WEDNESDAY was another day of heroic Palestinian resistance against the occupying Israeli forces’ daily repressions and violence.
(IPS) in Israel’s Megiddo prison banned 15 hunger striking prisoners from receiving visits from their lawyers, according to a statement released by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).
The IPS claimed that the ban was imposed on the prisoners due to their health conditions, according to PPS, as they continued their solidarity hunger strike in support of Bilal Kayid, now entering his 56th day without food, and in protest of being held in administrative detention – Israel’s policy of imprisonment without charge or trial.
The IPS also reportedly banned 35 other hunger striking prisoners from receiving lawyer visits at Israel’s Gilboa prison for the same reasons. Five Palestinian prisoners are currently on open hunger strikes against their administrative detention: brothers Muhammad and Mahmoud Balboul, Ayyad al-Hreimi, Malik al-Qadi, and journalist Omar Nazzal, while Walid Masalmeh is on hunger strike in protest of being held in solitary confinement.
The PPS confirmed that 80 prisoners, including PFLP Secretary-General Ahmad Saadat, have remained on hunger strike in solidarity with hunger striker Bilal Kayid, who declared a hunger strike on June 14 after being transferred to administrative detention on the day he was expected to be released from a 14 and a half year sentence in Israeli prison.
Meanwhile, Israel has recently prevented the families of scores of Palestinian prisoners from entering Israel to visit their incarcerated relatives, as widespread protests have also been launched over the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) recent cuts to family visitations, reducing arranged visits for male Palestinian prisoners from two days a month to just one.
Israel’s policy of deporting Palestinians outside of the occupied territory into prisons inside the occupying state is illegal under international law. According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, ‘This systematic and illegal transfer of Palestinians from the occupied territory also carries with it a human impact – the consequence is that Palestinian relatives of prisoners and detainees who then require a permit to enter Israel are regularly denied family visitation permits, based on “security grounds”.
‘From observations by Addameer based on accounts of family members, these permits are systematically denied for male family members aged between 16 and 35. Overall, the ongoing deportation of Palestinians detainees presents not just significant human implications, but also operates as part of a wider Israeli impunity for international crimes which threatens to erode the relevance of international law generally.’
Meanwhile Israeli forces on Wednesday detained three Palestinians in overnight raids across a number of West Bank districts, bringing up the total number of detainees to ten, said Palestine Prisoner’s Society. Israeli police detained Ahmad Sweilem, a minor who had been placed under house arrest.
Troops also handcuffed and detained Anas Masarwa from the northern West Bank district of Tulkarem and Yacoup Rummaneh, 32, from the central West Bank district of Ramallah. This came as seven other Palestinians were detained and three others summoned during overnight raids across the West Bank.
Also on Wednesday, Israeli occupation forces notified a Palestinian from the village of Huwwara, south of Nablus, about their intention to demolish his house, according to locals. Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activities in northern West Bank, said that Israeli authorities notified Yousef Odeh, a resident of Huwwara, about their intention to demolish his house, under the pretext of construction without a permit.
To be noted, issuance of construction permits by the Israeli authorities to Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank, under complete Israeli control, is strictly limited, forcing many Palestinians to embark on construction without obtaining a permit to meet their housing need. Separately, Israeli forces on Wednesday detained seven Palestinians, summoned three others and seized cash and electrical appliances during overnight raids across the West Bank, said PNA security officials and locals.
Three Palestinians were detained from Nablus district, two others from Tulkarem, another from Jenin and another from Jerusalem. Israeli forces raided Talfit village, south of Nablus, detaining two Palestinians after storming and ransacking their houses. The detainees were identified as Yacoup Abu Ghazi and Abdullah Muhammad.
Forces also detained Feras Odeh after storming and ransacking his house during a raid into Qusra town, south of Nablus.
In Tulkarem district, forces raided Bal’a town, northeast of the city, handcuffing and detaining Odai Abu Ghalieh and Abdul-Aziz Zreiqi. In Jenin district, forces stormed several houses and detained Ahmad Abul-Rub, 28, during an overnight raid into Qabatiya town, south of Jenin. They also broke into and thoroughly searched the family house of a Palestinian detainee during a raid into Silat al-Harithiya town, northwest of Jenin.
Israeli troops ransacked the family house of Feras Shawahna, who was detained in 2015, interrogating his family members and seizing cash and several electrical appliances. Meanwhile in Jerusalem district, Israeli forces raided the Abu Dis neighbourhood of al-Habayel, southeast of Jerusalem, detaining Eyad Zaatra.
In the meantime, forces raided the Hebron towns of Dura, Bani Naim and Yatta in the southern West Bank, storming and ransacking several houses. Some homeowners were identified as Muhammad Aser and Raed Shannan from Dura, Khaled Barakat, Muhammad Barakat and Fuad Barakat from Bani Naim, and Muhammad Makhamra and Khaled Makhamra from Yatta. Occupation forces also stormed a number of houses and summoned three Palestinians during a raid into Beit Ummar town, north of Hebron. Muhannad Abu Maria, 19, Ala Sabarna, 20, a former detainee, and Muhammad Alqam, 21, were handed notices ordering them to appear before intelligence in the Gush Etzion detention and interrogation centre.
Israeli forces on Wednesday uprooted some 250 olive saplings near the village of Sekaka, east of Salfit town in the West Bank, according to local sources. An Israeli army force accompanied by bulldozers uprooted the 250 olive saplings, claiming they were planted on state-owned land.
Abdul-Qader Hekmeh, head of Sekaka village council, said that the owners of the land where the trees were uprooted hurried up to the scene in an attempt to stop the uprooting, but they failed to do so as the soldiers scuffled with them. According to the Israeli anti-settlement group, Peace Now, ‘Over the years, Israel has used a number of legal and bureaucratic procedures in order to appropriate West Bank lands, with the primary objective of establishing settlements and providing land reserves for them.’
‘Using primarily these five methods: seizure for military purposes; declaration of state lands; seizure of absentee property; confiscation for public needs; and initial registration, Israel has managed to take over about 50% of the lands in the West Bank, barring the local Palestinian public from using them.’
At predawn on Wednesday, at least four Palestinians were injured during clashes with Israeli army in al-Amari refugee camp, near Ramallah, medicals said. They said that at least four were injured by Israeli live fire in the lower parts of their bodies, during clashes which erupted after Israeli forces broke into al-Amari camp. Several home raids were reported during the Israeli offensive in the camp.
