Israeli military arrests six people in Bethlehem
The Israeli military has arrested six people in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports. Violent clashes have also broken out between Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli forces in the Nur Shams refugee camp, east of the city of Tulkarem, after Israeli troops raided the area and arrested a Palestinian man.
Two Palestinians have also been arrested in the village of Asira al-Qibliya, south of Nablus, Wafa reports. Israeli raids have been reported in the Shu’fat refugee camp, north of occupied Jerusalem, and the town of Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem.
Israeli forces arrest seven people in Hebron
Israeli forces have arrested seven people in the town of Hebron, adding to a string of overnight arrests across the occupied West Bank. The Hebron arrests took place as Israeli forces searched homes, set up new military checkpoints, and closed roads throughout the governorate.
Israeli military carries out more arrests in the occupied West Bank
The Israeli military has detained more Palestinians in raids across the occupied West Bank, adding to a spate of arrests in recent hours. The Wafa news agency reports that Israeli forces have arrested two men in the town of Yabad, south of Jenin, while a third man has been arrested in the Jenin refugee camp.
Three more Palestinians have also been arrested in the city of Nablus, adding to two arrests made earlier in the village of Asira al-Qibliya, south of Nablus.
Israel’s Ben-Gvir cheers on home demolitions in Negev
Israeli bulldozers have begun tearing down 47 homes in the village of Umm Batin in the Negev, claiming they do not have the proper building permits. That has led to protests in the local Bedouin community while police prevented a Palestinian member of the Israeli parliament from approaching the site.
In a post on X, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir praised the demolitions as “an important step towards restoring governance” and promised Israel would tear down more homes.
The Higher Steering Committee of the Arabs of the Negev called the demolitions an “unprecedented crime” against “Arab citizens of the Negev”.
Israel demolishes hundreds of homes belonging to Palestinians each year under the pretext they lack an Israel-issued building permit, in a policy decried as “forced displacement”.
Negev demolitions will destroy the homes of an entire Bedouin family
About 400 family members will have nowhere to live tonight because contractors have destroyed 47 to 60 of their homes. Hundreds of police have kept people back to allow this demolition to go ahead.
This is a community of Palestinian citizens of Israel. They’re Bedouins, perhaps some of the most discriminated against people in Israel because of their status – who they are and where they live.
Many of them actually serve in the Israeli army, but it has afforded them little protection over the years. This is part of a perhaps greater plan to clear parts of the Negev for the expansion of settlements.
Who are the Palestinian Bedouins?
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/2/28/israel-refuses-to-recosnise-palestinian-villages-it-plans-to-confiscate
Israeli forces killing Palestinians in West Bank with impunity: HRW
Israeli forces are killing Palestinians unlawfully at a “level without recent precedent”, without fear of repercussions from the government, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The report, based on research into the killings of eight Palestinians between July 2022 and October 2023, found that Israeli forces either “wrongfully fatally shot or deliberately executed” the individuals, despite them posing no security threat.
In one instance, Israeli forces repeatedly shot a man in Jenin as he crawled wounded on the ground, according to HRW. In another, Israeli forces shot dead a 15-year-old in Tulkarem, only to fire on his father minutes later as he tried to retrieve his son’s body. Neither the father nor the son appeared to be armed, according to footage reviewed by HRW.“The Israeli government’s permissive and discriminatory practices on the use of force and endemic impunity are one facet of the apartheid and structural violence Palestinians face every day,” said Richard Weir, the rights group’s senior crisis and conflict researcher.
“The unlawful killings in the West Bank will continue so long as the Israeli authorities’ systemic repression of Palestinians continues,” Weir added.
And it only got much worse since October 7
Israel tears down six Palestinian homes in occupied West Bank
The break-up of demolitions:
- four in the village of al-Jiftlik, near Jericho
- one in Beit Dajan village, near Nablus
- one in Beit Tamar town, east of Bethlehem
The string of demolitions comes on the back of an Israeli operation to tear down nearly 50 Bedouin homes in the Negev. Since October 7, Israel has stepped up demolitions of Palestinian homes under a policy rights activists say is a tool of “forced displacement”.
So far in 2024, Israel has demolished 404 Palestinian-owned structures, displacing 737 people, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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