The occupation forces arrested 340 citizens, including 25 children and ten women, in May.
The Prisoners ’Affairs Authority,“ Prisoners and Editors Affairs Authority, Palestinian Prisoner Club, Al-Dameer Foundation for Prisoner Care and Human Rights, ”said in a fact sheet issued today, Wednesday, that last May witnessed an increase in the rate of arrests compared to April.
It pointed out that the occupation authorities arrested 162 citizens from occupied Jerusalem, 17 citizens from Ramallah and Al-Bireh, 41 citizens from Hebron, 64 citizens from Jenin, and from Bethlehem 23 citizens, while five citizens from Nablus and Tulkarm were arrested 15 citizens and ten citizens From Qalqilya, in addition to three citizens from Gaza, while arrests were not recorded in the governorates of Jericho, Tubas, and Salfit.
Prisoners ’institutions indicated that this escalation coincides with the continued spread of the new Corona virus, and at a higher rate for the occupation, which may cause the transmission of infection to Palestinian citizens through brutal arrests.
She said that the number of prisoners in the occupation prisons amounted to 4,600 as of the end of May, of whom 41 are women, while the number of children prisoners is 170 children, and the administrative prisoners are 380, indicating that the number of administrative detention orders issued amounted to 110 orders, including 44 new orders, And 66 extensions.
The paper reviewed central issues witnessed in May, including: The policy of collective punishment implemented by the occupation forces against the people of the town of Ya`bad, and the campaigns that occupied Jerusalem faced in terms of arrests, prosecutions and closures of institutions, in addition to the issue of military order 1827 issued by the occupation.
Worshipers face a policy of collective punishment
The people of Ya`bad town in Jenin Governorate faced, throughout the month of May, a policy of collective punishment implemented by the occupation authorities against them, through arrest campaigns, repeated summons, and a field investigation, and the accompanying attacks and abuse operations, after the occupation announced the killing of one of its soldiers during the storming of the town.
Since May 12, the occupying forces have arrested 55 citizens from the town of Ya`bad, including entire families, women and children, the elderly, and released prisoners, some of whom have been subjected to repeated detention over several days.
The arrests centered on May 12 and 13, and affected 35 over three days, while Suhaila Abu Bakr, and her daughter Iman in particular, were subjected to repeated arrests and a harsh and repeated investigation.
The occupation authorities are still arresting about 20 citizens, who worship Nazmi Abu Bakr, who, since his arrest on May 13, has been subjected to torture in the “Jalame” investigation and detention center.
The prisoners ’institutions considered that the policy of collective punishment that the occupation has stepped up from the implementation of, since the end of 2018 and the beginning of this year, the most prominent retaliatory and systematic policies of the occupation, with detention taking one of its forms, in addition to the policy of demolishing the homes of detainees’ families, and subjecting them to repeated detention, threats, and abuse, despite the fact This policy constitutes a clear violation of international and humanitarian laws and norms.
Jerusalem: Arrests, prosecutions, and closures of institutions
The occupying forces continued their repressive policies in occupied Jerusalem during the month of May, and according to partner institutions, the occupation forces arrested 162 citizens, including 6 women, and 12 minors, and targeted national and community action leaders in Jerusalem.
The occupation forces have stepped up in the recent period of their arrests and suppression of citizens in the city of Jerusalem within the framework of new restrictions aimed at the Palestinian presence with all its national, political and social components, under the pretext of "violating Israeli sovereignty and incitement" as an excuse to suppress everything related to the threatened Palestinian identity.
During last May, the occupation forces arrested a number of national action leaders, including the Secretary-General of the National People´s Congress of Jerusalem, Major General Bilal al-Natsheh, and suppressed a pause to commemorate the 19th anniversary of the death of Commander Faisal al-Husayni, and arrested both Jerusalem Governor Adnan Ghaith, who was arrested several times since the beginning of this year, And the director of the Al-Asir Club in Jerusalem, Nasser Qaws, in addition to harming the citizens during the arrest.
The occupation forces arrested the two brothers, Ali and Aya Muhaisin, at the entrance to the village of Al-Issawiya, after beating them. The occupation did not exclude journalists from the arrests, as journalist Annan Najib was arrested after raiding his house in the town of Beit Hanina.
In addition to the daily arrests of the occupation forces against the citizens of Jerusalem, the community institutions were not exempt from targeting them and their workers.
On May 18, the Israeli "Minister of Internal Security" issued an order to close the Association for Volunteering for Hope in Jerusalem for a period of 6 months. And this was not the first targeting, according to Abu Laban. The president of the association was arrested, prosecuted and investigated more than 5 times since last February.
Abu Laban added that the association’s headquarters was stormed on February 17, and its files and computers were seized, in addition to storming its house, searching and overthrowing its contents, and arresting and investigating it at Jabal Abu Ghneim Police Station for 5 continuous hours, and she was arrested again and interrogated about the work of the institution. And trying to threaten her with arrest, on the pretext of "violating Israeli sovereignty and incitement," while emphasizing that the institution´s work is concerned with working with school students in social and educational terms only, and not as the occupation claims.
The military order of the occupation is part of a major war launched by the occupation against the prisoners and their families
The Prisoners ’Institutions considered that Military Order No. 1827 issued by the occupation, a new episode of the attempt to dominate the occupation and its domination of our people, a clear targeting of the Palestinian national, governmental, administrative, and legal system, and a series of ongoing war on prisoners and their families in particular.
Palestinian human rights organizations have unanimously agreed on the great risks posed by this matter, especially with the threats received by banks operating in Palestine, if they continue to open accounts for the families of the prisoners, through arrest and prosecution, after their failure over all previous years through a series of continuous pressure on the leadership. Palestinian Authority to stop the payment of allocations for the families of the prisoners and martyrs.
Prisoners´ institutions affirmed that the occupation has sought over the past decades to stigmatize the Palestinian struggle and struggle with terrorism through several tracks, part of which is the enactment of laws, legislation and military orders to do so.
And human rights organizations called for the necessity of facing this matter, and the banks ’commitment to the Palestinian national decision, as an essential part of the confrontation.
