ISRAELI FORCES CONTINUE DETENTION CAMPAIGN NEAR BETHLEHEM

Bethlehem, 3 Shaban 1436/21 May 2015 (MINA) –  In an ongoing detention campaign against teenagers in the southern West Bank town of Al-Khadr, Israeli forces raided several neighborhoods after midnight Tuesday and detained four teenage boys, locals told Ma’an.

Israeli forces distributed a statement in the area threatening to interfere with the lives of young men who continue to hurl stones at Israeli vehicles traveling on the bypass roads near the town, locals said, Ma’an News Agency quoted  by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Locals identified the detainees as Amir Raed Salah, Muhammad Yousuf Atwan, Marwan Bajis Subeih and Khalid Wael Issa. They are all aged 15-16, according to the local sources.

The detentions came shortly after Israeli forces detained four Palestinian minors from Al-Khader Sunday.

Dozens of Israeli soldiers were seen on al-Shahid Street in A-Khader’s old city shortly after midnight, before they stormed several homes.

An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed the four arrests at the time, alleging that they were detained for “involvement in criminal activity and riots.”

When asked which riots they had been involved in, she said she could not specify.

Israeli forces routinely detain Palestinians throughout the West Bank, often on the pretext of perceived security threat, and Addameer estimates that 40 percent of the Palestinian male population has been arrested at some point.

More than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently being held in Israeli jails. (T/P010/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)