Israeli Army Demolishes Shops Near Jenin

By Saed Bannoura | IMEMC & Agencies | May 09, 2013

Israeli soldiers invaded, on Thursday morning, the Barta’a village, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, declared the village a closed military zone, and demolished 12 shops.

Ghassan Qabha, head of the Barta’a village council, reported that the army invaded the village after sealing all of its entrances, declared it a closed military zone and demolished the twelve structures.

Qabha added that 120 Palestinians work in the demolished buildings, and that most of them are the sole breadwinners in their families.

Furthermore, soldiers handed military orders to eight shop owners informing them the army will be demolishing their shops under the pretext that they were built without construction permits.

Qabha strongly denounced the Israeli attack, and said that the ongoing violations and assaults against the villagers aim at forcing them out of their village that became isolated and surrounded by Israel’s Annexation Wall and its illegal settlements.

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Israel detains Hamas leader’s sons in raid

Ma’an – April 22, 2013

JENIN – Israeli security forces detained the sons of a local Hamas leader overnight in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, locals said.

Locals told Ma’an that Israeli troops raided Gamal al-Haija’s home and detained sons Abed al-Salam, Asem and Hamzeh. Their whereabouts are unknown, residents added.

Teacher Khaled Mohammad al-Haj was also detained after Israeli forces raided his home to the east of the city, a source told Ma’an. Summons were also handed down to three Palestinians in the district, requiring them to meet with Israeli security agents.

Residents also told Ma’an that Israeli forces raided the nearby Jalqamus and al-Yamoun villages, setting up checkpoints at the villages’ entrance and stationing near Yaba’s eastern border.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed three of the four detentions. At least five Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces across the West Bank on Monday.

Three Palestinians were detained in the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem. A local source identified them as Murad Karaja, 20, Ahmad Hajajra 21, and Ahmad Amer, 21. A resident said Hajajra’s mother was taken to hospital after collapsing during the raid.

Israeli forces also raided a home in the area and handed down summoning notices to brothers Muhammad, Khaled and Aboud al-Azza, the local added.

Troops also raided the refugee camp’s youth center, the resident said.

A source said Israeli forces raided the Azza refugee camp, also in Bethlehem, detaining Jihad Abu Shira and injuring his brother. The brother was taken to the al-Arabiya Hospital in Beit Jala for treatment, the source added.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Ali Musa and Amid Ahmad al-Azza, both 20, were detained by Israeli forces from the village of al-Khader in Bethlehem.

Israel’s army confirmed the detentions in Aida refugee camp but did not return requests for comment on the summons and raids.

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Israeli military court sentences cartoonist to five months in jail

Palestine Information Center – 06/04/2013

JENIN — The Israeli military court in Salem, north of Jenin, has sentenced Palestinian cartoonist Mohammed Sabana to five months imprisonment on the charge of contacting “hostile parties”.

Family members told the PIC reporter on Saturday that the court passed the sentence on Friday and charged Sabana with making such contacts during his visit to Jordan.

They said that the charges were unfounded, adding that the sentence was illegal and proved the summary trials conducted against Palestinian citizens.

The relatives affirmed that Sabana was not involved with any political party or organization and was just an activist who employs his cartoons in exposing the Israeli occupation’s crimes.

Sabana was arrested on his return from Jordan last February and held for interrogation. His brother, Thamer, was also detained for his pro-prisoners’ activities.

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Israeli forces attack Tammun, four injured from live bullets

International Solidarity Movement | January 2, 2013

Tammun, Occupied Palestine – From 9am to 6pm Israeli special forces, regular army and border police attacked the village of Tammun, south of Jenin. They used helicopters, many soldiers firing live rounds of ammunition, tear gas and plastic coated steel bullets. 35 people were injured, including 4 with live bullets. 2 children sustained serious head injuries from tear gas canisters.

The raid began with at least 15 plain clothed special forces driving into the village in Palestinian plated vehicles to arrest a man. They forced the family out of their home, took one Palestinian brother, Murad, tied him, blindfolded him, pushed him against the wall and took him back into the house. They made the family stand outside as human shields against any resistance to the incursion and, in doing so, committed a war crime. His brother, Mohammed, was forced to assume a stress position for two hours. When he told the soldiers that had a health problem with his chest, they replied that if he said that again they would beat him to death.

The forces interrogated and beat Murad while blindfolded. These special forces, called Duvdevan, are known for targeted assassinations. Murad was told to climb over a wall, but fearing that this could be an excuse to kill him, he refused. The soldiers severely beat him for this.

The soldiers vandalised the house, breaking furniture and shooting walls, wardrobes, beds, mirrors and a fridge.

Last year the same family was raided by these forces. The two brothers were stripped naked and tied to an olive tree in their front garden.

Today, soldiers entered another home. They searched it, broke furniture and shot around the house as well. They threatened the mother that if her husband doesn’t hand himself in, in 24 hours, they will kill him. Another 20 homes were searched in the village.

After the plain clothes special forces entered the village around 20 jeeps of regular army followed. They went into houses and took positions on rooftops.

Resistance by the population to this erupted on news of the incursion and people were attacked. Paramedics reported 35 injuries, two serious head wounds from tear gas canisters that are often used as baton rounds. The two head injuries were inflicted on children. Four of the injuries were from live rounds.

The attack continued until after dark with the army using parachute flares to illuminate the village.

The army eventually left the village at 6pm with Murad. The other Palestinian wanted by the Israeli occupation force has until tomorrow morning to hand himself in or he will be assassinated.

Israeli car fires on Palestine TV correspondent

MADA Condemns the Shooting of Journalist Al-Samodi

PNN | August 10, 2012

The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) condemns a shooting involving Palestine TV correspondent Nizar Al-Samodi in Jenin last night 9th August, by an Israeli-registered car.

Al-Samodi told MADA that he was returning to his home in Jenin from Ramallah on Wednesday night when he arrived the crossroads known at ‘Tormos Aya and Singel’ at about 10:30pm. He said someone then fired a shot at him which hit the car mirror, only missing him by centimetres.

He added: “The bullet was fired by a white Israeli car with yellow number plates. I believe the goal was to kill me, but the shooter underestimated the speed of the car, so the bullet just missed me and broke the mirror of the car instead. I filed a complaint today with the Israeli military liaison office.”

Israeli Occupation refuses to allow village to have electricity generator repaired

Palestine Information Center - 17/07/2012

JENIN — The village of Dhahr al Maleh, to the south of Jenin located behind the Apartheid Wall, has been living for ten days in total darkness after the disruption of the electrical generator, which supplies the energy to the village and which the occupation authorities refuse to allow to be repaired.

Hussein al Abd, a member in the Village of Dhahr al Maleh Council, confirmed in a press statement that the electric generator of the village had been disrupted and that due to the location of the village (behind the wall apartheid), the council was unable repair it because of the Zionist obstacles.

He noted that the village, which has a population of 300 people, has been using the electrical generator since 1995 and that it had received a new generator six months ago, that has stopped working ten days ago. He also pointed out the increase of power consumption during the summer especially as the month of Ramadan is approaching.

The Village Council’s member called for pressuring the occupation authorities to speed up the repair of the generator; noting that the occupation authorities have been refusing to approve a solution that lies in linking the power grid to a point located at a distance of only 100 meters from the village.

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PA security drive against Palestinians is its “basic role”, claim Israeli officials

MEMO | July 3, 2012

The Palestinian Authority’s extensive security and detention drive against Palestinian activists in the occupied West Bank has been described by Israeli officials as the PA’s “basic role”. It represents, they claim, “the extension of the PA’s sovereignty over all issues” in the occupied territory.

According to Israeli media reports, the PA began its campaign several weeks ago. Included among those detained by the PA security services are a number of its own senior officers who have refused to cooperate with the Israeli occupation authorities. This move has been well received in Israel.

As part of the campaign, the PA has confiscated more than 100 guns and arrested more than 150 “terrorist” suspects from the West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus. Apparently, members of the former Al-Aqsa Brigades and senior PA military officers who have received special counter-terrorism training in the US and Jordan are among those arrested.

Israeli officials described this campaign as similar to that carried out by the PA in 2009 through which it tried to destroy the Hamas infrastructure in Qalqilya; six Palestinians were killed on that occasion.

More PA forces are to be deployed in the northern West Bank to follow-up on the latest developments. Israel’s Shabak intelligence service cooperates with PA officials, supplying them with detailed information on the whereabouts of suspects and fugitives.

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Israel ‘arrests TV director, confiscates equipment’

Ma’an – May 17, 2012

JENIN – Israeli forces arrested the director of a Jenin-based satellite channel on Thursday after raiding his home, the executive director of the channel said.

Saher Qassem, chief of the Al-Asir channel, told Ma’an that a group of soldiers arrested Baha Khayri Ata Musa, 32, after raiding his home in Mirka village.

Soldiers confiscated the TV station’s broadcasting equipment from Musa’s home, preventing the channel from being able to continue its coverage, Qassem said.

Al-Asir, or ‘the prisoner’, channel also has offices operating in Bahrain, Qassem said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said one person was detained in Jenin overnight, but could not provide the identify of the person.

In late February, Israeli forces raided Watan TV and Al-Quds Educational TV’s offices in Ramallah, confiscating broadcasting equipment.

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