarks are seen by Breaking the Silence, an organisation that collects testimonies of soldiers, as proof that the alleged abuses in Hares cannot be dismissed as an isolated occurrence or low-level improvisations.

In Hares, Ihab Shamlawi, a university student, recalled watching as a high school pupil asked soldiers permission to go to the bathroom. "They put him on the floor, they kicked his legs and beat him," he said. Ten or 15 other soldiers were watching, Mr Shamlawi recalled. "They all laughed," he said.

The army spokesman's office yesterday said an investigation had been opened and added that, following Colonel Virob's previous remarks, General Shamni had distributed pamphlets to troops underscoring that "when someone is detained, stopped or held ... Israel Defence Force soldiers ... are absolutely and clearly forbidden to use any force or violence against them".

Israeli troops wound Palestinian elderly woman, arrest 9 Palestinians in the West Bank

Please wait ... Jenin, May 23, 2009, (Ramattan)- Israeli occupation forces on Saturday wounded a Palestinian old woman and arrested nine Palestinians in the two cities of Jenin and Hebron in the West Bank, Palestinians sources said. Security sources reported that the Israeli troops thrust into the city of Jenin and arrested six citizens including a 16-year-old boy Mazen Hanana. Witnesses said that Israeli soldiers stormed the house of Al-Khaldi family in Jenin and arrested five brothers and wounded their mother. They said that the soldiers blew up the door of the house and wounded Fatima Al-Khaldi, 85-year-old. Members of Al-Khaldi family said the soldiers stole around USD 3000 from the house. In the meantime the Israeli troops arrested three citizens in the city of Hebron, according to Palestinian security sources. Israeli troops detain three, search homes near Hebron Date: 23 / 05 / 2009 Time: 11:24 Hebron - Ma'an - Israeli forces detained three from Beit Al-Roush village south of Hebron, during a raid before sunrise Friday morning. Security sources said Israeli forces raided the village, broke into and searched houses and detained three men identified as: Hassan Kamal Hassan Ash-Shawamreh, 20, Rasmi Fayez Rasmi Ash-Shawamreh, 18, Mohamed Ghalib Suleiman Ash-Shawamreh, 20 All were taken to an unknown location for questioning.