The Palestine Center for Prisoner Studies has monitored 4,200 cases of arrest by the Israeli occupation forces since the beginning of this year 2021, after it recently escalated its detention policies against the Palestinian people.
Riyad Al-Ashqar, director of the Center, said in a statement: The occupation confronted the Palestinian people’s uprising, especially in the 48 areas, with a massive and indiscriminate arrest campaign with the aim of achieving a policy of deterrence and intimidation and preventing them from supporting the people of Jerusalem and Gaza, which were subjected to barbaric aggression during the past month.
Al-Ashqar indicated that the arrests affected all groups, as (77) arrests of women, including minors and elderly, were monitored, and (800) arrests targeting minor children, as well as the arrest of 5 members of the former Legislative Council, and dozens of national and Islamic leaders, in addition to raiding homes others and direct threats to arrest them.
He pointed out that since the beginning of this year, the Gaza Strip has witnessed (26) arrests, of which (24) were of young men who approached the eastern border, and most of them were released after interrogation.
Al-Ashfar pointed out that the occupation continued to exploit the Beit Hanoun (Erez) checkpoint as a trap for the Palestinians, and exploited their humanitarian need for the crossing, whether for treatment or trade, and arrested a number of them.
He stated that the arrests in Jerusalem reached (1052) cases, affecting all categories of the Jerusalemite community, with a focus on the children category, and coincided with the response to the storming of Al-Aqsa and the attempts to displace the residents of Sheikh Jarrah, in a systematic and deliberate policy to deplete Jerusalemites and create a harsh living, economic and security reality, to push them to leave their homes and their sanctities voluntarily to the occupation.
The director of the Palestine Center for Prisoner Studies indicated that the cases of arrests inside the Palestinian territories had reached (1700), the most severe of which were in Haifa, Lydda, Umm al-Fahm, al-Tira and Nazareth, noting that they affected children, women, the elderly, journalists, activists and leaders from various parties and movements active in the Arab arena in Inside.
Al-Ashqar explained that the majority of detainees were beaten and humiliated during arrest and in the police stations to which they were transferred, where a number of them sustained fractures and bruises, and were taken to hospitals for treatment, and the majority of them were released after interrogation, after imposing fines against them, or staying away from their places of residence for weeks. While more than 160 of them are still charged, indictments have been filed against them, ranging from disturbing order and inciting riots, igniting rubber tires, assaulting the police, or incitement through writing on social media.
He pointed out that the cases of arrests among children under the age of eighteen during the first five months of this year amounted to (800) cases, most of them from the occupied city of Jerusalem and inside, some of them were wounded and arrested with bullet wounds, in addition to the arrest of sick children who need To continuous medical care, and among the detainees are children as young as 10 years old.
The occupation forces continued to target women with arrests, as the number of arrests among women reached (77), the majority of whom are from the occupied city of Jerusalem, including a number of stationed women. They were released after they were removed from the Al-Aqsa Mosque, while female journalists and minors were arrested.
He pointed out that the moot occupation courts issued (570) administrative decisions during the current year between new and renewal, including (332) decisions to renew for additional periods extending between two to six months, and reached (5) times for some prisoners, while (238) An administrative decision was issued against prisoners for the first time, most of them released prisoners who were re-arrested.
