ISRAELI FORCES DETAIN 14 IN VILLAGE NEAR QALQILIYA

Qalqiliya, 5 Rabiul Awwal 1436/27 December 2014 (MINA) – Israeli forces on Thursday (25/12) evening detained 14 Palestinians in the village of Azzun near Qalqiliya, in the wake of a Molotov cocktail attack on a settler vehicle nearby that left two injured, including an 11-year-old girl.

The arrest raids came after Israeli forces closed all entrances to the village of Azzun after the incident, which occurred in the Jewish settlement of Maale Shomeron just north of the village, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Locals identified those detained as Fahmi Nael Fahmi Tabib, Alaa Samir Othman Shello, Imad Muhammad Abd al-Latif Alami, Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman Badwan, Akrama Muhammad Nassar Dahbour, Youssef Zahran Sweidan, Muath Bilal Sweidan, Mutasem Muhammad Radwan, Murad Saqer Salim, Walid Moussa Labda, Muwayia Abd al-Latif Radwan, Omar Amjad Shbeitak, Amir Jawdat Radwan, and Ashraf Ahmad Radwan.

An Israeli military spokeswoman, however, confirmed only 12 of the detentions, and declined to tell Ma’an why the individuals in question were arrested.

Hebrew-language news website Walla quoted Israeli military sources as saying that the detainees including two individuals suspected of involvement in the attack.

The website reported that one of the individuals threw the Molotov cocktail that hit the settler vehicle, while the other assisted him.

The incident caused widespread public consternation in Israel, and defense minister Moshe Yaalon visited the 11-year-old girl in the hospital on Friday.

During his visit, he called the incident a “terrorist attack” and said the army and secret services were capable of putting an ed to such incidents. (T/P010/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)